Longest Tenures
The following is a list of the cast members with the longest tenures, who have spent eight seasons or more with the show.
| Person | Years on Show | Notes |
| Darrell Hammond | 14 | Hammond was hired after a cast overhaul in 1995. Hammond holds the record for most celebrity impersonations (107). He is also the last cast member hired in the 1990s to leave the show, the oldest cast member to leave the show (Hammond was 53 when he left the show), and the longest-running cast member at 14 seasons (1995–2009). |
| Seth Meyers | 12 | Meyers joined the show in 2001 and is currently the head writer and anchor of Weekend Update. As of 2012, his tenure on Weekend Update has reached its seventh year, making him the Weekend Update anchor who has served out the most seasons (and the only one to start out with a partner before doing the segment by himself). |
| Al Franken | 11 | Franken was hired as a writer in the beginning of the series in 1975. As the show progressed, he and Tom Davis were allowed to perform material on air sporadically. Franken left the show in 1980, but returned to the show when Lorne Michaels came back in 1985, where Franken regained his writing and on air featured status until the 20th season. |
| Fred Armisen | 11 | Armisen joined the show in 2002 and is still in the cast, currently in his eleventh season on the show. Armisen is now the show's longest-running Hispanic cast member (beating out the Chilean-born Horatio Sanz), as well as the longest-running Asian cast member (Armisen is part Japanese), the only current cast member born before 1970 (Armisen was born in 1966), and the oldest current cast member. |
| Tim Meadows | 10 | Meadows joined the show in early 1991 and was almost fired during the cast overhaul after season 20 (he was kept in the cast at the last minute in an attempt to add racial diversity to the new cast, and to give Meadows the chance to perform that he didn't get during his first five years on the show). As of 2012, Meadows is tied with Kenan Thompson for the record of longest-serving black cast member (Meadows left the show at the end of the 25th season), both having served 10 seasons on the show. |
| Kenan Thompson | 10 | Thompson joined the show in 2003 and is still in the cast, currently in his tenth season on the show. Thompson is currently tied with Tim Meadows for the record of longest-serving black cast member, and himself holds the records of longest-running cast member who was born after SNL premiered in 1975, first cast member who was born after SNL's 1975 premiere to join the show's cast, and first SNL cast member who got his start on children's shows. |
| Kevin Nealon | 9 | Nealon joined the show in 1986. He served as anchor of Weekend Update for his sixth, seventh and eighth seasons, even though he gave up his position as anchor he returned his ninth season. Nealon did not return to the show after 1995. |
| Phil Hartman | 8 | Hartman, like Nealon, joined the show in 1986. He left in 1994 and hosted the show twice in 1996. He was killed by his wife four years after leaving the show. |
| Chris Parnell | 8 | Parnell was hired in 1998 and was fired in 2001 to make way for new talent. About a year later, Parnell was rehired and remained on the show until he was let go for the second time in 2006 due to budget cuts. |
| Horatio Sanz | 8 | Like Parnell, Sanz joined the show in 1998 and was let go due to budget cuts in 2006. He served as co-anchor of Weekend Update in the thirty-first season with Poehler for a few episodes, after Fey gave birth to her first child. |
| Maya Rudolph | 8 | Rudolph joined the show in early 2000. She was absent for most of the thirty-first season following the birth of her child. She did not return to the show in 2008 after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike ended. |
| Amy Poehler | 8 | Like Meyers, Poehler joined the show in 2001. She served as co-anchor of Weekend Update with Tina Fey from 2004–2006 and with Meyers from 2006 - 2008. She left the series in 2008 to begin production on Parks and Recreation. |
| Will Forte | 8 | Forte joined the show, like Armisen, in 2002. He left the series after the release of MacGruber in 2010. |
| Jason Sudeikis | 8 | Sudeikis joined the cast in 2005, towards the end of the show's 30th season, after having been a writer for the show since 2003. He is still in the cast, currently in his eighth full season on the show. |
| Bill Hader | 8 | Hader joined the show in 2005 and is still in the cast, currently in his eighth season on the show. |
Read more about this topic: Saturday Night Live Cast Members
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