The Actors Playing SNL Icons

Gabriel LaBelle (“The Fabelmans,” “Snack Shack”) plays Lorne Michaels, the storied executive producer and co-creator of “Saturday Night Live.” In 1975, Michaels created the late-night sketch show with NBC colleague Dick Ebersol and network president Herb Schlosser. “SNL” has won over 100 Emmy Awards during its 50 years on air.

LaBelle stuck mostly to “books and interviews” for his research on Michaels. Despite never having a lengthy one-on-one chat, LaBelle briefly talked to Michaels while visiting the “SNL” set with his “Saturday Night” castmates.

“We met him in his office right [after the show], and it was very lovely and very brief,” LaBelle told Variety at the Toronto International Film Festival. “It was interesting because my idea of Lorne was him in his twenties, and here’s a 79-year-old man. It was very comforting. Right before filming [I thought], ‘Oh, I didn’t have to meet him, and I didn’t have to try to figure him out in the present because he’s a different man.’”

Cory Michael Smith (“May December”) plays Chevy Chase. Chase served as the very first “Weekend Update” anchor during his tenure on “Saturday Night Live,” during which time his catchphrase, “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not,” became synonymous with the segment. After “SNL,” Chase became one of Hollywood’s most beloved funnymen, starring in films such as “Caddyshack,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “The Three Amigos” and “Fletch.”

Smith told Variety he watched “only Chevy Chase” movies for a couple of months before filming, but he struggled to see past the on-camera persona of the legendary comedian. It wasn’t until he discovered his first interview with Johnny Carson that Smith saw a complete picture of Chase.

“He comes out and he’s really nervous. Johnny asks him a question and he answers with ‘I do,’ and it has nothing to do with the question. Everyone pauses and Johnny laughs in his face, and suddenly everyone is just laughing at Chevy,” Smith recalled. “He’s flustered and Johnny’s like, ‘Let me tell you this is going to work. I’m going to ask you a question and you’re going to answer in relation to that question.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s it.’ So it was finding these little nuggets where you can actually see like, ‘Oh, that’s Chevy humiliated and I can use that.’”

Matt Wood (“Sunset Park”) plays John Belushi. Belushi appeared in “Saturday Night Live’s” very first sketch, “The Wolverines,” which debuted Oct. 11, 1975.

Despite being fired and rehired from the show several times, Belushi was one of the most popular original cast members. Some of his most iconic characters include the “Saturday Night Live” Samurai, his “Star Trek” spoof of Captain James T. Kirk and the Blues Brothers, which was adapted for a feature film in 1980 with his co-star Dan Aykroyd.

Belushi died in 1982 at the age of 32 after Canadian backup singer Cathy Smith dosed him with a lethal cocktail of heroin and cocaine.

Andrew Barth Feldman (“No Hard Feeling”) plays Neil Levy. Levy is Michaels’ cousin, and yes, it is true that Levy was into magic and capable of performing several different close-up magic illusions. In real life, Levy eventually worked his way up to writer for the third season of “Saturday Night Live” and served as the show’s talent coordinator.

Levy shadowed Michaels everywhere throughout the creation of this show and even slept on Michaels’ couch before he found his place in New York (where one night he found Mick Jagger sitting on his couch/bed). Levy accompanied Michaels to the Broadway show that production designer Eugene Lee worked on (seen in “Saturday Night” laying the iconic brick walkway); he even went to California to watch The Groundlings with Michaels.

“I remember going to Catch A Rising Star to see Andy Kaufman,” Levy said on Saturday Night Network podcast. “I was involved in the looking. I remember Paul Reubens auditioned. I thought he was great.” But he agrees with Michaels’ decision not to cast him on “Saturday Night Live,” recalling the creator said he was “too one note.”

The duo even shared an office on the 17th floor at Rockefeller Center in the beginning. “I’m the guy who put up the cards,” Levy said. “That was one of my big jobs. An idea would go down on a blue or pink card and it would go up on the board.”

Ella Hunt (“Horizon: An American Saga”) plays Gilda Radner. The Detroit native was known on “Saturday Night Live” for parodying journalists like Barbara Walters and her character Roseanne Roseannadanna. Reitman called Radner the “fairy dust” of “Saturday Night Live.” And truly, her “Dancing in the Dark” sketch with Steve Martin is the stuff of Hollywood legend.

In 1978, Radner won an Emmy for her work on “Saturday Night Live.” Her character work and impersonations will forever be remembered in the halls of comedy greatness. And in 1980, she had a comedy special titled “Gilda Live,” which was the filmed version of her highly successful Broadway show, directed by Mike Nichols and produced by Michaels.

She married actor Gene Wilder in 1984, and died of ovarian cancer in 1989 when she was 42 years old.

