SNL Season 11
From First To Worst
I left off Al Franken who only appeared 3 times by my count and A. Whitney Brown who only appeared behind the Update desk.
Randy Quaid
MVP: Chevy Chase, Teri Garr, Harry Dean Stanton, Jay Leno, Jimmy Breslin
Jon Lovitz leads Randy Quaid in individual episode MVPs 7 to 5 but while I found a bunch of sketches headlined by Lovitz that failed, I couldn't find many Randy Quaid sketches that were disrupted by his presence. Lovitz was the more comedic force but Quaid was really the backbone of the show. He could play the funny guy or the straight guy, which is highly invaluable on a sketch show. It doesn't seem like Randy was a guy who wrote a lot seeing as how we didn't get any Randy Quaid characters, Weekend Update desk pieces or straight to the camera monologues but he was really the quarterback of this cast. He also holds the distinction of being the only cast member who was nominated for an Oscar before he got on the show.
Best Moment: Ronald Reagan isn't the hardest impression to do but what is impressive is to do an impression of 3 different Reagans (1 real, 1 angel Reagan and 1 devil Reagan) at the same time on live TV like he did in Reagan's Command from the Jimmy Breslin episode.
Worst Moment: Like I said, I couldn't find any sketches where I didn't like Randy Quaid. He committed in everything even if he was just brought on to play Dominican baseball pitcher Joaquin Andujar in the season premiere. The one sketch he headlined that I couldn't stand was A Roy Orbison Christmas from the Teri Garr episode. He played Orbison (an impression that wasn't that bad) in the last 5 minutes of a 1965 NBC special that was never broadcast. There seemed to be no jokes in this sketch except for when Roy called Leslie Uggams a "negro".
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Yes and No. If I was just going to add some people to the cast then yes. Since they were basically building a new cast from the ground up, no. I loved him this season but if he came back for season 12 he would have been overshadowed by Phil Hartman and if you're asking me to pick between Randy Quaid and Phil Hartman, I'm gonna choose the latter.
Jon Lovitz
Worst Moment: Like I said, I couldn't find any sketches where I didn't like Randy Quaid. He committed in everything even if he was just brought on to play Dominican baseball pitcher Joaquin Andujar in the season premiere. The one sketch he headlined that I couldn't stand was A Roy Orbison Christmas from the Teri Garr episode. He played Orbison (an impression that wasn't that bad) in the last 5 minutes of a 1965 NBC special that was never broadcast. There seemed to be no jokes in this sketch except for when Roy called Leslie Uggams a "negro".
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Yes and No. If I was just going to add some people to the cast then yes. Since they were basically building a new cast from the ground up, no. I loved him this season but if he came back for season 12 he would have been overshadowed by Phil Hartman and if you're asking me to pick between Randy Quaid and Phil Hartman, I'm gonna choose the latter.
Jon Lovitz
MVP: John Lithgow, Tom Hanks, Dudley Moore, Jerry Hall, Griffin Dunne, Catherine Oxenberg, Anjelica Huston
The only cast member Lorne saved from the fire. Lovitz is one of those guys who just seems born to be on SNL. Some people make the show work for them but Lovitz is just a naturally funny guy who is a great sketch performer. He came on to the show guns blazing and when his characters hit like Master Thespian or Tommy Flanagan they were brought back again and again and while Tommy got a little old I never hated seeing him. Unfortunately, when his characters didn't hit we got things like The Further Adventures Of Biff And Salena.
Best Moment: Lovitz had so many good moments this season but if I were to pick one moment that really proved he deserved to be the star of the show it would be when he improvised with a camel in the Master Thespian sketch in the Jerry Hall episode.
Worst Moment: I absolutely hated the two sketches where we got Lovitz and Cusack as mentally challenged lovers but the one I'm glad never recurred was David's Date where Lovitz played a Woody Allen obsessed man who only wants to talk about Woody Allen movies.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Absolutely, they would have been nuts not to save him. He was the only thing people seemed to consistently like, you can tell that by just how many times they brought out Tommy Flanagan for the monologue or the cold open.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Absolutely, they would have been nuts not to save him. He was the only thing people seemed to consistently like, you can tell that by just how many times they brought out Tommy Flanagan for the monologue or the cold open.
