When you think of superstars that came out of Saturday Night Live, your mind immediately goes towards the on-air talent-John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Will Farrell and many others. But they all at one time or another said words put into their mouths by the writers that worked for the show. A lot of famous names passed through the SNL writer’s room in its 50 years, and a lot of those names went on to shape comedy as we know it. Here are ten of those names.
But first, a caveat on how this list was constructed. First of all, a lot of the actors on the show wrote their own stuff. So, the list of writers is large and full of a lot of big names who went on to great things with their acting abilities. As such, I tried to focus on writers who barely if ever appeared on screen. This is why you will not find Tina Fey, Adam Sandler or Dan Aykroyd on this list. And I have weened the list to the ten writers or writing teams who I think made the most impact after their years at SNL. It is totally arbitrary. You list might be different than mine, and if it is, tell me, politely, who I missed in the comments to this article.
With that being said, let’s get started.
Alan Zweibel (1975-1980)
The first class of writers of SNL is legendary. You had Herb Sergeant, an experienced pro who worked with everyone from Perry Como to Paul McCartney, Milton Berle to Lily Tomlin. You had Anne Beatts and Rosie Shuster, who broke open doors for women everywhere. You had Michael O’Donaghue, who biting work established the show as one that pushed boundaries until they broke. And then you had Al Franken, who went where few comedians dare to go – into politics.
But I chose Alan Zweibel for one reason, for one show he co-created after he left the show – It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.
Zweibel’s writing had appeared in a number of mediums, in everything from films to novels to the stage. But it was that show that cemented Zweibel as a comedic genius. Co-created with Shandling, the situation comedy broke with the conventions of television on the time. Shandling starred as himself, and completely knew that he was a TV character. The audience was let in on the joke and they were made a co-conspirator on the plot twists the show asked for. It was absolutely brilliant.
Larry David (1984-1985)
Even though Larry David spent only one year writing for Saturday Night Live, he was already a sketch comedy veteran at the time. He was a writer and performer for ABC’s answer for SNL, Fridays, from 1980 to 1982. However, he would find his biggest success after his one-year on SNL.
In 1989. he co-created Seinfeld with comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The show is named on many lists of the best TV shows of all time. David followed it up in 2000 with Curb Your Enthusiasm. Between the two shows, he was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, winning two. Not bad for a guy who got only one sketch on during his year at SNL.
Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch (1985-1986)
In 1985, the Canadian sketch comedy group The Kids in the Hall got Lorne Michaels attention. He came calling and invited KITH members Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch to join the writing staff of Saturday Night Live. Their tenure on the show only lasted one season, but they developed a relationship with Michaels, who in turn co-produced their own self-named sketch comedy program, The Kids in the Hall, which ran on HBO and CBS from 1989 to 1995.
The Kids in the Hall was one of the most inventive sketch comedy shows in television history, and introduced such characters as The Chicken Lady, the Sizzler Sisters, and the Headcrusher to unsuspecting audiences. The show led to a feature film, Brain Candy, in 1995 and a special themed-miniseries, Death Comes to Town, in 2010. The group reunited in 2022 for a new season of their sketch comedy show. McKinney would return to SNL as a cast member from 1995 to 1997.
Bonnie and Terry Turner (1986-1993)
Bonnie and Terry Turner broke into the business as writers and performers on Tush (also known as The Bill Tush Show) which ran on the WTBS Superstation (as it was known at the time) from December 1980 to June 1981. The show was a sketch comedy show built around journalist/comedian Bill Tush and featured talent from the Atlanta region. One of their costars on the show was Jan Hooks.
Hooks eventually became a cast member on Saturday Night Live. When Hooks was hired, the husband-and-wife team started submitting skits for her to perform the show. This led them to a steady job writing for SNL for over six years, winning an Emmy for their work on the show in 1989.
When they left SNL, the pair created not one, but two seminal sitcoms. In 1996, they created 3rd Rock from the Sun for NBC, and in 1998 the created That 70’s Showfor FOX. They also co-wrote films ranging from the Wayne’s World franchise, The Brady Bunch Movie, and Tommy Boy.
Greg Daniels (1987-1990)
Greg Daniels’s name might not be a household word, but you are sure to know his most famous creations (especially if you watch a lot of Comedy Central on the weekends).
Daniels attended Harvard the same time as Conan O’Brien (see below) and worked at the Harvard Lampoon with him as well. The pair got a job writing briefly for HBO’s Not Necessary The News before joining the writers’ room at SNL. Daniels later followed O’Brien over to join the writing staff at The Simpsons, becoming one of many SNL writers to write for that show as well. Daniels first day on staff coincided O’Brien’s last.
