Who was(or is) the most talented player on Saturday Night Live?

[Bluzmann57]

Poll question: Who was(or is) the most talented player on Saturday Night Live?

This was a poll question on a local radio station this morning. www.2dorks.com is where they are on the web. They have 15 choices, I will have less, due to space considerations. I am not including Steve Martin or Al Franken as they were not regular cast members, but writers and/or guest hosts. I also did not include Chevy Chase because he was there for only a year. And I refuse to put Dennis Miller on the list.

[kcwayne]

1. Chevy Chase

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Murray, By A Mile

Eddie Murphy, a respectable, but distant, second.
The Professor

[TlalocW]

3. Steve Martin once said

That Bill Murray was one of the fastest thinkers he ever worked with on SNL.

TlalocW

[Redbear]

4. Hartman played sooo many different characters.

His "Chairman of the Board" makes me laugh just thinking about it.

[Rowdyboy]

5. Chevy Chase/John Belushi/Gilda Radnor/Jane Curtin

[billybob537]

24. Jane

you ignorant slut!

[LincolnMcGrath]

6. Phil Hartman Chris Rock

[LincolnMcGrath]

7. The MAN Keeping NAT X Down!!!

[mac56]

8. Gilda, for versatility

but I think you can make a case for Hartmann, Aykroyd, Will Farrell, and Kevin Nealon.

[cetasika]

9. Bill Murray

maybe Eddie Murphy.

[Yavin4]

10. Speaking of SNL

I cannot believe how bad the cast is this year. SNL is the path to fame and fortune for comedic actors, so you'd think that they'd have an All-Star cast. They're not even close this year. They have nothing.

Dead Heat Tie Between Phil Hartman and Will Farrell

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. I like the guy who does 'Tim Calhoon'

The political guy who talks really slow and nervously and uses note cards. That guy cracks me up.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

12. Phil Hartman's talent shone in everything he did

Belushi was a genius but not an ensemble player. The only other person he made look good was Ackcroyd.

Murray is extremely funny but his all his characters were variations on the same kind of smartass, clueless jerk. If he had to play another type he often walked or stumbled through his cue-card reading. His post-SNL work has shown a great deal more range and depth.

Gilda was more than talented, she was vulnerable and lovable. But SNL has never been a place for women comics to shine, and I don't find Gilda more talented than other female cast members like Nora Dunn, Jan Hooks and Molly Shannon.

Chris Farley was an enormous talent (no pun) who was still developing his range. But every skit he was famous for on SNL played off his obesity and damn, that got old.

Phil Hartman could do everything, from star spots to ensemble support. His impersonations of people like Bill Clinton, Frank Sinatra, Phil Donahue and Ed MacMahon were hilarious. His characters were always eye-catching and often kinda creepy (thinking of Hilda, the insane German crossdresser in the Sprockets sketches) but he never tried to grab the limelight from the others. His colleagues called him The Glue, the one who held everything together. I loved Phil Hartman's work throughout his career, from Captain Carl to Troy McClure to Bill McNeal. RIP, Phil. :loveya:

[Kat45]

20. She...Obeyed, I love your sig line--what is it from?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

22. Monty Python

Episode 20 of Flying Circus.

Nice parrot, BTW. :)

[billybob537]

25. Monty Python

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK I sleep all night and work all day.

[ronnykmarshall]

13. Gilda

[FunBobbyMucha]

14. The current group of women on the show

are so good it's a pity the show is as lame as it currently is. I think Maya Rudolph and Amy Poeller and Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey should each get three times the screen time that Jimmy "Never met a joke I couldn't wreck and then snicker about how bad it bombed" Fallon. Mya doing the geeky middle-schooler, Donatella V. or any other character is a dream as funny as it is sexy, and the same with Poeller's impersonations.

For all time poll-status, though, I had to say Bill Murray. He's Bill Murray, man.

Most over-rated? Chevy "I have one schtick and I've run it into and thru the ground straight to Australia" Chase. To see that pompous ass pretend he's a comedic legend is everything you need to know about self-absorbtion.

[stanwyck]

19. I agree

this is the most talented group of women appearing together. I voted for Gildna; and these women are as talented. As for the men: definitely Bill Murray and Chris Rock. Rock was given much to work with, though. Eddie Murphy was versatile and edgy. The current guys are too frat boy snarky. David Spade and Chris Farley had their moments.

[thom1102]

15. Ok, I am gonna get roasted for this, but...

Jimmy Fallon. He just absolutely cracks me up (not to mention that he is totally adorable). I know he was hired as "the guy who can play the guitar and write funny songs to replace Adam Sandler", but I think that he has evolved into so much more than that. He and Tina Fey make the best news desk since Jane Curtain and Dan Akroyd. Just MHO. Flame away.

[Norbert]

16. Dennis Miller

Just Kidding. :silly:

I voted for Gilda.

[lazarus]

17. It's a tie

Will Ferrell and Phil Hartman. Both basically were the anchors for their casts, and were the guaranteed laughs if needed each week.

Besides, Ferrell was the main guy in the funniest skit ever on SNL.

Cowbell!

[NicoleM]

21. I gotta fever

and the only prescription is. . .MORE COWBELL!

:)

[lazarus]

23. I finally saw the video

of the actual performance of "Reaper".

Now cowbell, since it was live. But I have to say, the characterisations were perfect, particularly Gene (Ferrell). He got the glasses, the afro, the shirt, everything nailed.

[name not needed]

18. da bears