Eligibility Rules: Alumnus / alumna must have been a main cast member of Saturday Night Live during this current century, which
began on January 1, 2000 and is scheduled to end on December 31, 2099, barring unforeseen
circumstances.
Thus, writers such as John Mulaney, Akiva Schaffer, Michael Schur, J.B. Smoove and Jorma Taccone, as well as featured cast members such as Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate, Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson are not eligible.
Other Notes: The rankings are not based on how much success each person has had in their careers outside of SNL, but by how much enjoyment (i.e. smiles, giggles, great big belly-laughs, etc.) I have derived from their non-SNL career.
Tier Seven was
originally the Fred Armisen tier, but I realized that I have not seen enough Portlandia to make any reasonable
statements about Armisen’s non-SNL career.
The following were also considered
but ultimately left out due to a lack of space: Will Forte, Ana Gasteyer, Chris
Kattan, Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Horatio Sanz,
Molly Shannon
#1: Tina Fey
Any conversation about today’s best comedy talents is
wholly incomplete without mentioning Tina Fey. Gifted comedy writers can go
a whole career without penning something as funny, popular and influential as Mean Girls or 30 Rock. Not only did Fey create both of these critically
acclaimed works of comedy gold, she also appeared in both of them, starring in 30 Rock.
Fey also shined in the underrated and surprisingly
hilarious Baby Mama, wrote the #1
best seller Bossypants, hosted the
Golden Globes with pal Amy Poehler (and will be back again in 2014! Look out
Taylor Swift!), and is set to star in the new Muppets movie.
With contributions like that, I can forgive her for Date Night.
