Ranking the 30 best Saturday Night Live cast members from the show's 50 seasons

Saturday Night Live is in the midst of its 50th season, which marks a staggering anniversary for America’s flagship sketch comedy program.

There has been and will never be another pop culture phenomena quite like SNL, as it has brought us so many of our landmark comedic talents in its 50 seasons.

Trying to rank the show’s best cast members might seem like a fool’s errand. How do you compare the zany brilliance of Will Ferrell with the deadpan wit of Rachel Dratch? How can you match the once-in-a-lifetime spark of Eddie Murphy with a glue guy like Darrell Hammond?

Well, we’ve gone through the show’s 50 seasons and ranked our 30 favorite performers from the show’s history. If we left some of your favorite cast members out, you can direct all complaints to Matt Foley at his van down by the river.

Let’s dive in, shall we?