The best 'Saturday Night Live' cast members of the 2010s

Thompson was on the show for the entirety of the 2010s, so he needs to be included. Oh, and he joined the show in 2003, and also he’s still on the show. Thompson, who was also on the children’s sketch show “All That” as a youngster, is by far the longest-tenured “SNL” cast member in the show's history. You certainly don’t stick around on “SNL” for this long if you aren’t bringing a bunch to the table.

Hader only spent three seasons on “Saturday Night Live” in the 2010s, leaving in 2013. However, he’s a member of the pantheon of “SNL” cast members, a true all-time great. If Hader had only given us one season in the decade, that may have been hard to justify, but three seasons? Of Bill Hader? That’s an easy call.

Wiig is the last of the members of the 2000s list on this list, and she only was on the show for two seasons of the 2010s. Evidently, that does cross our threshold. Hader and Wiig are special cases. Wiig is the choice of many for the best “SNL” cast member in history. She’s a beloved icon of the show, maybe even on the Mount Rushmore potentially. That earned her a spot.

It makes sense that Moynihan would spend nine seasons on “Saturday Night Live,” as he excelled in that sketch-comedy milieu. He wasn’t much of an impressionist, but if you wanted a big, over-the-top character, he could do it without being too much. Moynihan could also do character pieces at the “Weekend Update” desk with the best of them. His acting career has been less successful, but it feels like it is about him getting the right project.

Killam was something of the heir apparent to Chris Parnell, though a couple years separated their runs. If you needed somebody who could heighten comedy while being the straight man in a sketch, he could do it. He also could use the facade of a straight man to play deranged and off-the-wall characters. “SNL” always needs a cast member who can do that.

Bayer has more of a specific and distinct style as a performer, but she managed to carve out a memorable tenure on “Saturday Night Live” anyway. Like Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler before her, Bayer was often the one who stepped into kid roles. Her most successful celebrity impression was Miley Cyrus, after all. Sometimes her wavelength didn’t quite work on “SNL,” but even then, it was interesting to see her do her thing.

When you look at Bryant’s list of recurring characters and impressions, they both seem kind of scarce. We feel that way, though, because she made such an impact you’d think she had a laundry list of memorable characters and impressions. Maybe it’s because she spent a full decade on the show, which has become more common but is still overall a rarity. Bryant was never the shining star of “SNL,” but a standout in a secondary role.

McKinnon, on the other hand, was often the star. And rightfully so! Of all the cast members who started their careers on “SNL” in the 2010s, hers is the best. Twice, McKinnon won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on “Saturday Night Live.” Every supporting actress on a sitcom was in the mix, and she beat them twice with her sketch work! McKinnon did return for part of one season to set the record for longest-tenured female cast member, which is a bit of stats juking we don’t love, but we’ll let it slide because she was so good on the show.

Following in the footsteps of The Lonely Island, the comedy group Good Neighbor all got hired by “Saturday Night Live,” though not all as cast members. Bennett is one of the two that did make the cast, though. While Good Neighbor didn’t have the impact with digital shorts that The Lonely Island did, Bennett’s capacity on that front was well-used. He was also a skilled sketch performer, paving the way for a successful eight-season run.

Mooney is the other Good Neighbor member who got into the “SNL” cast. He took a handful of his old sketch characters and was able to successfully integrate them into the world of NBC’s sketch titan, while also becoming a fairly-adept impressionist. While on “Saturday Night Live,” Mooney was also able to star in, and co-write, the movie “Brigsby Bear,” which was directed by Good Neighbor and “SNL” director Dave McCary.

Pedrad’s one of those “SNL” cast members who at the time felt overlooked, but with hindsight her work on the show pops. She was able to make quite an impact in only five seasons. Pedrad then left “Saturday Night Live” to co-star in the sitcom “Mulaney.” While that show flopped, Pedrad was quite good in it, and she’s gone on to cultivate a fine comedy career for herself.

Zamata is probably the only cast member in “SNL” history named after an esoteric “Star Trek” reference. It’s a bit surprising she was only on the show for four seasons. Maybe that’s because, as the first black woman in the show’s cast since Maya Rudolph, there were plenty of impressions for her to step into. Zamata chose to leave the show, and has had a couple reasonably successful sitcom runs afterward. Also, she’s done a lot of work with the ACLU, which is pretty cool.

Jost is an “SNL” lifer at this point. He’s been writing for the show since 2005, and he became head writer in 2012. In 2014, he was tapped to replace Seth Meyers as one of the anchors on “Weekend Update.” He’s been there ever since. Jost is now the longest-tenured “Weekend Update” host in the show’s history. Sure, that’s basically all he’s done, other than his many years as head writer, but he’s carved out quite the role in doing so.

Because of the extended runs on “Saturday Night Live” that have happened in recent years, it can be overlooked that Day joined the show in 2016 and is still there. Though he built his career on being a correspondent on a few shows prior to being hired by “SNL,” he’s ended up taking on a ton of impressions over the years. Also, while it happened in the 2020s, we would be remiss for not mentioning the “Beavis & Butt-Head” sketch he did with Ryan Gosling. It may have been the most viral “SNL” sketch since the days of The Lonely Island.