Radner was awarded a Grammy in 1990 posthumously and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Although unable to talk to Radner herself, Hunt chatted with “one of Gilda’s key collaborators and close friends, Alan Zweibel,” in preparation for the role, she told Variety.

“Alan and Gilda wrote Roseanne Roseannadanna together. Their partnership in writing was so fiery and loving in friendship,” Hunt said. “Best friends share a sensibility sometimes. There were things in Alan’s composure, in the way that Alan communicated with me, that I thought about in playing Gilda.”

Dylan O’Brien (“The Maze Runner,” “Love and Monsters”) plays Dan Aykroyd. Originally hired as a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” Aykroyd was promoted to one of the original eight “Not Ready For Prime-Time Players” before the show’s premiere on October 11, 1975.

Aykroyd would go on to create a collection of beloved characters, including “On the Spot,” Irwin Mainway, the inventor of the Bass-O-Matic and Bat-O-Matic, Julia Child, and he was half of the iconic duo that makes up “Two Wild and Crazy Guys” with Steve Martin. He also had a successful run on “Weekend Update” with special attention paid to his “Point/Counterpoint” back and forth with Jane Curtin. Then, of course, there is the Blues Brothers, which he created with John Belushi and went on to spawn several films.

After “SNL,” Aykroyd had a wildly successful career as a movie actor, most famously writing and starring in the 1984 classic “Ghostbusters” with fellow “SNL” alumnus Bill Murray. His other credits include “Coneheads,” “Trading Places,” “My Girl” and “Nothing But Trouble.”

He also created the successful vodka line Crystal Head Vodka.

Nicholas Braun (“Succession”) plays two characters in “Saturday Night.” He’s the legendary puppeteer and creator of “The Muppets” Jim Henson and the groundbreaking comedian Andy Kaufman.

To avoid being typecast as strictly a children’s entertainer, Henson created “Land of Gorch” for the first season of “Saturday Night Live,” featuring a cast of grotesque, foul-mouthed prehistoric creatures. The sketch series was short-lived, with only 11 installments airing before the idea was canned in January 1976 due to creative differences between Henson and the “SNL” writers. Henson is one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of Hollywood, creating iconic films like “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth,” and shows like “Sesame Street” and “Fraggle Rock.” In 1990, Henson died of bacterial pneumonia at the age of 53.

Known as an “anti-comedian” for his disdain for traditional humor, Kaufman was invited on the first season of “Saturday Night Live” to perform elements from his act, including the “Mighty Mouse Number” and characters like Foreign Man. Kaufman famously broke character while impersonating Elvis Presley and apologized to the studio audience in a 1982 episode of “SNL.” He later revealed he never wanted to do the sketch in the first place because he didn’t like how Presley was being portrayed, but was pressured into it by the “SNL” writing staff. He was the subject of the 1999 biopic “Man on the Moon” starring Jim Carrey, who has cited Kaufman as a major source of inspiration. In 1984, Kaufman died of lung cancer at the age of 35.

Kim Matula (“Tapawingo”) plays Jane Curtin. Curtin was one of “Saturday Night Live’s” original “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players,” and often played the straight-woman opposite her more erratic cast members like Gilda Radner and John Belushi.

Curtin helmed the “Weekend Update” desk from 1976 to 1977 and was paired with Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray for the segment in later seasons.

One of Curtin’s most iconic “SNL” characters was Prymaat, the mother of the “Coneheads” family. The “Coneheads” was adapted into a feature-length movie in 1993, in which Curtin starred with Aykroyd, who played her husband Beldar.

Curtain went on to work on the series “3rd Rock from the Sun,” “Crumbs” and “Kate and Allie” (where she won two Emmys) and also worked on the feature films “Antz” and “I Love You Man.” Curtin was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2017.

Rachel Sennott (“I Used To Be Funny,” “Bottoms”) will play Rosie Shuster, “Saturday Night Live” writer and ex-wife of “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels. Shuster created some of the show’s most iconic early sketches, such as “Killer Bees” and “Todd and Lisa.” Shuster also helped usher in three of Gilda Radner’s most beloved characters: Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella and Barabara Wawa. Michaels and Shuster married in 1967 but divorced 13 years later in 1980.

Before shooting began, Sennott chatted with Shuster over the phone and admired how she was “so cool under pressure” despite the disorder surrounding “SNL’s” fledgling years.

“Talking to her on the phone and hearing her laugh about all these crazy memories, I was like, ‘Oh my god,’” Sennott said. “That’s such an amazing thing to step into all this chaos happening around you and you’re like, ‘Okay, I don’t care. Fuck it.’ So that was sort of my research, and it was so much fun to get to step into that and play that.”

