SNL Stars Who Crashed And Burned

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This article contains references to suicide and addiction.

“Saturday Night Live” celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025, a monumental achievement for a late-night sketch show that introduced a scruffy group of actors — known collectively as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players — who went on to become comedy legends. It’s fair to say that the show revolutionized television, with viewers embracing skits on “Saturday Night Live” that really pushed boundaries. Meanwhile, the show has also been responsible for launching the careers of a staggering number of stars, a lengthy list that includes the likes of Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Jimmy Fallon, and dozens more.

Understandably, fans are curious about the real reason why these stars left “SNL,” and not every member of the cast has experienced that level of fame. Over the course of five decades, some have had more modest careers in film and television, while others have faded into obscurity after their time with the show. Some, in fact, have even undergone major career transformations beyond the world of showbiz; long-time “SNL” writer-performer Al Franken, for example, became a U.S. Senator until allegations of inappropriate behavior compelled him to resign.

For many “Saturday Night Live” alums, the path after the show has been rocky, full of the kind of ups and downs that, to be fair, are typical in the careers of most actors. Some, however, have been rockier than others. To find out more, keep on reading for a look at some “SNL” stars who crashed and burned. 

Charles Rocket joined “Saturday Night Live” for the widely derided 1980-81 season, in which an entirely new cast was brought in after series creator Lorne Michaels and the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players exited. Rocket was envisioned as the next Chevy Chase, tapped for the high-profile Weekend Update anchor role. 

It all went horribly wrong during a sketch spoofing the shooting of oil magnate J.R. Ewing on TV series “Dallas,” a moment that became one of the biggest “SNL” controversies of all time. Rocket casually remarked, “I’d like to know who the f*** did it.” At that time, new producer Jean Doumanian was burning bridges with the network. “Doumanian got out of control,” then-NBC president Fred Silverman said in an interview for “Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.” For Silverman, Rocket’s live-television F-bomb was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. “And that was it,” Silverman recalled. Rocket was summarily fired, and Doumanian was ousted.

After that, Rocket continued acting, and he appeared regularly in film and television over the next few decades, including recurring roles on TV series, including “Touched by an Angel,” “Moonlighting,” and “Max Headroom.” However, it’s fair to say that his career never reached the bar set by the members of the original cast. Sadly, Rocket took his own life in 2005.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

Comedian Victoria Jackson was hired for the 1986 season of “Saturday Night Live” and appeared in numerous sketches and Weekend Update bits until leaving in 1992. After her “SNL” exit, Jackson remained a familiar face (and voice) on television, guest-starring in series ranging from “Touched by an Angel” to “Diagnosis Murder,” along with appearing in numerous animated series. 

During the 2010s, Jackson became increasingly politically active, aligning herself with the burgeoning right-wing Tea Party movement. This ultimately led her to become one of the stars who have been shunned by Hollywood. Eventually, Jackson was more likely to be seen on TV deriding Democrats on Fox News than in an acting role. Before ultimately becoming a full-throated supporter of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, Jackson courted notoriety by criticizing “Glee” for positively depicting same-sex relationships, calling for the adoption of “White History Month,” and referring to former President Barack Obama as a “racist,” a “communist,” and the “anti-Christ.” As Jackson told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2022, her conservative views and staunch religious beliefs torpedoed her career. “I was blacklisted,” she said, blasting the current iteration of “SNL” as politically biased. “It’s obvious that they want to push a far-left agenda to indoctrinate a new generation,” she said.

In 2024, Jackson revealed that she’d been diagnosed with inoperable breast cancer and would not be around much longer. “I have 34.8 months to live if I don’t get hit by a meteor, shot by a MAGA hater, get Covid again or WWIII breaks out,” she joked in an Instagram post.

Randy Quaid was far from an unknown when he joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1986, exiting after just one season. After all, he’d appeared in numerous movies (including the hit 1983 comedy “National Lampoon’s Vacation”) and had been nominated for an Oscar a decade earlier. Quaid’s acting career continued to flourish after his single “SNL” season, until his increasingly bizarre behavior in the late 2000s caused it to come crashing down.

In 2009, he and his wife Evi were arrested after skipping out on a $10,000 hotel bill; they managed to avoid jail time when they were sentenced to probation and community service. The following year, they were arrested again, this time charged with burglary after breaking into a home they’d once owned but had subsequently sold. The Quaids then jumped bail and fled to Canada, seeking political asylum in Vancouver due to their claims of being targeted by “star whackers” out to kill them and steal their money. “We are not criminals, nor are we fugitives from justice, nor are we crazy,” Quaid told reporters after an immigration hearing, reported Reuters. “I know I’m not crazy and I know that Evi’s not crazy,” he told The Globe and Mail.

