BILL
HADER ON 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE'
They used to say about the late, great Phil
Hartman that he was the best thing about every sketch he was in on Saturday Night Live; the glue that held
the cast together. If he has a spiritual successor (and lord knows he deserves
one), it’s Bill Hader. After several seasons of pure, undiluted excellence,
Hader is only now getting the attention he richly deserves. He started at the
same time as Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, and while they both left the show
last year, he’s guiding the show through a year of generational change.
In his tenure, he’s created one of the
all-time great SNL characters (Stefon), developed a gallery of pitch-perfect
impressions (Alan Alda, Vincent Price, Clint Eastwood) and generally steals
every sketch he’s not a major feature of. (Just watch any of the game shows in
which he is the host, for example.) He’s an outstanding comic performer and one
SNL probably won’t see again for a
while. You can take your Sambergs, Wiigs and Ferrells. I think Bill Hader is
better than all of them.
Honourable Mention: Jason Sudeikis & Taran Killam: Sudeikis the everyman and Killam the master
impressionist are at opposite ends of the SNL tenure but they’ve been carrying
the show in tandem with Hader over the past year. I’m convinced Killam is the
show’s next franchise player, whereas Sudeikis has had an outstanding run of
shows in what’s expected to be his final season. They’re both brilliant.
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