J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash,” “Invincible”) plays Milton Berle, one of the most infamous guest hosts in the history of “Saturday Night Live.” Rising to stardom in vaudeville and the early days of television, Berle gained a reputation for chewing the scenery. He hosted “SNL” on April 14, 1979, and throughout his episode, Berle upstaged the cast, did unplanned spit takes, hogged the frame and inserted his old comedy bits into the sketches. Berle ended the show with a painful performance of “September Song,” which he prearranged to end with a standing ovation. On March 27, 2002, Berle died of colon cancer at age 93.

Matthew Rhys ( “The Americans,” “Perry Mason”) plays George Carlin. The legendary stand-up comedian was “Saturday Night Live’s” very first host, although he did not appear in any of the sketches per his request. The sketch he was supposed to appear in was an Alexander the Great high school reunion bit. The conquering hero returns to his school, but despite his years of glory, everyone in his class still thinks he’s a jerk. In “Saturday Night,” there are several scenes with the actors in togas and stressing over the quick change from a toga to another costume, only to have said sketch cut entirely.

Carlin was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show” and had over a dozen comedy specials. He famously appeared as the time-traveling oracle Rufus in the 1989 cult classic “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Over the course of his career, Carlin received 17 Grammy Award nominations and won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.

On June 22, 2008, Carlin died of a heart attack after years of dealing with heart problems. He died one week after his final stand-up performance.

Lamorne Morris (“Fargo”) plays Garrett Morris. After “SNL” creator Michaels read one of Morris’ plays, he was hired as a writer for the show. Morris was later promoted to cast member after Michaels saw his performance in the 1975 comedy “Cooley High.”

One of Morris’ most iconic characters was the Dominican baseball player Chico Escuela and the News for the Hard of Hearing. He also famously sang classical music on the show from time to time.

While preparing for the role, Lamorne Morris (no relation) reached out to Garrett Morris and discovered that in 1975, Garrett Morris was going through similar struggles he had felt throughout his career.

“It’s easy to relate to that fish out of water feeling to being the first of something. To have a select group of people that are skilled at a particular thing, and you feel like you’re coming in with your own brand of whatever, and you don’t know how it fits into this puzzle,” the recent Emmy-winner Morris told Variety. “And so with the backdrop of post-civil rights and all those things, Garrett, he was going through a lot more than just having to perform.”

Paul Rust (“The Great North”) plays Canadian keyboardist Paul Shaffer. Shaffer was a part of the “Saturday Night Live” house band from 1975 to 1980. He was also the musical director for Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi whenever they performed or recorded as the Blues Brothers. Occasionally acting alongside the cast, Shaffer played the pianist in Bill Murray’s lounge singer sketches. After “SNL,” Shaffer was the band leader and musical director on every season of “Late Night with David Letterman” and “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Nicholas Podany (“Hello Tomorrow!”) plays Billy Crystal. Before Crystal hosted the Academy Awards nine times, won (multiple) Tony Awards and Emmy Awards and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, he was cut for time in the premiere episode of “Saturday Night Live.” As depicted in the film (and recorded in the book “Live From New York”), Michaels asked Crystal to put together a six-and-a-half-minute standup routine. Cyrstal performed it during the dress rehearsal the day before, but it was ultimately cut from the live performance after refusing to cut down his act.

Crystal would eventually return to “Saturday Night Live” as a cast member from 1984 to 1985 and, eventually, host the whole show twice. The comedian would also have a massively successful film career starring in “When Harry Met Sally…,” “City Slickers,” “Mr. Saturday Night” and “Monsters Inc.”

Corinne Britti (“Condor’s Nest”) plays Valri Bromfield. Bromfield is a comedian who appeared one time on the premiere episode of “Saturday Night Live.” She kicked off her career with Dan Aykroyd at the Toronto Second City. She performed her standup act in the first episode of “SNL” but didn’t return.

In the film, Bromfield and fellow comedian Billy Crystal are asked by Michaels to cut their act from five minutes to two. Bromfield agrees, but Crystal doesn’t and is sent home. According to the book, “Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live” by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, that’s fairly similar to what went down. However, it was Crystal’s manager, Buddy Morra, who got upset and confronted Michaels about the change. “Crystal and his people stormed off in a huff,” according to the book.

In 1984, Bromfield would appear on several episodes of Michaels’s spinoff sketch show “The New Show,” which never really found its audience, and Michaels would later return to “Saturday Night Live.” In 1988, she produced “The Kids in the Hall” for Michaels.

Tommy Dewey (“The Mindy Project,” “Casual”) plays Michael O’Donoghue, the original head writer of “SNL.” O’Donoghue, seen in the film antagonizing the censor and causing general chaos, served as head writer from 1975 to 1978. He left briefly, returning in 1981 and then again in 1985.

Similar to the film, O’Donoghue was the first ever person to appear on-camera in the cold open for “Saturday Night Live.” He also penned the “Killer Bees,” “Bathwater Of The Stars,” and John Belushi’s Weekend Update weatherman rants (to name a few).