In 2015, just as they were about to be deported to the U.S., they were arrested after crossing the border between Quebec and Vermont. A Vermont judge wound up voiding the order for their extradition, and they settled in Vermont. His acting career, however, never recovered; since 2009, Quaid has amassed just two screen credits, although he continues to be a favorite at fan conventions.

In an odd coincidence, Randy Quaid’s “Vacation” co-star Anthony Michael Hall was cast alongside him in the 1985-86 season of “Saturday Night Live.” Just 17 at the time, Hall remains the youngest cast member in “SNL” history. He also joined Quaid in being let go at the end of that season. “I’m grateful for the experience, but I didn’t have a breakout season. I didn’t even have any breakout characters or anything like that” (via The Independent).

After that, Hall’s career was a bit of a roller coaster. After a self-imposed two-year hiatus from Hollywood to deal with problematic drinking in the early 1990s, he made his directorial debut with a Showtime movie, “Hail Caesar.” He spent the rest of the decade slogging away in low-budget movies until landing the role of Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates in a TV movie, “Pirates of Silicon Valley.” That was followed by a career resurgence in 2002 when he starred in TV series “The Dead Zone,” based on a Stephen King novel. More recently, he’s appeared in “The Goldbergs,” “Reacher,” and the second season of Netflix’s “Wednesday.”

In 2016, Hall made unfortunate headlines when he got into a scuffle with a neighbor at his Los Angeles condo. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Hall was hit with felony charges after shoving the neighbor to the ground which left the man with a broken wrist and injured back. That was followed by a 2020 incident at a hotel in Austin, Texas, when he got into a profanity-laced argument with other guests at the hotel’s pool, captured on video by TMZ. 

Tony Rosato was cast in “Saturday Night Live” in 1981 after distinguishing himself on another sketch-comedy show, “SCTV.” The same wasn’t true during his tenure at “SNL,” given he was overshadowed by breakout star Eddie Murphy; Rosato only lasted a single season at “SNL.” He landed on his feet, cast as Italian busboy Aldo in a high-profile sitcom called “Amanda’s,” a Bea Arthur-starring remake of the Brit hit “Fawlty Towers.” The show was not the hit that had been hoped for and was quickly canceled. Rosato eventually returned to Canada, and during the decades that followed, Rosato remained a familiar face on Canadian film and TV series, in addition to American projects filmed in Toronto. 

His career came to a screeching halt in 2005 when he was arrested for threatening his wife and charged with criminal harassment. He was imprisoned for two years, without a trial, until he was diagnosed with Capgras syndrome, a form of mental illness that left him convinced his wife and daughter had been abducted and replaced by imposters. He was then sent to a psychiatric institution, where he spent two more years before being released in 2009. 

“There’s no question that it had a big impact,” Rosato’s former agent, Larry Goldhar, told CBC News of Rosato’s incarceration. “He had been a creative, dynamite force prior to that.” After his release, Rosato resumed acting. “He was still gifted and creative, but he didn’t have the spark anymore,” Goldhar added. “I think the medication took it away from him.” Rosato died in 2017 at the age of 62.

Even the most ardent “Saturday Night Live” fan will likely draw a blank when confronted with the name Dan Vitale. He was, however, a featured player on the show, appearing in just four episodes during the 1985-’86 season. In a 2020 interview with Vulture, Vitale conceded he bore the full responsibility for why his brief tenure at “SNL” hadn’t worked out better. “I was a young guy with a lot of problems,” he said, recalling how he instantly catapulted from struggling standup comic to network television star. “Then, all of a sudden, you’ve got this huge paycheck,” he said, explaining how he was now able to afford more expensive vices.

Partway through the season, Vitale’s consumption of drugs and booze necessitated a break. “I ended up going to rehab for months, because besides drinking I was doing incredible amounts of cocaine,” he said. When he returned to the show, it had moved on without him, and he was given little to do. His contract was not renewed, and he returned to the NYC comedy clubs from whence he came. 

Ultimately, Vitale explained, he had no regrets about his “SNL” experience, believing that if he hadn’t gone to rehab, he would have experienced the same fate as fellow “SNL” alums John Belushi and Chris Farley, just two examples of the tragic details surrounding the cast members of “SNL.” “I am totally at peace with every success I did not have,” he observed. Vitale died in 2022 at the age of 66.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

During his seven-season stint on “Saturday Night Live” from 1996 until 2003, Chris Kattan was a standout thanks to recurring characters as Mango, Mr. Peepers and one-half of the dancing Butabi brothers (alongside co-star Will Ferrell). While popular with viewers, there were some “SNL” stars who couldn’t stand Kattan, including co-stars Norm Macdonald and Tracy Morgan.

His attempts at launching a movie career never took off (“Corky Romano” and “A Night at the Roxbury” disappointed both critically and at the box office), and he wound up doing TV guest spots and low-budget movies until landing a recurring role on long-running sitcom “The Middle.”

