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Saturday Night Live; Our Dream Cast (Of People Who Were Fired)

Saturday Night Live has long been the comedy mountaintop where the best of the best comedians in North America make their pilgrimage to stardom. From Murray to Murphy to Poehler, almost all of our favorite funny people have, at some point, paid their dues at Lorne Michaels' comedy Mecca.

But some of these comedians' stays were short-lived and ended in acrimony when Lorne unceremoniously booted them out of Eden. This article is for those rejects, rabble-rousers, and bad boys who couldn't play by 30 Rock's rules. This is the definitive Dream Team of fired SNL cast members.

Norm MacDonald

Starting with the Weekend Update desk, the late, great Norm Macdonald takes the first spot with his meandering, irreverent charm and killer O.J. Simpson jokes. As the legend goes, Norm was supposedly fired from the show for making too many wisecracks about former fugitive and NFL Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson, who was reportedly good friends with NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer.

Just a year and a half after Norm was removed from the show, Lorne Michaels perplexingly invited Norm back to host SNL which precipitated one of the boldest and most iconic opening monologues of the program's 47 years of broadcasts. Norm was always the kind of comic who took the threat of "don't joke about that" as a challenge, and his monologue skewering the hypocrisy of NBC is just one of the thousands of reasons that he's forever one of our favorite SNL alumni, discharged or otherwise.

Chris Rock

Neither the first nor the last comic to only reach their true potential after leaving Saturday Night Live, Chris Rock makes an appearance as our second pick. As part of the famous "Bad Boys of SNL" alongside Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Rob Schneider and David Spade, Chris Rock starred on the show from 1990-1993 before his abrupt exit after he revealed to Lorne Michaels and company that he had recently accepted a part on In Living Color, a more hip, more current sketch show that SNL did not want poaching its cast members.

Chris Rock tried to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Eddie Murphy, who basically single-handedly saved SNL from extinction during the '80s. However, Chris could never quite crack it as a superstar on the show, and he felt uncomfortable with the kinds of roles that he, the lone black performer in a sea of white faces, was asked to play. In Living Color represented a culture change, in his words, "This s— is getting hip. This s— is getting blacker. This s— is getting f—ing rappier. SNL is still a pretty white show. When I got hired I was the first black guy in like eight years— and In Living Color was just hip. The s— was hot."

Sadly, just three weeks after SNL booted him for joining a competitor, In Living Color was canceled and Chris was left jobless. Don't worry though, he turned it around eventually.

Sarah Silverman

Lorne Michaels has a knack for finding diamonds in the rough and turning them into stars, but sometimes those diamonds are just a little too rough and could have used a few more thousand years underground. That awful, abused metaphor is pretty much what happened with Sarah Silverman when she joined the 1992-1993 cast of SNL at the spritely young age of 22 years old. As an inexperienced young comic, Sarah struggled heavily to fit in with the famously demanding comedy monolith, and the future best character in School of Rock got the ax after just one season.

"I wrote not a single funny sketch… The fact that Lorne Michaels saw anything in me at that age was impressive." Sarah Silverman admitted of her time on SNL. Supposedly, she was fired via fax, which today sounds more quaint than soul-crushing. Luckily for all of us, she found her footing in standup and honed her craft throughout the '90s, eventually becoming one of the defining voices of the acerbic, sarcastic, socially minded comedians of the Late-Clinton to Early-Bush era of comedy.

Adam Sandler

Another star who would shine much brighter in his post-SNL career, The Sandman is the second member of "The Bad Boys of SNL" to make the list. Alongside Chris Farley, Sandler spent 1990-1995 working his way to the forefront of the program as one of the most unusual cast members in the show's history.

The recurring villain of this list is apparently Don Ohlmeyer, as the notorious producer behind the O.J. Joke moratorium was allegedly responsible for the decision to cut Adam. Said Sandler of his axing, "There was a new guy running NBC (Don Ohlmeyer). He didn't like the young guys that much. He didn't like us… and he kept saying, 'We've got to get rid of them,' that 'nobody likes them.'" Sandler credits Lorne Michales for fighting to keep him, but with plummeting ratings, change was inevitable and Adam was let go.

Just like another one of Don Ohlmeyer's victims, when Adam Sandler returned to host the show years later, he used the opportunity to mouth off at his former bosses in the most Sandler-y way possible – by writing a novelty song about it. Watch out for a special cameo by another cut cast member.

Chris Farley

If it wasn't clear from the song, when Adam Sandler told his best friend Chris Farley that he got fired, Farley's response was "they got me too." Chris Farley was one of the most talented and iconic performers to ever grace the soundstage of 30 Rock, and he could be considered the defining SNL cast member of the '90s. Despite only appearing on the show from 1990-1995, Farley is one of the most recognizable faces in the history of the program and one of the greatest comedic actors of all time.

But that didn't stop Ol' Donny O. Sandler and Farley were cleared out to make room for a new wave of performers that included the likes of Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond. While the new cast members were certainly not shoddy replacements, it's not outrageous to think that a show that runs 93 minutes with commercials every single weekend could make room for all the great '90s comedians to coexist.

