The best 'Saturday Night Live' cast members of the 1980s

Doumanian made a lot of mistakes, but she had made one unimpeachably stellar decision: she hired Murphy. Murphy is arguably the biggest star “SNL” ever produced. He quickly rose to superstardom on the show, so much so that it effectively became “The Eddie Murphy Show.” That lasted for four seasons before he left for massive movie stardom. Oh, and he wasn’t even 20 yet when “SNL” hired him.

Piscopo is the other Doumanian hire to find any success. Is it because he hitched himself to Murphy’s star? To a degree, but he did his own thing as well. Piscopo was a better impressionist than Murphy, with his Frank Sinatra proving quite successful. He had a strong four-season run, but wisely got out when Murphy left the show.

Catherine O’Hara, a comedy legend, was hired for “Saturday Night Live” prior to the 1981-82 season. She also left the show before appearing in a single episode (the urban legend is that writer Michael O’Donoghue scared her off, but in reality she just wanted to return to Canada and “SCTV”). Thus, another Canadian comedy performer, Duke, was hired in her place. She would last for four seasons and found success with recurring characters and bizarre one-offs, like the time she played Mrs. T next to Mr. T.

Kazurinsky comes across as a straight-laced guy, so it’s kind of a surprise that he was friends with both John Belushi and Bobcat Goldthwait. Then again, maybe high-energy, anarchic comedy performers recognized the power of a good straight man. Kazurinsky could do that, but he also could do broad characters. And, um, play multiple Indian characters even though he was not south Asian in any way.

With Louis-Dreyfus, it’s complicated. All in all, she’s had an incredible career. She is one of the all-time sitcom legends, giving incredible turns in “Seinfeld” and “Veep.” On “SNL,” she was not as well-used, and also was quite young and hadn’t figured things out just yet. So, what we are left with is a clearly-talented, not-quite-there performer who popped in fits and starts. JLD was good on “SNL,” but maybe not as good as you would have imagined.

Sure, Short was only on “Saturday Night Live” for a single season as part of a, “What if we hired famous comedy people?” experiment. He’s also, you know, Martin Short. The dude was built for sketch comedy. He was great on “SNL,” even if he did just port over some “SCTV” characters. He could have been an all-time “SNL” legend, but he had other fish to fry.

Guest was also part of the 1984-85 season-long experience, next to Short, Billy Crystal, Rich Hall, and the ever-tempestuous Harry Shearer. Crystal, who is talented if exasperating, mugged a bit too much for his own good. Guest, if nothing else, commits to a bit. On “Saturday Night Live,” that’s a great instinct to have.

In 1985, when Michaels returned, the first cast members were hired who would last at least five seasons since the original “Not Ready for Primetime Players.” Dunn is one of the three members of that trio. As a versatile female performer, Dunn took on a lot of impressions and had several recurring characters. She’s also notable for refusing to participate in an episode hosted by Andrew Dice Clay in protest of his standup act.

Sure, Miller couldn’t do characters. He was just always Dennis Miller. And yes, he’s easy to poke fun at. His politics are spotty at best. All that aside, he was immensely successful at being “Dennis Miller,” and his persona worked for a long time. He found an ideal home on “Weekend Update,” where his (sometimes sweaty) loquaciousness was rewarded. Some of his references were funny, and they weren’t tired back in the 1980s. You can recognize both the positives and negatives of the Dennis Miller experience, one that lasted six seasons on “SNL.”

Lovitz did not have the same anarchic spirit as John Belushi, but he is similar in that all of his best characters felt like “Jon Lovitz” characters. His range was not vast, but in his niche Lovitz soared. Nobody played arrogant idiots with the same aplomb as Lovitz. Whether he was a master thespian or a pathological liar, he nailed that tone.

Many “SNL” cast members speak of stress and anxiety related to their work on the show, but by all accounts Hooks felt it as hard as anybody. And yet, for five seasons, you never would have noticed when she was onscreen. She was onscreen a lot as well, doing a litany of impressions and a handful of original characters. Sadly, like many, Hooks self-medicated for her various emotional impingements and smoked and drank until the very end, and end that came when she was only 57.

Carvey is forever tied to Mike Myers thanks to “Wayne’s World,” but Myers did not join the show until 1989 (so look out for him on our best of the ‘90s list). While Myers became a bigger star, Carvey was a better sketch performer. He’s an all-time “SNL” performer, and probably the best (if not the most accurate) political impressionist, creating indelible takes on George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot. Being able to do that, "well, isn’t that special?”

These days, in a world where Kenan Thompson exists, what constitutes a long stay on “Saturday Night Live” has been redefined. However, when Nealon stuck around for nine seasons, it was unheard of. He did some character stuff, but he really honed his “Kevin Nealon” persona, which is either the dumbest version of a smart person or the smartest version of a dumb person. Also, an underrated “Weekend Update” host.

Heaping praise on Hartman as a “Saturday Night Live” cast member has been done to death, and also it can never be overdone. If you want to call him the best cast member ever, we would not press back hard on that. He could be incredibly funny, and do so being both broad and smart. However he earned a reputation as the ultimate glue guy because he was totally fine being the straight man in a scene. Hartman appears in more sketches not built around him than most “SNL” greats. That just makes him all the greater.