Dennis Miller
If you look at the history of SNL, you can point to a couple people who saved the show. Certainly we wouldn't be 40 seasons in if it weren't for Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and then later Eddie Murphy and then later than that Will Ferrell. I would put Dennis Miller in that camp as well. The show wasn't doing that well and even if people didn't like the sketches they could tune in to get some political rants. He also revived Weekend Update which had pretty much languished in obscurity for years, since Chevy Chase honestly. Without Miller we may not have gotten Norm MacDonald or Tina Fey or Seth Meyers. It took a couple episodes for me to warm up to him but once I did, I looked forward to Update, which is the exact opposite reaction than I had in season 10.
Best Moment: With not a whole lot of sketch appearances, Miller's best moments came from his weekly hosting duties at Weekend Update. He turned the piece into a stand-up feature. Rather than just making comments on the week's top stories he made the segment all about him. You weren't watching Weekend Update, you were watching Dennis Miller tell jokes for a couple of minutes.
Worst Moment: He was used very sparingly outside of Update popping up as a prince in a Danitra Vance sketch, one of the stand ups in the Jay Leno episode and a political adviser in Target Earth. He certainly wasn't a sketch player and that was pretty obvious in the Dudley Moore cold open Monks. Everyone else is doing a monk character and then Miller stands up and is playing Dennis Miller in a wig.
Worst Moment: He was used very sparingly outside of Update popping up as a prince in a Danitra Vance sketch, one of the stand ups in the Jay Leno episode and a political adviser in Target Earth. He certainly wasn't a sketch player and that was pretty obvious in the Dudley Moore cold open Monks. Everyone else is doing a monk character and then Miller stands up and is playing Dennis Miller in a wig.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Yes. He became an invaluable asset to the show.
Damon Wayans
Wayans felt that he wasn't used to his full potential on the show and he was right and wrong. Knowing how unhappy he was at SNL I was expecting him to play a lot of slaves or butlers but what we got from Wayans this season was some solid character work, albeit from a featured player who didn't get a ton of airtime. I'm sure that the writing staff had no idea how to write sketches for a black performer so he got thrown into the background of a lot of sketches but when he got the chance to play a leading or supporting role he really shined like in Stand-Ups and Two Jones Brothers.
Best Moment: The Star Search sketch from the Jay Leno episode was one of the longest sketches ever recorded (I'm making that statistic up, but it felt like it). The only bright spot was when Wayans came out at the end to play the angry black comic, telling jokes about how much he hates whitey. It made me want to see this character in a sketch all his own.
Worst Moment: I don't know who wrote Rapping Wrapper but I hope it wasn't Wayans. He plays a gift wrapper who raps while he wraps. It was uncomfortable to watch.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Yes, even though it was too late. Wayans was let go after playing a character flamboyantly gay in the Griffin Dunne episode but he returned to do a stand-up set in the season finale. Seeing as how season 11 had no black people at all, it would have been nice to have some color in the cast.
Joan CusackWould I have saved him from the fire?: Yes, even though it was too late. Wayans was let go after playing a character flamboyantly gay in the Griffin Dunne episode but he returned to do a stand-up set in the season finale. Seeing as how season 11 had no black people at all, it would have been nice to have some color in the cast.
MVP: Pee-Wee Herman, Tony Danza
I love Joan Cusack. She is a welcome presence in everything she does from Broadcast News and Working Girl to In & Out to Shameless and everything in between. She had some really nice moments on SNL too but much like Randy Quaid she is a comic actress not a comedian. If you give her something to do she will do it well, she was just probably not the greatest writer for herself. When she did come up with a sketch, like her sole Weekend Update desk piece, she performed admirably.
Best Moment: She didn't headline a lot of sketches, she mostly played girlfriends and daughters, but when given a chance to showcase her physical strengths she could be really incredible. My favorite moment came in the Dudley Moore episode and the Name That Tune sketch. The basic premise of the sketch was that the songs were easy but the contestants couldn't get the answer right. You need someone to sell the confusion and the stupidity and Cusack did that by barely saying a word, simply nodding and gesturing.
Worst Moment: Joan got a straight to camera piece in the Catherine Oxenberg episode with Mother's Day Message. She played a mother who would drift on her speech as she was talking. The idea was good and the execution was fair but it needed to be more clear what was going on. It took me 2 watches to really understand what was going on.
Would I have saved her from the fire?: Yes. Knowing that we're gonna get Jan Hooks next season makes me yearn for what could have been. I would love to see what they could have done together. She also would have probably stood out more than Victoria Jackson.
Danitra Vance Best Moment: She didn't headline a lot of sketches, she mostly played girlfriends and daughters, but when given a chance to showcase her physical strengths she could be really incredible. My favorite moment came in the Dudley Moore episode and the Name That Tune sketch. The basic premise of the sketch was that the songs were easy but the contestants couldn't get the answer right. You need someone to sell the confusion and the stupidity and Cusack did that by barely saying a word, simply nodding and gesturing.
Worst Moment: Joan got a straight to camera piece in the Catherine Oxenberg episode with Mother's Day Message. She played a mother who would drift on her speech as she was talking. The idea was good and the execution was fair but it needed to be more clear what was going on. It took me 2 watches to really understand what was going on.
Would I have saved her from the fire?: Yes. Knowing that we're gonna get Jan Hooks next season makes me yearn for what could have been. I would love to see what they could have done together. She also would have probably stood out more than Victoria Jackson.
MVP: Oprah Winfrey
The first black female cast member (Yvonne Hudson being a featured player in 1980) and in true SNL fashion, they didn't give her much to do. Everything that Danitra did on the show seemed to be written by her and they were mostly character monologues delivered to the camera like Cabrini Green or Shakespeare In The Slums. When she appeared in other sketches she mostly played background characters. One of the funniest and also saddest jokes came from the Francis Ford Coppola episode when a That Black Girl sketch was interrupted and the writers get brought out and they are all white guys with scarves. It's a joke that had basis in reality as I'm sure nobody there knew how to write a sketch that showcased Vance other than herself. The other sad moment came from the Oprah Winfrey cold open where Vance plays Lorne's maid. They're making a joke about the fact that they don't have any black people on their staff, but while they were writing that joke they could have also hired a black writer.
Best Moment: Vance spent a lot of time writing monologues for herself, which while it's good that it got her some airtime, I've never been a fan of talking straight to the camera unless it's a Weekend Update desk piece situation. As far as sketches go, I really enjoyed That Black Girl from the Harry Dean Stanton episode. She brought the character back for the Francis Ford Coppola episode but I wish we got one more in between where we could see her interact with more racial stereotypes and break them down.
Worst Moment: In the Griffin Dunne episode there was a sketch that just didn't work and that was Business Week where Danitra hosted a show interviewing people about their workplace inventions. She got the name of the show wrong in her introduction and then tried to make a bit of it and it fell very very flat.
Would I have saved her from the fire?: Probably. It wasn't entirely her fault that she was underused and she had really great comedic timing. If they could have written more sketches that utilized her talents she could have been a valuable asset to the show. That probably wouldn't have happened and she would have spent another season in the background but it would have been nice to see what she could have done given another season.
Terry Sweeney
Nora DunnBest Moment: Vance spent a lot of time writing monologues for herself, which while it's good that it got her some airtime, I've never been a fan of talking straight to the camera unless it's a Weekend Update desk piece situation. As far as sketches go, I really enjoyed That Black Girl from the Harry Dean Stanton episode. She brought the character back for the Francis Ford Coppola episode but I wish we got one more in between where we could see her interact with more racial stereotypes and break them down.
