I personally find the mid 1990's to be the last truly great era of SNL, the era with Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Farley and Rob Schneider.
shareThe Chris Farley days for sure. I still love that dude!
shareMy favorite was probably the Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey and Dennis Miller years.
shareThat is my favorite era also. I really loved Dana Carvey on SNL and still think he was the most talented cast member they ever had (and Phil Hartman was so great also...RIP). It's too bad Dana Carvey never really had a movie that allowed him to showcase his great talents...none of his movies did the trick, IMO.
I would probably agree with the OP in regard to the last great era (regarding the full cast). I've never really been a huge Will Ferrell fan, but I do have to profess my love for the "Don't Fear (The Reaper)"/"We need more cowbell" stretch. I'll give that whole era a "pass," solely because of that skit! 😃 That's one of the all-time great skits, IMO.
Ah yes, here is the "power trio" of Farley, Sandler, Spade as the Gap Girls (with appearance from Schneider)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMitjMTi__4
I have no problem with the idea that this was the last great era. But I would extend it a little longer...maybe to the early 00's.
"Great" is the key word. The original cast with Chevy Chase's replacement Bill Murray because everyone in the show was funny and it was both edgy and funny. IMHO, the shows after them never became better than "good" although they had a few very talented comedians like Hartman Farley, Murphy and McKinnon.
shareI agree with this 100%. Those first 5-6 seasons were pure gold. As good as some individual cast members after that were like Murphy, Farley, Hartman. Carvey etc, the show never quite recaptured it's early brilliance.
shareDon't follow the show, when I see 'highlights' they are usually painfully unfunny. But...
Kate McKinnon & Kristin Wiig are the best female cast memebers ever - both hilarious generally, great impressionists. The older ones always get a big nostalgia bump. Forget that, these two stand out.
While men doing impressions of women has been the stuff of comedy forever, the reverse is rare...and McKinnon's Justin Bieber is just great. I was a fan of Wiig, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4diQzaP_x3k&t=184s
Anyone remember these classic Chris Farley skits?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive
Down by the River with David Spade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stqG2ihMvP0&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive
Chippendales audition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOSejS1SSY&ab_channel=SaturdayNightLive
Gay pool party with Adam Sandler
The Schmitt's Gay skit is awful now that they replaced the Van Halen song "Beautiful Girls".
shareI don't remember the year but when started making the "SNL Digital Shorts" that would go viral on YouTube. That was the last the show still cared about being funny.
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