The most obscure Saturday Night Live cast members aren’t necessarily the ones with the least amount of screen time. For example, one comic lasted a single episode as a featured player back in 1981, but can we really call Tony- and Emmy Award-winning actress Laurie Metcalf obscure? On the other hand, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll recognize these eight forgotten SNL cast members, regardless of how many times they appeared on the show.
Emily Prager
Like Metcalf, Prager only appeared on a single episode of SNL. Unlike Metcalf, you don’t know her from anything else.
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Dan Vitale
Lorne Michaels returned to Saturday Night Live during Season 11 after a four-year sabbatical, making several high-profile casting mistakes as well as low-key, little-remembered ones like Vitale, a comic who only appeared in three episodes.
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Luke Null
Anyone remember Null, a comic who got to star in sketches with Kenan Thompson and Mikey Day? The scarcity of laughs in this one is downright painful.
Morwenna Banks
Banks was a late hire in Season 20, appearing in that year’s last four episodes. By the beginning of Season 21, she was gone. Here she is in the thankless role of Wife With Only A Few Lines.
Matthew Laurence
A few of SNL’s most obscure cast members came during Season Six, the year after the remaining original Not Ready for Prime Time Players left for good. Laurence joined the show mid-year, long enough to get his face in the opening credits and not much else.
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Yvonne Hudson
Hudson was SNL’s first Black female cast member, and you’ve never heard of her since she got the boot after half a season.
George Coe
Every single member of the show’s original cast is a household name — every single one, that is, except for George Coe. Allegedly, Coe was hired to play “older guy” parts on the show and once Michaels decided his younger cast could handle the roles, Coe was given the heave-ho.
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Jon Rudnitsky
In recent years, bloated casts have meant some new hires rarely got time on the Studio 8H stage. That includes Season 41’s Rudnitsky, who shares favorite moments that you likely don’t remember.
