While his acting abilities lent him the uncanny ability to disappear into a variety of celebrity personas, Pharoah’s histrionic approach to comedy afforded him a chance to portray wholly original characters, each of whom came equipped with distinct characteristics, body language, and tonal differences to their voice and pronunciations. After all, who else but Pharoah could have made the line “I’ll do it” pop off the page so organically as he did in the darkly comic “Aron’s List”?
11. Chris Kattan
Like fellow 2000s cast members Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri, Chris Kattan regularly went all in when it came to his most animated sketch characters, dialing his performances up to a solid 11 no matter how minimal his screen-time might be. He may never have achieved the long-standing recognition of his fellow Roxbury Guy Ferrell, but Kattan easily matched his co-stars when it came to his wacky physical comedy and unparalleled dedication to a skit’s punchline.
In many ways, there was something fearless about the way Kattan completely immersed himself in a role, no matter how embarrassing or outwardly ridiculous it might seem. Recognizing the fact that audiences were laughing at him and not necessarily with him, Kattan threw himself fearlessly into the most preposterous characters imaginable. (Cough, cough, Mango the flirtatious male stripper; need I say more?)
10. Aidy Bryant
Saturday Night Live has always thrived when it comes to inspired partnerships or irreverent trios of comedians. Following in the footsteps of Belushi and Aykroyd, Farley and Spade, Myers and Carvey, and Shannon and Gasteyer, SNL shrewdly relied on the strength of Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, and Cecily Strong throughout the 2010s, allowing for all kinds of unique sketches and unforgettable musical performances.
Working together to weave otherwise so-so sketches into pure comedic gold, Bryant, McKinnon, and Strong simply clicked whenever they worked together in a single skit, effortlessly knocking it out of the park as Katy Perry-style pop singers or Irish game show contestants. While she always held her own opposite such talented co-stars, Bryant also confidently handled any role she was assigned to play, competently portraying mild-mannered school teachers, inquisitive UFO officials, and “half-fly, half-fairy” Tinker Bell characters humorously known as Tonker Bell.
9. Jan Hooks
Like her fellow ‘90s-era co-star Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks put her dramatic flair to good use every time she appeared in a sketch. Tapping into her theatrical background for roles both big and small, Hooks showed that, in some cases, the best thing you can do to make a comedic segment that much funnier was simply to take your role seriously.
