Saturday Night Live (abbreviated as SNL) is a late-night sketch comedy and variety show conceived by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol in the United States. It premiered on October 11, 1975, with George Carlin as host.

The original title was NBC's Saturday Night. It is famous for its diverse repertory and talented cast members who perform the show's comic routines, which frequently lampoon modern culture and politics.

However, while the show's broadcast history is spectacular, it pales in comparison to the sheer number of comic stars it has spawned over the years. Of course, all of SNL's stars were funny before they appeared on the show, but who knows if any of the greats would have been found if it hadn't been for the iconic sketch comedy series.

Today's piece will look at 14 celebrities who got their start on Saturday Night Live. While everyone remembers the entertaining roles performed on the show by Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy, and Amy Poehler, there are a few huge names who people tend to forget were ever on the show.

Many people will be astonished to discover how many Hollywood hotshots are on this list, including everyone from actress Joan Cusack to Marvel Cinematic Universe legend Robert Downey Jr.

1. Joan Cusack

She was hired during Lorne's first year back on SNL in 1985, however, she was one of many cast members who were not asked to return following a tumultuous season.

2. Janeane Garofalo

The actress joined the cast in 1994 but left after only half a season because she was anxious and sad and found the setting to be too much for her. She was typically cast as a wife or girlfriend, and she considered that the majority of the skits were "juvenile and homophobic."

Janeane was one of just three women in a cast that includes Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, Norm Macdonald, Chris Elliot, and David Spade when she joined the show.

3. Laurie Metcalf

Laurie, who is most known for her Emmy-winning role on Roseanne, was a guest star on Weekend Update in a pre-recorded skit about taking a bullet for the president in the season finale episode in 1981. That season was widely seen as a flop because it was the first without Lorne Michaels.

The entire program was retooled after that dismal season and a writers' strike, and the majority of the cast was not asked back.

4. Larry David

From 1984 to 1985, David worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live, albeit just one of his pieces ever aired, and it ran at the end of the night. He even left SNL at one point but regretted it as soon as he returned home.

His next-door neighbor, who would later inspire the Seinfeld character Kramer, advised him to go back to work and pretend as if nothing had happened, which he did. David stayed on for the rest of the season at Saturday Night Live, where he came to know Julia Louis-Dreyfus well enough to cast her as Elaine.

5. Catherine O'Hara

Catherine (star of Best in Show, Home Alone, and a small thing called Schitt's Creek) attempted and succeeded in getting hired on SNL, although she never really appeared on the show. She was hired when Lorne left in 1981 when it was being retooled, but she left when her previous sketch program, SCTV, was revived.

6. Gilbert Gottfried

Another season six hire that didn't make it past the 1981 break. He did show up in a few episodes, but you wouldn't know him because he wasn't using his now-famous voice and was largely playing minor roles.

One of his lowest points on the show, he said, was impersonating a corpse in a funeral sketch.

7. Damon Wayans

Damon was recruited for the 1985-1986 season but was fired after making too many live-action alterations, such as when he played a straight cop as a flamboyantly gay cop. Wayans stated that he deviated from the script because he was unhappy that his sketches were not chosen for the show.

He returned to SNL 10 years later to perform standup comedy, indicating that there was no ill blood.

8. Sarah Silverman

Sarah worked as a writer and cast member for one season, from 1993 to 1994. She appeared in skits, but none of the scripts she authored were ever broadcast. Bob Odenkirk, a writer between 1987 and 1991, famously observed,

"I can see how it wouldn't work on SNL since she has her own voice and is constantly Sarah Silverman. She can play a character, but she doesn't blend in with it; instead, she transforms the character into herself."

She also claims that when she was hired, she was unprepared for the job.

9. Anthony Michael Hall

When Anthony was recruited at SNL in 1985, he was a big thing. At 17 years old, he was—and still is—the youngest cast member ever, having just been in The Breakfast Club and Weird Science.

Hall only got to continue on for one season because it was the experimental year when Lorne was trying to rejuvenate the show with a younger, cooler ensemble.

10. Steve Carell

Steve and his wife, Nancy Carell, are said to have auditioned for Saturday Night Live. He didn't make it onto the cast for the 1995-1996 season, but she did.

Steve was mentioned by Lorne as a talent that got away. Steve joined the cast of Dana Carvey's short-lived Dana Carvey Show, which was responsible for the creation of The Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons.

11. Stephen Colbert

Stephen tried out for Saturday Night Live but didn't make the cut. Instead, after temporarily working at The Dana Carvey Show, where Robert established The Ambiguously Gay Duo, he worked as a freelance writer alongside Robert Smigel.

Steve played Gary, while Stephen provided the voice of Ace. From 1996 until 2011, the cartoons aired on SNL on a regular basis.

12. Ben Stiller

After gaining attention with a short film spoof of Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money, Ben was hired by SNL in 1989. He left after four episodes since he was told he couldn't make any more shorts for the show.

He went on to co-create his own sketch program with Judd Apatow, which premiered on MTV in 1990 and later on Fox in 1992. Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk, both of SNL, have joined the cast of the low-rated cult hit.

13. Julia Louis-Dreyfus

She may have only lasted three seasons, but it was during a period when Lorne wasn't in charge, and Eddie Murphy's presence mostly eclipsed everything else going on, so most people forget she was ever on the show. Julia was 21 when she got the job in 1982, and it didn't seem to be the best experience she'd ever had.

She has admitted that it was often tense because she had no idea what she was doing in the sketch comedy business. It's all right, though, because SNL led her to Larry David and, eventually, to her role as Elaine on Seinfeld, where she became a true TV icon.

14. Robert Downey Jr.

Iron Man, along with Joan Cusack and Anthony Michael Hall, was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1986. He was 20 years old at the time and only stayed for a year.

Wow, that’s quite a list. Saturday Night Live has launched so many famous actors, writers, and comedians. It is no wonder that the show is almost 50 years old and still lasting.