Skip to content
While many of the characters that are presented on Saturday Night Live over the last 35 or so years have been flops, it’s the memorable ones that keep the viewers coming back for more. Many of these characters are played by some of the best actors ever to grace the SNL stage and they go off to make movies based on that character while others just live on in our memories from the SNL episode. Here are a few of those popular characters that we’d love to see come back for at least one last performance.
Harry Caray
With all of the memorable characters that Will Ferrell has played, few are as popular as Harry Caray, the iconic announcer for the Chicago Cubs. Ferrell’s over the top performance of Cary’s bobblehead-like disposition, messed up hair, huge black-rimmed glasses and weird phrases (“If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?”) mustered up huge laughs when he would make an appearance on Weekend Update.
The Spartan Spirit Cheerleaders
If you knew that the names of these two characters (played by Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri) were Craig and Ariana, you are a hardcore fan of SNL. These two always knew how to “bring it” when their team needed the perfect cheer. Surprisingly, there was no movie made based on these two characters, but that doesn’t diminish their popularity or their hilarity.
Matt Foley
It would be impossible to recreate the genius that Chris Farley brought to the SNL stage so bringing this character back is nothing more than a dream. But Matt Foley, who lives “in a van down by the river,” is possibly one of the funniest characters ever. It was always funny to watch the other actors lose it when he did his comedic screaming as he taught teenagers important life lessons while destroying the living room furniture in their house.
Debbie Downer
One of the reasons this character, played by Rachel Dratch, is so funny is because most of us know someone who is like this. They always have a way to bring down the party or give a buzzkill to a group that is having a good time. Debbie Downer embodied that idea and she always did it in a depressingly hilarious way.
Phil Donahue
As an honorable mention, I just wanted to include Darrell Hammond on this list. He does the best impression of Phil Donahue that I’ve ever seen and it would be great to see him do “The Hue” at least one more time.
What popular Saturday Night Live character would you like to see make at least one last appearance?