A massive contributor to National Lampoon, he also wrote on Gilda Radner’s special “Gilda Live” and the Dolly Parton track “Single Women.” O’Donoghue made a cameo as the priest in Bill Murray’s Christmas movie “Scrooged” (which he co-wrote with Mitch Glazer).

O’Donoghue died in 1994, he was 54 years old.

Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) plays Dick Ebersol. The TV executive helped conjure up the idea of “Saturday Night Live” (and is credited as the co-creator) as a replacement for reruns of “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” Ebersol would work with Michaels until the co-creator exited the series in 1980 and found himself replaced with producer Jean Doumanian for the sixth season. The new executive hired an all-new cast and writing team and, as a result, was swiftly fired, and Ebersol was reinstated.

Ebersol’s strategy to save the series from a barrage of terrible reviews was to spotlight Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. This idea helped launch Murphy’s career and pulled the show back onto its feet. In 1985, Michaels returned to replace Ebersol, Michaels has stayed at the helm since then.

The executive eventually became president of NBC Sports, where he oversaw the network’s Olympic strategy for many years and dreamt up the idea of “Sunday Night Football.”

Hoffman is best known for his breakout role starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” and is the son of late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and costume designer Mimi O’Donnell.

Willem Dafoe (“Poor Things,” “Spider-Man”) plays David Tebet. The TV executive hand-picked Johnny Carson for NBC’s “The Tonight Show.” He rose to the ranks of NBC’s vice president for talent where he prided himself on being able to spot a star, something the character playing him mentions in “Saturday Night.”

After Carson set up his own production company and bought “The Tonight Show,” Tebet resigned from NBC and moved on to be executive vice president of the new company, where he stayed until his retirement.

Tebet died in 2005 of complications from a stroke at the age of 91.

Emily Fairn (“Mary & George”) plays Laraine Newman. The actor and creator was on “Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980. Some of Newman’s more notable sketches include her work as Connie Conehead in “The Coneheads” and “The Pink Box.” Newman was also well known for her impressions, which included Barbra Streisand, Shirley Temple, Carole King and many more.

Newman recalled the dressing rooms in the early days of “Saturday Night Live,” on Archive of American Television. “The guys were not modest at all. Danny and John would walk around in their underwear all the time, which was very endearing, I have to say it was kind of primitive.” She even remembered how the earlier episodes tried to incorporate the Muppets (due to the fact that Michaels’ manager also managed the Muppets. “The tone of the show didn’t fit in with puppets, even though I love the Muppets.”

“I don’t think there was a self-conscious effort to be anything other than what made us laugh,” she said.

Her daughter, Hannah Einbinder, who was nominated for an Emmy for her work on “Hacks,” surprised “Saturday Night Live” audiences recently with her co-star Jean Smart and after joining Smart (who was hosting) on stage to introduce the show’s musical guest Jelly Roll.

Taylor Gray (“Star Wars: Rebels”) plays Al Franken, one half of the comedy team of “Franken and Davis,” made up of Franken and his writing partner Tom Davis. Franken eventually became a featured player for the show from 1975 to 1980. Franken and Davis helped dream up the recurring Julia Child spoof (which is depicted on “Saturday Night”) and Steve Martin’s Medieval Barber Theodoric of York. Perhaps Franken’s most famous sketch was Michael Jordan on the “Daily Affirmation” show hosted by his character Stuart Smalley.

Franken was also elected into Congress as a United States senator from Minnesota, serving from 2009 to 2018. He resigned from his position in 2018 after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. In September 2019, he returned to the limelight by launching “The Al Franken Show” on SiriusXM. In 2021, Franken fully embraced comedy again with a standup tour.

On the day his role was announced, Gray posted this on social media, “Well, here’s to the beginning of my (long) campaign for Senator … stoked to be part of this wild story as the legend Al Franken w my partner Mcabe Gregg as Tom Davis.”

Mcabe Gregg (“The Flowers”) plays Tom Davis. The other half of the Franken and Davis writing team, Davis is known for creating “The Continental” with Christopher Walken and the “Pong” sketch with his writing partner. Davis wrote on the show from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1985 to 1994, and became an official cast member in 1977 to 1980.

Outside of “Saturday Night Live,” Davis and Franken reunited for “One More Saturday Night” and also acted in “Coneheads,” the movie. Davis was a voice actor on the “Coneheads” animated special.

Davis died in 2012 of cancer at 59.

Kaia Gerber (“Bottoms”) plays Jacqueline Carlin, the ex-wife of “Saturday Night Live” actor Chevy Chase. Fun fact: Carlin was the first woman to appear on “Saturday Night Live,” in the “New Dads” sketch.

Carlin was a background character in a handful of “SNL” sketches from 1975 to 1976. 1976 was also the year Chase would exit “SNL” and marry Carlin.

The pair divorced four years later in 1980.

Carlin died in July 2021 at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer.