SNL hosted a lot of talent over the years.Which cast member was the greatest talent?
On SNL,that is--not talking about their post-SNL career.
Left out people like Martin Short and Billy Crystal--their season was one of SNL's best,but they already were stars before joining the show.I'm talikng about people who became stars on SNL.
I think Eddie Murphy was the greatest.SNL was dead in the water before he broke thru.Had it not been for him, SNL would probably been cancelled.He still has the talent,save for the talent to appear in more good movies.

Phil Hartman.

I think Eddie was easily the best, and his post-SNL career being free of rehashes of his SNL characters but still quite successful bears that out.

Yikes, this is a tough one. The ones who have most recently ascended to super-stardom are Will Ferrell and Tina Fey... I'm a massive fan of Ferrell's work on SNL (own all of his "best of" compilations) and his best movies like Anchorman and Talledega Nights. But as a teen, I remember absolutely loving the SNL repeats on military TV and Comedy Central that featured Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, etc.

For me, it's a toss-up between Myers, Farley and Farrell. The best career in terms of box office is probably either Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler.

I think that his over decade long run of duds really hurts his legacy... I mean, the guy has had some absolute bombs.

I've never been too into his movies and don't really find his old SNL skits funny (comedy has a shelf-life for me, apparently for reasons I don't know -- older stuff tends not to make me laugh), but Raw and Delirious are my absolute favorite stand-up specials of all time.

I'd go with either Bill Murray or Eddie Murphy. Murphy's funnier overall, but Murray's had probably the best long-term career post SNL. If we're just going by their tenure on the show, I'd go with Eddie Murphy.

Dan Aykroyd

I decided to base my vote on mainstream success and picked Adam Sandler. All of his movies, as unbearably shitty as most of them are, seem to make a certain level of money.

I mean, the guy managed to give Rob Schneider a career.

I don't thank that any of them soared higher than Eddie Murphy.

I am reading this question as who had the biggest impact on SNL rather than who had the best career after SNL. For that, I can't pick Eddie. True, SNL was nearly cancelled before he arrived, but he had no place to take the show but up. Its kind of like he was the shinny penny in the turd. It is still just a penny.

I love Phil Hartman. I mean total man-crush. He had an enormous presence. But it was generally always the same presence. Still, I love watching his skits over and over.

I'm going with Mike Meyers. The reason is he hit is stride before he was actually an official cast member. As Wayne Campbell and Lothar, he was just a featured player. It takes a lot to only be a feature and gain the credibility to outshine the likes of Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller, and Phil Hartman and the rest.

+1

As an actor, yeah. But it's inarguable that he's lasted longer in the spotlight in some fashion than anyone other than maybe Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd and even with his bombs still has box office clout. So in the narrow category of SNL made stars, he's almost certainly king.

He's probably second or third with Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy. And I've found him funnier away from SNL than on it.

Phil was the quintessential SNL player, but sadly he never got to achieve the level of stardom he could have.

Tough. My favorite person from that list creatively is Tina Fey hands down, but she would definitely not be the biggest star.

I went with Bill Murray. I admit Eddie Murphy was bigger than Murray at his peak, but his peak is well past and ever though Murray is also well past his prime he has been chugging along at a pretty consistent rate for longer than anyone else on the poll.

I also think he would likely be the most universally recognizable of anyone on the poll.

I recently read he was to voice Zapp Branigan on Futurama. After his death Billy West got the roll. You can hear a bit of Hartman in his interpretation.

And the Phillip in Phillip J. Fry is in honor of Phil Hartman.

Yup. Nobody else was as consistently funny and got as hot in such a short period of time. His time on there was terrific.

I've got to go with Phil Hartman. Eddie Murphy burned brightly for a couple of years, but Hartman noses him out for long term consistency.

Not only was Bill Murray great, he made others around him better. I don't think any pair of subsequent SNL players had the chemestry that he and Gilda Radner had together.

Most overrated? Belushi (too many off nights back in the '70's) and Myers (Dieter? Linda Richmond? The British kid in the bathtub? None of these characters ever made me laugh--and they seemed to be on week after week after week.)

I'm kind of surprised on two counts---one, that Eddie Murphy got so much love. and Two, that Will Ferrel got none. I'd put Phil Hartman in the number one position and Ferrel in the number two slot, Akroyd in the number three. Why? Because between those three guys, they were the all purpose anchor men that supported about 25 years total out of the 37 years the show's been on. An all purpose utility guy is the backbone of the show and those three did the job, playing almost any part in any sketch. Eddie was great but was more of a superstar in his own right, like Murray, Belushi, Myers, Garvey and the like. They could do great stuff but it was the utility guys like Hartman that helped everyone else out and was star in their own right as well.

All that being said, that show has been on too long but it will never die.

I can't remember actually seeing any SNL era Hartman, but I do agree with what Rick said about the utility-players.

I voted mostly based on the respective performer's career outside of SNL. Had I been voting based solely on time on SNL I would have likely gone for Ferrell, more or less because of what Rick said. And for Celebrity Jeopardy, which is fantastic.

I have to go with Bill Murry. He's done the wild comedies but he can also do more serious fare. Even after quirky movies like Lost In Translation, he still seems to be the most beloved ex-SNL player.