The 12 funniest women on Saturday Night Live

Gilda Radner (1975-1980) and Jane Curtin (1975-1980)

Long before Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the original “Not-Ready-For-Primetime Players” Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin ruled the SNL news desk, with Curtin playing the straight-woman to Radner’s obnoxious Roseanne Roseannadanna. Inevitably, the sketch would devolve into one of Roseanne’s exaggerated rambling stories and end with the catchphrase, "Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something — if it ain't one thing, it's another."

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Mary Gross (1981-1985)

Meek, nerdy-looking Mary Gross did a great Nancy Reagan and Pee-wee Herman. She went toe-to-toe with outrageous personalities Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy. (In fact, Murphy’s memorable Buckwheat would be nothing without Gross’s spiky-haired Alfalfa.)

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1982-1985)

Dreyfus was 21 and inexperienced when she joined SNL and launched her breakthrough character, the eye-rolling Teen News Correspondent. She also nailed impressions of Diana Ross, Marie Osmond and MTV VJ Nina Blackwood. And it was at SNL that Dreyfus met writer Larry David, the man who would go on to create her Seinfeld character Elaine.

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Jan Hooks (1986-1991) and Nora Dunn (1985-1990)

Forget the Church Lady and Tommy Flanagan The Pathological Liar, Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn’s lounge act, The Sweeney Sisters, were the greatest characters of their SNL era. Dressed in sequined chiffon dresses, Candy and Liz Sweeney were masters of the ridiculous medley, incorporating scream singing, scatting and their signature line: Clang, clang, clang went the trolley / Ding, ding, ding, went the bell.

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Ana Gasteyer (1996-2002)

Ana Gasteyer perfected quiet characters who delivered wickedly funny lines. In two of her most famous skits, she played the monotone host of NPR's Delicious Dish, drooling over Alec Baldwin’s “Schweddy Balls” — and she was unforgettable as a topless Martha Stewart giving crafting tips: “I’ll show you how to make a festive holiday dickie out of an old turtleneck.” 

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Maya Rudolph (2000-2007)

Maya Rudolph’s Oprah was creepily accurate, her Beyonce was perfectly unintelligible, and her Donatella Versace was brilliantly inappropriate. But Rudolph's most inspired impersonation was a prank-happy version of poet Maya Angelou: “I am a rock, I am the river, I am the one who put a pie under the butt of Morgan Freeman.”

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Tina Fey (1997–2006)

Whether flanked by Jimmy Fallon or Amy Poehler, Tina Fey delivered Weekend Update’s fake news with wit and charm. And thanks to the striking resemblance, she was the ultimate Sarah Palin impersonator. But Fey’s real talent lay off-screen — as the show’s first female head writer, she turned around SNL’s longstanding reputation as a difficult workplace for women.

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Amy Poehler (2001-2008)

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey were considered Weekend Update's dream team, but Poehler and Seth Meyers were even better. (Really.) Yes, Poehler killed as Hillary Clinton, but her finest moment was the Sarah Palin rap, delivered while she was nine-months pregnant, as the real Palin watched and danced along: In Wasilla, we just chill, baby, chilla / But when I see oil, it's / Drill, baby, drilla.

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Kristen Wiig (2005-2012)

Kristen Wiig is the queen of quirky, obsessive, and over-the-top original characters, from the Target Lady to Gilly. But none of them can touch Weekend Update’s Aunt Linda, the charmingly dated movie critic. (On Borat: “It’s very simple, you need an actor with a mustache, you call Tom Selleck. I give this film an ‘Oh, Ghaa.’”)

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Drew Barrymore

We're considering Drew Barrymore an honorary SNL woman — she’s hosted six times, first when she was just seven years old. Plus, she nearly married Tom Green on the show, and she did jump in a hot tub with Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon. Even after the show’s many goofy impersonations of her, she keeps coming back for more.

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