1985-1990
 

 

Joan Cusack
Joan, along with most of the company from 1985, led an unfunny season. However, there were a few bright spots including her recurring character with Jon Lovitz, Selena, and impressions like Brooke Sheilds. Since then, she's had a successful film and TV career.

Robert Downey
Before he added the "Jr." to his name, he was part of the company in the 1985 season. During his time, he did characters Jimmy Chance, and did impressions of Sean Penn, Paul Simon, and John Mellancamp. Since his time on the show, he's led a very successful movie career, probably the most successful of that cast.

Nora Dunn
Nora was one of the three that Lorne kept from the '85 cast to move to next year. She was versatile in all her roles. Her break out role was on "The Pat Stevens Show," which ran nearly 15 times, Babette, and Liz Sweeney, of the "Sweeney Sisters," she co-starred in with Jan Hooks. She has an extensive list of impressions including Liza Minnelli, Linda Dano, and Ann Landers to name a few. She left the show, however, after an outrage with Lorne and the crew after Andrew Dice Clay hosted the show in late 1990, which she was obviously against. She was in very few sketches that week, and the season finale the week after, and has never returned to SNL except for the Phil Hartman tribute on the SNL:25 show. Since then, she has done small movie projects.

Anthony Michael Hall
Anthony was the youngest SNLer ever hired. At age 17, he started SNL and played Fed Jones on the show, and impersonated Bobby Kennedy and Art Garfunkel. Since then, we've never heard from him.

Jon Lovitz
After being the only one who survived the 1985 cast at first, Jon continued on the show for 5 years, and remains today one of the most underrated SNL members. Lovitz went from zany to calm, from off the wall to conservative. John created some of the most memorable characters like Mephistopheles, Tonto, Hanukah Harry, and his most successful recurring, Tommy Flanagan, whose catch phrase, "Yea! That's the ticket!" is still used today. He had an extensive list of impressions too, like Judd Nelson, Gene Shalit, Ringo Starr, Prince Charles, Mike Dukakis, and one of his best known, "Plug Away" with Harvey Fierstein. Since then, Jon has made several cameo appearances on the show, and has hosted once. He also has been successful in film, and a short lived sitcom, The Critic.

Dennis Miller
The longest running anchorman to-date, Dennis was behind the desk from 1985-1991. After a horrible news era, and the first Weekend Update since 1981, Dennis brought a much refreshing and much needed new format. Although his news segment revealed more of a stand-up way, his jokes were sharp, funny, and witty every time. He also had probably the most funniest guests of the time, including George Michael, were Dana, who played him, asked Dennis how his butt was. While on the show, he was in the news booth most of the time, he did do the occasional impression, notably George Harrison and Gary Hart. Since his time, he starred in his own Emmy winning series on HBO, Dennis Miller Live, which features a monologue, a rant about a particular topic, a celebrity interview, and a funny picture section were Dennis makes funny comments, and always closing the show with his catchy Weekend Update phrase, "Guess what folks? That's the news, and I am outta here…"

Randy Quaid
One of the fan favorites of the 1985 season, Randy was the clumsy one of the bunch, and did some impressions like Ed McMahon, Roy Orbison, and President Ronald Reagan. Since his time, he's gone on to star in several films.

Terry Sweeney
SNL's only openly gay cast member, Terry's first sketch had him playing a gay man, and most of his roles throughout the season too were gay related. Most of his impressions were of women too, including Nancy Reagan, Joan Collins, and Joan Rivers. Since then, we believed he locked himself in a shed.

Danitra Vance
SNL's first female black cast member, Danitra played a small role in the cast. She created her unique character, Cabrini Green Jackson. She died in 1994 of cancer.