Worst Moment: In the Griffin Dunne episode there was a sketch that just didn't work and that was Business Week where Danitra hosted a show interviewing people about their workplace inventions. She got the name of the show wrong in her introduction and then tried to make a bit of it and it fell very very flat.
Would I have saved her from the fire?: Probably. It wasn't entirely her fault that she was underused and she had really great comedic timing. If they could have written more sketches that utilized her talents she could have been a valuable asset to the show. That probably wouldn't have happened and she would have spent another season in the background but it would have been nice to see what she could have done given another season.
Terry Sweeney
MVP: Madonna, Ron Reagan, George Wendt
SNL's first openly gay cast member played mostly gay characters and women. It's kind of sad to see how being progressive can sometimes be a 1 step forward, 2 steps back kind of thing. We will hire black people and gay people but regulate them to playing stereotypes. Still, Sweeney had a very good comedic timing that was on display in and out of drag. One of my favorite Sweeney moments came in the Francis Ford Coppola episode where he didn't appear in a single sketch but just hung on to Coppola as his lackey because he knew he needed to get off this sinking ship.
Best Moment: Sweeney didn't seem to be a terrific impressionist but used that to his advantage when playing Nancy Reagan. Instead of doing an accurate impression he turned it into a character, playing Nancy as a power hungry woman who hated her husband. Such was the case in Nancy's Workout where Tony Danza tries to get her into shape.
Worst Moment: Drag is fine, but blackface I can't really condone. Sweeney played Patti LaBelle being loud and annoying in Movie Theater from the Anjelica Huston episode. The joke seemed to be that black people are loud and annoying at the movies. It was pretty inexcusable.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Probably. He was a good sketch player but ran into the same problem Danitra Vance did. A Terry Sweeney character was a gay man or an effeminate man. There weren't any sketches where Sweeney just played a person.
Best Moment: Sweeney didn't seem to be a terrific impressionist but used that to his advantage when playing Nancy Reagan. Instead of doing an accurate impression he turned it into a character, playing Nancy as a power hungry woman who hated her husband. Such was the case in Nancy's Workout where Tony Danza tries to get her into shape.
Worst Moment: Drag is fine, but blackface I can't really condone. Sweeney played Patti LaBelle being loud and annoying in Movie Theater from the Anjelica Huston episode. The joke seemed to be that black people are loud and annoying at the movies. It was pretty inexcusable.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Probably. He was a good sketch player but ran into the same problem Danitra Vance did. A Terry Sweeney character was a gay man or an effeminate man. There weren't any sketches where Sweeney just played a person.
I never got the appeal of Nora Dunn. I grew up watching the show in the renaissance that occured after this season and I was familiar with Pat Stevens and The Sweeney Sisters, but they never made me laugh. I was young so I always assumed that this was adult humor that I just didn't get. Watching it back as a man in my 30s I know realize that it just wasn't very funny.
Best Moment: Since she didn't make me laugh, I noticed her more when she was playing the straight woman. Ironically the sketch where I appreciated her the most as a straight woman was Lesbian Pickup. She plays a lesbian picking up a straight woman and making valid points to why this woman should switch teams.
Worst Moment: 8 Pat Stevens shows? Really? I came to understand the character the more I saw her but it took about 5 sketches for me to get the joke. She's a former model who hosts a show and does no research. That's a fine character but you really need to set it up. The first 5 sketches we got it seemed like the guest was getting all the laughs. It wasn't until she interviewed Jerry Hall that I finally figured out why this character existed.
Worst Moment: 8 Pat Stevens shows? Really? I came to understand the character the more I saw her but it took about 5 sketches for me to get the joke. She's a former model who hosts a show and does no research. That's a fine character but you really need to set it up. The first 5 sketches we got it seemed like the guest was getting all the laughs. It wasn't until she interviewed Jerry Hall that I finally figured out why this character existed.
Would I have saved her from the fire?: Not really. Out of only 3 female cast members, she was my least favorite. In hindsight I would have much rather seen Jan Hooks interact with Joan Cusack or Danitra Vance.
