![]() People either loved or hated the fact that he’d frequently break during sketches, but the “is laughing during skits endearing or unprofessional?” debate (for which, for the record, we stand firmly on Team Endearing) tends to diminish or overlook the fact that Fallon was an excellent cast member who did so much more than laugh during his time on the show. You wouldn’t know it now based on how well he’s doing hosting The Tonight Show, but Jimmy Fallon was pretty divisive during his time on SNL. He may not be the flashiest cast member of his, but along with Kenan Thompson he helped make up the show’s bedrock for most of the last decade. He’s a more dynamic performer than Parnell or Meadows, though, and has embodied a number of memorable roles, including Drunk Uncle, second-hand news reporter Anthony Crispino, and Niff, the hostile retail worker. He’s a solid hand who provides a good backbone to any sketch he’s in, and is more than capable of stealing a scene with a single line or even facial expression (note his appearance in Jim Carrey’s “Hellvis” monologue). Some viewers and critics wanted to peg Moynihan into the Chris Farley / John Belushi wildman role because of his size, but he was always more in line with somebody like Chris Parnell or Tim Meadows. He’s been given far more opportunity to show how hilarious he can be in the many movies and TV shows he’s worked on since leaving SNL. ![]() Meadows is the kind of competent, reliable role player that keeps a show like this running, and he was so good at it that he lasted for an entire decade. He finally established a memorable character late in his run with The Ladies’ Man, a sexual revolution relic and talk show host who gave frank and foolish advice to callers. He was a calming veteran presence as that turbulent 1994-1995 season rolled over to an almost entirely new cast, and was tasked with playing almost every newsworthy black personality of the 1990s. He was just a guy his first several years on the show, and was even fired after the 1993-1994 season, only to be rehired shortly before the next season started. What’s sad is, as obnoxious as Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley could be, Shannon was often great in other sketches when she reined in her propensity for overacting and catchphrase-spouting. So basically she was a precursor to Kristen Wiig’s worst characters, with a much lower batting average. She mastered one of SNL’s most common types of recurring sketches: the character that somebody, somewhere must like, considering how often they get tossed out on TV, but that neither you nor any of your friends are ever excited to see. Also, excluding the Super Bowl and major awards ceremonies, 40th Anniversary Special was the most-watched program on all of the major networks since a September 2011 episode of CBS' Two and a Half Men, where 28.7 million viewers watched Ashton Kutcher's first episode.Shannon is a divisive figure. The ratings were the highest since the 2004 series finale of ER, which was watched by 23.9 million viewers. Saturday Night Live's 40th Anniversary Special was watched by 23.1 million viewers last night, making it the network's most-watched primetime program in over 10 years, excluding post-Super Bowl programs. Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake kicked off the show with a memorable cold open, which is just one of many video highlights you can watch below, in case you missed the special or just want to relive it all over again. NBC aired the three and a half hour 40th Anniversary special for their beloved late night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live last night, and it was surely an affair to remember, with memorable appearances by comedians who got their start on the show, such as Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
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