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‘SNL’ Used to Be a Movie Star Factory—What Happened?

Lorne Michaels and his more recent casts have pivoted to small-screen success, and “Saturday Night Live” hasn’t effectively launched a new comedy movie star in many years.

Bio, Miracle Workers, Shrill, Kenan, Schmigadoon!, Mapleworth Murders, The Kids in the Hall, MacGruber, Los Espookys, Bust Down, Bupkis and That Damn Michael Che— in addition to his role as executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Even the SNL alums who’ve enjoyed hits away from Lorne have done so on the small screen, including not just Barry and Ted Lasso, but also Forte’s Last Man on Earth, Samberg’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Tim Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave, Nasim Pedrad’s Chad, Casey Wilson’s Happy Endings, and currently Abby Elliott on The Bear and Rudolph on Loot. NBC may have given up on Freaks and Geeks after only one season, but Feig and Apatow went on a run starting with 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin where they made stars out of Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, John C. Reilly, Emma Stone, Amy Schumer, and, unfortunately, Russell Brand.

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