In 2017, he competed on “Dancing with the Stars,” during which he revealed that he’d broken his neck more than a decade earlier, and was still suffering lingering issues. He subsequently wrote a memoir, “Baby Don’t Hurt Me: Stories and Scars from Saturday Night Live,” claiming that the injury occurred during a 2001 “SNL” sketch. “Even today, I still can’t open my hand wide enough to use my fingers normally on the keyboard,” he wrote, via an excerpt appearing in Variety. According to Kattan, he underwent numerous surgeries and became addicted to the pain medication he was prescribed. “The impact that my injury and subsequent surgeries had on my career was immense,” he added.

Rachel Dratch joined the “Saturday Night Live” cast in 1999, where she became a fan favorite via recurring characters such as “wicked” Boston teen Denise McDenna and Debbie Downer. When she left the show in 2006, she had another high-profile job lined up — or so she thought.  

Dratch’s fellow “SNL” alum and long-time friend Tina Fey (with whom she’d worked since their days at Second City in Chicago) had cast her in a new NBC sitcom she’d created, “30 Rock.” In the pilot, Dratch played Jenna DeCarlo, best friend of Fey’s character (Liz Lemon) and star of the sketch-comedy show within the show. However, after the pilot was shot, the network wanted to go in a different direction, reportedly because NBC execs felt Dratch wasn’t pretty enough. She was fired, and “Ally McBeal” alum Jane Krakowski was cast in her role. “When I was let go, I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Dratch told the New York Post. “The direction of the character had changed, and pilots are recast all the time. I thought it would be a nonstory, but suddenly it blew up.”

While Dratch went on to appear on the show as an array of bizarre characters, ranging from a cat wrangler to an Eastern European cleaning woman, the successful TV career she’d envisioned for herself had evaporated. The offers were few and far between, and the ones she did receive weren’t great. “Script after script, they wanted me to play the unattractive lesbian or the 200-pound 55-year-old,” she said. “You start thinking, ‘That’s how Hollywood sees me?’ It was disappointing.”

Gary Kroeger was a member of the “Saturday Night Live” cast from 1982 until 1985, but Hollywood fame and fortune were not in the cards after his exit. In the years after “SNL,” Kroeger appeared in some TV guest spots (“Night Court,” “Murder She Wrote,” and “L.A. Law” among them), and experienced some success within the game show milieu, hosting “Beat the Clock” and serving as the announcer for both “Card Sharks” and “Whammy! The New Press Your Luck.”

He wound up returning to his native Iowa in 2003, settling in Cedar Falls. He became the creative director for an advertising agency, and also opened a restaurant, Figaro Figaro, in Cedar Falls, which shut down in 2019. In 2016, he announced plans to run for Congress as a Democrat. “I am back for ‘Iowa Values’ and now I see many of these values being marginalized, even eliminated, and I have to do something about it,” Kroeger wrote on his now-defunct campaign website, as reported by Adweek. He was ultimately defeated.

Kroeger has continued to perform and is a staple in the Cedar Falls community theatre scene, where he appeared in productions of such musicals as “Mamma Mia!” and “The Fantasticks.” Meanwhile, Kroeger was also a columnist for the Cedar Falls Courier, writing on topics ranging from homelessness to criticism of the Republican party.

Dana Carvey’s knack for mimicry made him a “Saturday Night Live” MVP during his seven-season tenure on the show, which lasted from 1986 until 1993. Carvey experienced big-screen success with “Wayne’s World” alongside “SNL” co-star Mike Myers, who went on to huge success with the “Austin Powers” film franchise. Carvey’s movies – including “Clean Slate” and “Trapped in Paradise” — weren’t nearly as well received, while his post-“SNL” sketch series, “The Dana Carvey Show,” was a short-lived, high-profile ratings disaster, beloved by critics but ignored by viewers.

In 1998, Carvey was forced to put his career on hold when he began experiencing issues with his heart and underwent double bypass surgery to unclog a blocked artery. He subsequently discovered that the surgeon had botched the procedure, operating on the wrong artery and leaving the clogged one untouched, and Carvey had to undergo a second surgery. Carvey sued and was ultimately awarded $7.5 million in a settlement. In his lawsuit, Carvey claimed that the surgical mistake left him significantly weakened, forcing him to turn down numerous opportunities, including a TV series, some lucrative commercials, and the chance to join “Hollywood Squares.”

As Carvey told People, being off the Hollywood radar wasn’t that big a deal to him. “I have friends who get stressed about fading or not being as hot,” he said. “I never quite engaged that.” He ultimately bounced back, and in 2022, he partnered with former co-star David Spade for their “SNL”-themed “Fly on the Wall” podcast.