It's a worthy read in many respects, but at one point he notes:
I don’t think there are that many people who think that their time here wasn’t one of the best periods of their life. It’s hard, and it’s competitive, but, as Dana Carvey says, “Show me one person who was funnier after SNL.”Here's three: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman. Robert Downey Jr?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus?
ReplyDeleteBeyond those already mentioned, there are a bunch of SNL short-timers who defy the Michaels/Carvey hypothesis. Damon Wayans. Bob Smigel. Chevy Chase. Jenny Slate. Dave Koechner. Rob Riggle. From what lots of you say about Happy Endings, probably Casey Wilson. You could make out a pretty convincing case that Chris Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean,and Chris Elliott were funnier before AND after their SNL stints.
ReplyDeleteTina Fey, Phil Hartman, Amy Poehler.
ReplyDeleteBadly used. It just wasn't her scene and now she's free to be as funny as she is. Which is considerably funny.
ReplyDeleteEnsemble players are funnier on SNL. Performance artists (Stiller, Silverman, etc) are useless on SNL and geniuses on their own.
ReplyDeleteThere's a third category that can be great at both (Ferrell, Sandler, Murphy). But I'd argue that even though they were hilarious on SNL, they stepped it up 10 notches in their movie careers.