There have been dozens of extraordinarily talented comedians in the cast of Saturday Night Live over the years, but one stands out as the best SNL-er ever: Will Ferrell.
Ferrell was selected by the Grantland website through a six-day round-robin tournament that eventually winnowed down the competition to a two-man race between Ferrell and the late Phil Hartman. The tourney was created in honour of the show’s 40th season, which kicks off next month.
In the final vote, Ferrell easily topped Hartman’s 12,762 votes with a total of 19,536, with the competition bracketed as a four-way battle between the Not Ready for Primetime Players (1975-’85), “Lorne’s Return”; (1986-’94), “More Cowbell”; (“1995-2004) and the “Digital Kids”; (2005-’14).
As Grantland notes, Ferrell’s victory as the top of the SNL heap shouldn’t come as a surprise: “He won this thing easily, and it’s hard to argue he shouldn’t have.”;
Other former SNL cast who made it into the final rounds include Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Eddie Murphy, Kristin Wiig.
Season 40 of Saturday Night Live premieres on Saturday, Sept. 24 on Global.