Daniels parlayed his work on The Simpsons into a job co-creating another long-running Fox animated show, King of the Hill, with Mike Judge.
Just having that on his resume would be an example of having a very successful post-SNL career. But Daniels wasn’t satisfied. In 2005, he created the American version of The Office, arguably the best sitcom of the 21st century. If that wasn’t enough, four years later Daniels co-created arguably the second-best sitcom of the 21st century, Parks And Recreation. His co-creator? We’ll be talking about him in a little bit.
Conan O’Brien (1987-1991)
Arguably, Conan O’Brien is the most famous person to come out of the SNL writing staff, albeit it wasn’t just his writing that garnered him all that fame.
When O’Brien left SNL, he joined the writing staff of The Simpsons. While still writing for the show, David Letterman announced that he would be stepping down from hosting NBC’s Late Night With David Lettermanin order to host his own 11:30pm talk show over at CBS. SNL producer Lorne Michaels was tasked with choosing a replacement. He asked O’Brien to come on board as a producer, but O’Brien’s agent insisted that he get a chance to audition as host. O’Brien passed the audition, and Late Night With David Letterman became Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
O’Brien hosted Late Nightfor the next 16 years before he got the opportunity that Letterman never got–the chance to take over the hosting duties of The Tonight Show. However, his tenure on the show only lasted 7 months, as NBC brought back Jay Leno to replace him after ratings dipped. Later that year, O’Brien moved over to TBS and created Conan, a new talk show that he would go on to host until 2021.
Bob Odenkirk (1987-1991)
Bob Odenkirk was another SNL writer who went on to bigger fame in front of the camera, but not as a talk show host but as an Emmy-nominated actor.
Odenkirk left SNL in 1991 to get more performing work. He joined the cast of the criminally underrated The Ben Stiller Show on Fox, writing for the show and joining Stiller, Andy Dick, and Janeane Garafolo in the principal cast. The sketch comedy show only lasted one season but led to Odenkirk co-creating and co-starring in Mr. Show with David Cross. The show ran from 1995 to 1998.
When Mr. Show ended, Odenkirk acted in many guest appearances in TV Shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond, NewsRadio, Just Shoot Me!, Joey, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Entourage, The Office, and How I Met Your Mother.
In 2009, Odenkirk was cast as shady lawyer Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad. Originally only planned for three episodes, Odenkirk’s performance earned him an upgrade to series regular and a spinoff show, Better Call Saul. He was nominated for an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy six times over the course of the latter show’s run.
Adam McKay (1995-2001)
Adam McKay came to SNL to be an on-screen performer. That didn’t pan out, but his scripts were so good he was hired as a writer in 1995 and became head writer one year later, a position he held until 1999 when he was replaced in the role by Tina Fey.
After leaving SNL, McKay partnered with Will Ferrell on a number of comedy films the likes of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers, and The Other Guys. In 2016, McKay made the move over to directing more serious comedies with The Big Short, a film based on the financial crisis of 2007-2008. His work on the film would garner him an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He would also go on to direct Vice and Don’t Look Up!
Stephen Colbert (1996)
Stephen Colbert has one of the shortest runs as an SNL writer = he worked for the show on a freelance basis only through part of 1996, but any type of work counts.
Colbert his start in comedy as many Saturday Night Live writers and cast did, on the stages of Second City Chicago. But he didn’t go directly from there to SNL. He stopped over at one of the most legendary failed comedy experiments in TV history – The Dana Carvey Show. Colbert was a writer and performer on the show. He met Robert Smigel on the show and was through him that he got his shot at SNL.
In 1997, Colbert joined The Daily Show playing a parody of the type of conservative correspondents you would find on Fox News. He was so successful in the role that in 2005 he got his own spinoff featuring the character, The Colbert Report.
In 2014, David Letterman announced that he was retiring from hosting CBS’ The Late Show. It was later announced that Colbert was chosen as Letterman’s successor. He is still hosting the show today.
Michael Schur (1997-2004)
Michael Schur started working at SNL seven years after Greg Daniels left, so it was just a coincidence that they would end up working on The Office together.
Schur earned an Emmy for his writing on the series, and he also portrayed Dwight’s cousin Mose on the show. In 2009, he and Daniels co-created Park and Recreation for NBC. Originally intended as a spinoff of The Office, the series was reworked to feature the world of small town politics.
These were two of the funniest comedies of all time. Schur probably felt save going out on his own. He was right, because he would go on to create two more of the best sitcoms if all time – Brooklyn Nine-Nine in 2013 and The Good Place in 2016.