Dana Carvey
Considered by some, and fellow cast member Dennis Miller, Dana was the greatest sketch performer on the show in it's history. For 6 and a half years, Dana created some of the most outrageous characters and did the shows most uncanny impressions. He created, along with Kevin Nealon, Hans, from the TV show, "Hans and Franz," Ching Chang, Derek Stevens and "Choppin' Broccoli," Lyle the Effeminate Heterosexual, Garth Algar from "Wayne's World," and his most famous, The Church Lady. With a list of over 40 impressions that include Ted Koppel, Ross Perot, Jimmy Stewart, Regis Philbin, John McLoughlin, George Michael, George Bush, Prince Charles, Dennis Miller, and Jonny Carson to name a few. Although his first love always was and is SNL, he left in 1993 to pursue a Hollywood career. He has had some successful movies and TV pilots, and does standup. He returned to host 3 times and special guest duties several times as well.

Phil Hartman
Considered by all as the comedic genius of the show in its history, Phil was a master impressionist, an excellent voice-over, and a versatile sketch performer. He made some of the biggest characters on the show including the Anal Retentive Chef, Susan the Shemale, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, and Frankenstein. With a list of an unheard of 70 impressions that range from Burt Reynolds, Charlton Heston, Frank Gifford, Oliver Stone, Ronald Reagan, Phil Donahue, Frank Gifford, Bill Clinton, and Barbara "Babs" Bush. He left the show in 1994 in good terms, though was the first to admit SNL was sinking like a ship, to which he was right about the next season. But he left to star in his sitcom, "News Radio," for a few seasons, but his life was tragically ended in May of 1998 when his wife shot Phil and turned the gun on herself. 

Jan Hooks
Jan was a Not Ready for Primetime Player for 5 seasons. As a female during the 80's on the show, Jan faced a tough male dominant workplace but managed to shine. Some of her popular characters include Candy Sweeney, who was the co-star along with Nora Dunn of the show, "The Sweeney Sisters," and Marge Keister. Her range of impressions include Diane Sawyer, Ivana Trump, Marla Maples, Tammy Faye Baker, and the hilarious Sinead O'Connor. Since her time, she has cameo several times, and has success in small film projects.

Victoria Jackson
While spending 6 years on the show, Victoria played a role in the "dumb blonde" sketches. She created her characters Susan Keister and Nancy Maloney, and her dead on impression of Roseanne Arnold. Since her time on the show, she "married a cop" and lives in Florida.

Kevin Nealon
One of the most underrated SNLers, Kevin was apart of the cast for nine seasons; second longest next to Tim Meadows who was on the cast for ten seasons. During his first 5 seasons, he was a dominant and excellent sketch player. Some of the characters he created were Tarzan, Charlie Loomis, Franz from "Pumping Up with Hans and Franz," and his most well known character, Mr. Subliminal, in which his popular phrase "hot sex" came to life." Kevin also has a wide range of impressions including Rudolph Giuliani, Pierre du Pont, Leroy Neeman, Larry King, Morton Kondracke, and Sam Donaldson. After Dennis Miller left Weekend Update, he was sent in behind the desk for the next three seasons. However, at the end of the 1993 season, he wanted out from the desk because he said he wasn't making it into sketches as much, which he though were his stronger points. To the opposite though, most SNL fans liked him because he came off as a real newsman, the only kind on SNL next to Chevy. Since leaving in 1995, he has gone on to small roles in films.

Mike Myers
Mike joined the SNL cast in mid 1988, and was promoted in January of 1989 to full cast status. Mike had interesting and unique characters on the show; Wayne Campbell from "Wayne's World," Linda Richman from "Coffee Talk," Kenneth Reese-Evans, and Dieter, host of "Sprockets." On an episode of "Coffee Talk," Barbara Streisand herself made a cameo appearance on the show because she was the talk of everything on the show and often made Linda "veklempt." Barbara Streisand, Mick Jagger, Judge Lance Ito, Judy Garland, Queen Elizabeth, and George Stephanopolous are just a few of his impressions. Since his time on the show, he created two spin-off movies of "Wayne's World," and as of date, has made three movies based on British special agent Austin Powers.