10 Saturday Night Live Cast Members Who Have Stuck Around the Longest

Rudolph joined the cast at the end of the 1999-2000 TV season and appeared on nine seasons overall. Along with original characters like "Glenda Goodwin," Rudolph specialised in musical performances and a huge variety of celebrity impressions. Since leaving SNL in 2007, she's become one of the top women in comedy, continuing to collaborate in film and television with former co-stars and appearing as a guest on SNL to this day.

Nealon was a staple of SNL between 1986 and 1995 for a total of nine seasons on the show. His notable creations include Mr. Subliminal, Gannon PIPI (Politically Incorrect Private Investigator), Bob Waltman (a male parody of Barbara Walters), and Franz, one half of "Hans and Franz" along with friend and co-star Dana Carvey. After leaving the show, he continued working in comedy, taking on a role on the sitcom Still Standing and, later, an arc on the dark comedy Weeds.

Moynihan joined the show in 2008 and stayed for nine seasons, through 2017. Among his most popular characters were Obnoxious Microphone Guy, the always-inaccurate Weekend Update reporter Anthony Crispino, and several "child" characters. He's been continuing to work in comedy, but has switched mainly to voice work, with roles in Star Wars Resistance and The Secret Life of Pets, among others.

McKinnon joined the show in April of 2012 and has been a regular cast member ever since, bringing a slew of political impressions and unique characters. During the 2016 election, she played the SNL version of Hillary Clinton, but she's not just an impressions expert: her original characters include Russian villager Olya Povlatsky and Debette Goldry, an ageing actress. McKinnon's next role is a little different than sketch comedy: playing Jess Carr in the ripped-from-the-headlines movie Bombshell.

You know him as the principal from Mean Girls, but before then, he spent a decade on SNL, playing characters like Leon Phelps the "Ladies Man." Meadows also specialised in celebrity impersonations, including OJ Simpson, Oprah, Michael Jackson, and Tiger Woods. Since ending his regular tenure on SNL, he's become a staple of the comedy film and TV world, with his most recent role being as a parrot-owning guidance counselor on The Goldbergs.

Armisen spent 11 seasons, from 2002 to 2013, as a cast member on SNL, honing his memorable personalities. Alongside celebrity impersonations including Barack Obama, Prince, and the Queen, he developed plenty of quirky original characters like Billy Smith, the Native American comedian, and talk show host Roger Brush. Armisen and comedy partner Carrie Brownstein created the award-winning sketch comedy show Portlandia and were nominated for several Emmys between 2011 and 2018.

Yes, that Al Franken. Before he was a senator, he was a comedian for 12 seasons of SNL, scattered in several stints between 1977 and 1995. His most memorable character by far was Stuart Smalley, a recurring character who was a woefully inept self-help guru. After his comedy career stalled, Franken shifted into progressive politics, where he started out as a talk radio personality and eventually won a seat in the US Senate, where he served from 2009 to 2017.

Meyers's run on SNL lasted a whopping 13 seasons, from 2001 to 2014. Some of his most memorable work came at the Weekend Update desk, often opposite Amy Poehler, and he was one of the head writers from 2006 onward. Immediately after leaving SNL, Meyers stayed in the NBC family, replacing Jimmy Fallon as the host of Late Night.

Until 2017, Hammond held the record for longest tenure of any SNL cast member in history, with 14 seasons from 1995 to 2009. His most popular and long-running celebrity impression was of Bill Clinton, and he also impersonated several other political figures of the era, including Al Gore, John McCain, and Dick Cheney. Hammond hasn't totally left the SNL family, though: since 2014, he's been the show's announcer!

Kenan Thompson, who has been with SNL since 2003, has 17 seasons and counting on the show. He currently holds the record for most celebrity impressions performed on the show, with 138 individual impressions in his repertoire! Thompson is currently the most senior cast member on the show and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.