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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →By seasons credited as cast members, Kenan Thompson leads the longest-serving Saturday Night Live performers with 24 seasons. The ranking below uses cast seasons—not episodes, writing credits, hosting appearances, or other work on the show—and preserves the tie between Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon. Because of that tie, ten ordinal positions include eleven people.
Who are the longest-running SNL cast members?
The season totals below come from an editable secondary cast-tenure table, not an official NBC all-time ranking. The table was checked October 8, 2026; season totals can change while a performer remains on the cast.
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- Kenan Thompson — 24 seasons. Thompson is the clear leader by cast seasons. The Associated Press also described him as the show’s longest-running cast member during its 50th-anniversary coverage in February 2025. The AP’s account of the anniversary notes that SNL premiered on October 11, 1975.
- Darrell Hammond — 14 seasons. Hammond’s cast tenure ran from 1995 through 2009. His return in 2014 as the show’s announcer was a separate role, not renewed cast service.
- Colin Jost — 13½ seasons.
- Michael Che — 13 seasons.
- Seth Meyers — 12½ seasons.
- Fred Armisen — 11 seasons.
- Mikey Day — 11 seasons.
- Cecily Strong — 10½ seasons (tied).
- Kate McKinnon — 10½ seasons (tied).
- Aidy Bryant — 10 seasons.
Strong and McKinnon share the same total, so neither is ranked ahead of the other. The list therefore has ten numbered positions but eleven names. A strict list of exactly ten people would need to omit one of the tied performers arbitrarily.
Why episode counts produce a different order
“Longest-running” can mean how many seasons someone was a cast member or how many episodes they appeared in. Those measures are not interchangeable: an episode total reflects appearances, while a season total records tenure by season.
In a separate report published March 8, 2026, LateNighter gave this episode-appearance order, based on tracking by its podcast partner The Saturday Night Network:
| Rank by reported appearances | Cast member | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenan Thompson | 456 |
| 2 | Darrell Hammond | 267 |
| 3 | Seth Meyers | 253 |
| 4 | Colin Jost | 243 |
| 5 | Michael Che | 236 |
| 6 | Fred Armisen | 220 |
| 7 | Kate McKinnon | 204 |
| 8 | Cecily Strong | 202 |
| 9 | Aidy Bryant | 197 |
| 10 | Mikey Day | 194 |
LateNighter’s episode-count report is a dated secondary tally, not an official NBC count; its figures describe the snapshot published March 8, 2026, not a current total. It also changes the relative order: Meyers ranks behind Jost by seasons but ahead of him in that episode tally.
Rank #2
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What counts as cast tenure?
This ranking counts seasons credited as cast service. It does not add time spent writing for SNL, hosting an episode, appearing as a guest, or serving in another role. That distinction matters for Hammond: his later announcing work does not extend the 14-season cast total.
The season ranking is useful for comparing the length of credited cast runs; an episode ranking answers a different question about appearances. Since the season figures come from an editable secondary table and the episode figures are a dated partner-based tally, neither should be presented as a definitive official NBC record.
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