Chris Farley passed away just two years after leaving Saturday Night Live, and his death left an empty space in the comedy world that still hasn't been filled to this day.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

The notorious JLD is the final entry on the list, and one of the most decorated comedic actresses of all time has probably the least fond memories of anyone on the Dream Team. Julia joined SNL in 1982 with her then-boyfriend, future-husband Brad Hall and spent three seasons on the show alongside such comedic cornerstones as Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, and Martin Short. In her third and final year on SNL, Julia encountered a writer who would last just the single season and whose own exit would be the stuff of legends for years to come. Julia Louis-Dreyfus met Larry David in the halls of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and the stars aligned.

While Julia was on SNL, she struggled with what she called a "dog-eat-dog environment", saying, "I was unbelievably naive and I didn't really understand how the dynamics of the place worked. It was very sexist, very sexist." On her time spent with her future showrunner, Julia said, "(Larry David and I) bonded because he was as miserable as I was. I would go into his office and cry a lot. He would b----, and he would write sketches, and they would not see the light of day, and I was in all of them."

It would probably feel like punishment to Julia Louis-Dreyfus for her to get thrown into a SNL Dream Cast, but we'd love to see what one of the greatest sitcom actors of all time could do if given a fair shot at a sketch show again. We'd be blown away by a Tune Squad-esque SNL Dream Team of this caliber -- that is, until one of the Monstars steals Don Ohlmeyer's powers and fires all of them.

Top Image: Broadway Video

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Adam Sandler's Most Overlooked Comedy Is Coming To Netflix

Since his early days on Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler has been considered to be one of the best comedians out there – even recently being named the King of Comedy at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. With a decades-spanning career packed with memorable films and quotable moments, it's hard to pick just one of his films as a favorite but luckily, with the help of streaming platforms, we don't have to pick just one to catch over the weekend. To make things even better, Netflix has unveiled their upcoming slate for June which reveals that the streamer will soon be making Sandler's 2009 comedy Funny People available to subscribers.

Sandwiched in between his appearance in Bedtime Stories and Grownups, Adam Sandler teamed up with Judd Apatow on the filmmaker's comedy-drama, Funny People. As with many of Apatow's movies, the director enlisted the help of his wife Leslie Mann, and frequent collaborator Seth Rogen, to co-star with Sandler alongside an ensemble cast that included Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, and Eric Bana.

In the feature, audiences meet a famous comedian named George Simmons (Adam Sandler) who has had his world flipped upside down after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. Knowing that his clock is ticking, the performer goes on an apology tour to right the wrongs with those that he's hurt during his life. On his journey to make things good, he meets an up-and-coming comedian who he takes under his wing.

Like other titles from Apatow, including the Pete Davidson-led The King of Staten Island and This is 40, the director built Funny People out to be more than your run-of-the-mill comedy by adding in the dramatic edge of George's diagnosis. While it holds 69 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the film wasn't exactly a hit with the critics who noted that the runtime was a little bit lengthy. However, there was no denying the performances from the likes of Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann who all received shining reviews.

Along with the killer lineup of ensemble and leading performers, Apatow asked the best of the best to join in on the movie-making fun. Audiences can spot cameos from legendary comedians including Andy Dick, Carol Leifer, Norm Macdonald, Paul Reiser, Ray Romano, Sarah Silverman, and others as well as appearances by Eminem, James Taylor, and Bo Burnham. Wanting to keep things as real as possible, the filmmaker also had Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen write many of their own stand-up bits for the movie.

Right now, if you were to sign into your Netflix account and search for Adam Sandler-centered films, you'd be at no loss to get crackin' on your own Sandler-a-thon. The actor has had a long career making movies with the streamer, with current titles including The Ridiculous 6, Hustle, Murder Mystery, Murder Mystery 2, The Do Over, Hubie Halloween, Sandy Wexler, The Week Of, his stand-up special Adam Sandler 100% Fresh, and even a non-Netflix produced film, his 2004 comedy-drama, Spanglish.

While other comedians have a good relationship with streamers like HBO Max and Hulu, Adam Sandler's tight grip on Netflix property sees him a step above the rest. Not only is he landing leading roles on the platform left and right, but he's also backing other titles in a production capacity. Most recently, he served as a producer on 2022's Kevin James-starrer Home Team and will add his voice to the upcoming Adam DeVine, Pierce Brosnan, Ellen Barkin, and Nina Dobrev-led The Out-Laws.

As far as his time in front of the camera, Adam Sandler's latest appearance on Netflix was alongside Jennifer Aniston in the duo's sequel to 2019's Murder Mystery, aptly titled Murder Mystery 2. He also has at least two more titles in the works with the streamer as he'll soon appear in You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah alongside Frozen powerhouse Idina Menzel and Johan Renck's Spaceman, both of which are set to come out this year.

With such a huge slate of content already released and set to come out on the platform, it's clear that Netflix and Adam Sandler are a dynamic duo that will be making films for a long time. You can catch one of the legendary comedian's best performances in Funny People when it arrives on the streaming platform on June 2.

The post Adam Sandler's Most Overlooked Comedy Is Coming To Netflix appeared first on GFR.

Norm Macdonald

in conversation Sept. 14, 2021

Norm Macdonald, in Conversation"I'd always learned that concealing everything was art. And I still believe that."

By David Marchese

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