Don Novello
Don Novello is most known for playing Father Guido Sarducci, I am not extremely well versed in the first 5 seasons so I don't really understand this character. He's a chain smoking Catholic. Is that it? I feel like I'm missing something. It seems that Novello was brought in to bridge the gap between the first 5 seasons and Lorne's return. He was only a featured player and mostly played Sarducci or another Italian character. Only once did he play a character in a sketch and that was The Wart Hog.
Best Moment: I really liked Buon Giornio Ireland where Novello sang Irish folk songs in an Italian accent. The commercial parody was pretty repetitive but the performance never lacked.
Worst Moment: In the Teri Garr Monologue he sang 'I Got You Babe' with the host in a bit that seemed both unrehearsed and uninspired.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: Eh, if he gets saved, sure. I wouldn't miss him if he were gone but I wouldn't mind if he was still around.
Anthony Michael Hall
Here's a quick way you can tell if someone is valuable to the team, Anthony Michael Hall missed 7 episodes in the middle of this season and I failed to notice. He wasn't completely absent of talent but his talent was misguided. He had this weird acting style where he was either relying too heavily on the cue cards or dismissing the cue cards and stumbling around for his lines.
Best Moment: He flourished when he didn't have any lines like in 30 Count from the Tony Danza episode where he just gets the crap beaten out of him for 3 minutes.
Worst Moment: Hall got two recurring characters this season. He was one of the Jones brothers with Damon Wayans but the larger offender for worst recurring character would be Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant. Craig is a genius who acts dumb, I think. It's hard to decipher what is going on here. He's not dumb, he just acts dumb, but he says smart things. I just don't get it.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: No way. This is one of those instances where I might say it seemed like a good idea at the time, but was it? I'm producing a sketch comedy show so I'm going to hire a teenager with absolutely no sketch comedy experience? I love Hall now, he's grown into an incredibly interesting actor and I hope he gets to become a respected character actor soon.
Best Moment: He flourished when he didn't have any lines like in 30 Count from the Tony Danza episode where he just gets the crap beaten out of him for 3 minutes.
Worst Moment: Hall got two recurring characters this season. He was one of the Jones brothers with Damon Wayans but the larger offender for worst recurring character would be Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant. Craig is a genius who acts dumb, I think. It's hard to decipher what is going on here. He's not dumb, he just acts dumb, but he says smart things. I just don't get it.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: No way. This is one of those instances where I might say it seemed like a good idea at the time, but was it? I'm producing a sketch comedy show so I'm going to hire a teenager with absolutely no sketch comedy experience? I love Hall now, he's grown into an incredibly interesting actor and I hope he gets to become a respected character actor soon.
Dan Vitale
One of the least tenured cast members in SNL history. He was only credited in 2 episodes.
Best Moment: The way he checked Ron Reagan's ID as the cop in Limits Of The Imagination was incredible.
Best Moment: The way he checked Ron Reagan's ID as the cop in Limits Of The Imagination was incredible.
Worst Moment: I don't know though, something about the way he held that Coke bottle up in Dinosaur World from the Pee-Wee Herman episode just didn't work for me.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: I think he started the fire, probably not.
Robert DowneyWould I have saved him from the fire?: I think he started the fire, probably not.
Wow, how does someone go from the most irritating person in the world to one of the most respected actors in Hollywood? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Robert Downey Jr.. Knowing that he has become one of my favorite actors makes me want to give him a pass but he was incredibly awful here. It's astonishing that he's going to star in Chances Are in 3 years, Chaplin in 7 years, have his career ruined by drug abuse after that and then come back with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man.
Best Moment: The only moment I could find that made me smile from RDJ was from the Pee-Wee Herman episode where he played John Oates in Thanksgiving Special. He came out on his knees and fell over. That was the high point of his SNL tenure.
Worst Moment: Please, someone explain to me what Confrontational Monologue was about. Robert comes out in a suitcase and screams some shit, I got real confused.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: No chance. I would start the fire just to get rid of him.
Would I have saved him from the fire?: No chance. I would start the fire just to get rid of him.
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