There was brief time where I thought he was the best performer on the show but he left in the middle of his peak to do a bad Arnold movie and a sitcom that got cancelled
Taran Killam
I'm taking someone that screwed up on her first show but deserves a second chance
I had it between him, Beck, and a couple others guys who weren’t picked. He’s pretty solid. I think most of the current cast is now actually. Not much else to say. Pickings are slim, but I’m happy with this one.
Musical guest
Simon and Garfunkel
Paul Simon had been a great contributor on the series. Can work him into sketches as well if I like.
I’ll talk about my almost picks when it’s all said and done.
So I'm a little surprised this guy is still on the board. Nonetheless, he can be used in a variety of ways and will co-anchor Weekend Update with Amy Poehler. Ladies and gentlemen, Seth Myers.
So I know he literally is only known for getting fired after saying "fuck" intentionally on the air but I want that kind of unpredictability on my show.
Charles Rocket
And for musicla guest it's hard to go wrong with arguably the most popular country artist of all time, especially when you can use him in sketches.
I was surprised at how far Seth Meyers, Bobby Moynihan, and Taran Killam fell. I remember all three being popular enough and not hated. Seth Meyers isn't the most charismatic or entertaining person, but he was a decent enough Update anchor. If I knew he would last this long I wouldn't of jumped on a WU anchor so fast, because he's perfectly serviceable and fine at that spot.
I feel like Redd would've been better off in another era. He's really good on the rare glimpses they just let him be himself. I think his career highlight was screaming at Southern Mama for being a jackass backstage at JFL New Faces though.
I think Nirvana's eligible just cause I didn't say anything about musical guests not being eligible twice?. I'll post my final cast list and an outline for my show sometime in next few days!
Undrafted Castmembers:
George Coe
Michael O'Donoghue
Tom Davis
Peter Aykroyd
Jim Downey
Don Novello
Paul Shaffer
Alan Zweibel
Denny Dillon
Robin Duke
Gail Matthius
Gilbert Gottfried
Matthew Laurence
Yvonne Hudson
Ann Risley
Tony Rosato
Patrick Weathers
Christine Ebersole
Brad Hall
Gary Kroeger
Rich Hall
A Whitney Brown
Robert Downey Jr
Anthony Michael Hall
Terry Sweeney
Dan Vitale
Siobahn Fallon
Melanie Hutsell
Jay Mohr
Mark McKinney
Chris Elliot
Jim Breuer
David Koechner
Nancy Walls
Fred Wolf
Jerry Minor
Dean Edwards
Jeff Richards
Casey Wilson
Micaela Watkins
Paul Brittain
Tim Robinson
Colin Jost
John Milhiser (first one I legit haven't heard of. Have no memory of. Had to Google it to make sure it was person)
Brooks Whelan
Kyle Mooney
Sasheer Zamata
Michael Che
Pete Davidson
Jon Rudnitsky
Mikey Day
Heidi Gardner
Luke Null
Ego Nwodim
Chloe Fineman
Bowen Yang
Take that me and maybe only @The Valeyard would agree with. You could make a perfectly decent to good cast based on the unselected. Some great talent left on the board. David Koechner is one I always forget was on SNL and honestly am not sure why it didn't work out there.
It would be a white dude heavy cast but hey---that's SNL for most of its history.
Idk why but genuinely stunned that Jim Breuer didn't get drafted either. Yeah, he's moderately annoying but not go completely undrafted level of annoying IMO.
I like Breuer more than some of the new guys that got drafted. BUT OLD SCHOOL IS COOL AND NOSTALGIA FOREVER.
Out of that list Gilbert, David Koechner, Casey Wilson and Chris Elliot were the ones I came closest to picking. I didn't think Jenny Slate and Taran Killam would still be there. I probably should've picked Elliot as my weirdo instead of Randy Quaid now that I'm thinking about it. I've always found that guy really funny and it's lame that Cabin Boy is what he's most known for.
These two picks might annoy the SNL purists that don't believe in short SNL runs. I'm taking two oddball guys that didn't fit in with SNL at all but are really unique and interesting as performers
Heidi Gardner and Mark McKinney Were the remaining names on my list at the end. Half heartedly thought about Jay Mohr so he could do his shitty Walken against Walken.
I don't know if he would mesh with anyone on my cast other than Stiller. Also poor Janeane's head would explode if she had Murray, Damon Wayans, Randy Quaid and RDJ to deal with. That's a lot of volatile coked up manly dudes.
Chris Elliot had one good SNL sketch which is one more than a few late round picks had. I was almost certain he would be picked but I guess this boar isn’t as fond of early alt comedy as I thought.