Saturday Night Live is an iconic sketch-comedy show that will be celebrating forty years of life on the air this weekend with a three hour anniversary special to air Sunday.

In those forty years, not only have they made us laugh, but they made us laugh with those belly jiggle type of laughs. SNL brought us different characters that were so cleverly written and the actors who portrayed those characters made us want to keep watching every Saturday night.

“Live from New York, It’s Saturday night” in the opening credits of the show are words that have helped form SNL fan bases and cults. Every generation who has watched and enjoyed the show know these words and look forward to hearing them.

Some memorable characters that have been created exclusively on SNL are Raheem Abdul Muhammed, Mister Robinson, Buckwheat, Ed Grimley, Pat, The Coneheads, Target lady, Mary-Katherine Gallagher, Church lady and The Spartan Cheerleaders.

The reasons for these characters and other characters not mentioned being so memorable are a combination of superb writing talent from amazing comedy writers and brilliant character actors who know how to drive those belly laughs out of you.

There are too many characters to list and too many actors to list that have given us great comfort over the past forty years. Hello, forty years may go fast, but it is a long time. It’s amazing to think about how when the show started, some of the shows current stars weren’t even born yet. How is that for a television show making history and making you feel old?
Some of those actors that brought some of the most amazing characters of all time have went onto future projects. Their dreams have taken them on a journey that had them leave the show to pursue other aspects in the industry. Those actors may have gotten their start on SNL, but they have grown into bigger and brighter stars. They will always remember their old stomping grounds and make special visits back. These stars made an impact on the show during their stint and their impact was strong to leave a footprint on viewers hearts thereafter.

Without further ado, TheCelebrityCafe.com is counting down the top 10 stars that have a post-Saturday Night Live career and their star is still shining.

Honorable mentions
Billy Crystal
David Spade
Martin Short
Gilda Radner
Chris Farley
Molly Shannon
Jane Curtin
Dana Carvey
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Dan Aykroyd

image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com

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10.Eddie Murphy

Murphy graced the world with his comedic presence as a cast member from 1980-1984. He dominated during his run on the show. He stole the hearts of viewers and created his own fan base. His memorable characters that resonate to this day with a fan are Buckwheat, Mister Robinson, Gumby and Tyrone Green.

Murphy already had comic actor as a skill and pursued other projects. He did the popular, money making stand-up comedy specials, Delirious and Raw. He delivered box office domination with his Beverly Hills Cop franchise. He delivered gems like Trading Places, 48 Hours, Coming to America, The Golden Child and gave his voice to the high grossing animated film franchise for Shrek. He won a Golden Globe for his work in Dreamgirls in 2007.

He even recorded music as a singer. He recorded a couple of albums. His most note-worthy single is "Party all the Time".

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9.Bill Murray

Murray was with SNL from 1977-1980. He won an Emmy for his work on the show.

Murray became famous for box office hits such as the Ghostbusters franchise, Caddyshack, Stripes and Tootsie.

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8.Chevy Chase

Chase began his SNL run in 1975 where he brought different characters to life including the Weekend update anchor and Landshark. He won two Emmys and a Golden Globe for his comedy writing and live comic acting. He was only there a year until he fulfilled his contract obligations. He claims he left to spend time with his girlfriend even though he was offered many film projects because of his SNL fame.

Chase later became Clark Griswold of the National Lampoon’s Vacation franchise. His character and the family in these films became household stories that all would talk about.

In most recent years, he appeared on a hit show from NBC called Community. He left after a few seasons.

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7.Amy Poehler

Poehler had a seven year run from 2001-2008 on the show. During her time with SNL she became co-anchor on the Weekend update sketch alongside Tina Fey. Her work on the show garnered her two Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy Award nominations.

Poehler has voiced many animated film characters.

Since 2009 she has starred as the lead in the series Parks and Recreation. For her portrayal of Leslie Knope she has been nominated five times for the Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy Award and three times for a Best Actress Golden Globe. She won one of those nominations for the Golden Globe which was the same year she co-hosted the award show with Tina Fey.

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6.Andy Samberg

Samberg graced the Manhattan scene back in 2005 on the stage of SNL and left in 2012. Samberg is also part of a comedy band called "The Lonely Island". The band started writing music for the show in 2005. He has had numerous movie roles.
He currently has a hit television show Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He won a Golden Globe in 2014 for his work.

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5.Jimmy Fallon

Fallon joined the cast in 2004 and left 2009 to pursue acting in film. Through the years he came back to guest on the show. He even won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series being a host on SNL.
He went onto host Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009-2014. He currently hosts The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where he had replaced Jay Leno in 2013. Fallon has won a slew of Emmy Awards and appeared in a slew of movies which includes Fever Pitch.

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4. Will Ferrell

Ferrell lasted seven years on the show and had a successful run. In the mid nineties when the shows popularity was declining they were in need of new fresh blood to breathe new life into the show. In 1995, he was asked to audition and he left in 2002. During his stay, he created some characters that got him more recognition and helped his fame. A few of those characters were Morning Latte co-host Tom Wilkins and Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan. Ferrell became the highest paid cast member in 2001.
He had many film roles to date. A couple of memorable films are Elf and The Anchorman franchise.

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3. Kristen Wiig

Wiig joined the show in 2005 and had an outrageous seven year run. She hadn't even left the show yet when she starred in and wrote Bridesmaids which was a bonefide hit critically and commercially for Wiig. The film awarded her major award nomincations.

Some sketch characters that Wiig created which won her a spot on many living room televisions are Gilly, Sue, Shanna and we have to mention the Tagert lady.
She was nominated four times for the Emmy Award for Oustanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
She gave a concert dance performance alongside Sia, who sang her hit single “Chandelier”, at the 2015 Grammy Awards on Feb.8,2015.

Currently, Wiig is penning a comedy that she plans to direct and she was recently cast in a lead role in the female reboot of the Ghostbusters.

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2.Tina Fey

Fey joined SNL as a writer in 1998, later becoming head writer and a performer. During her eight year career with the show she wrote most of the jokes. She became the first female head writer at SNL
In 2004, she wrote Mean Girls and co-starred.
She has reeived eight Emmy awards, two Golden Globe awards, five Screen Actors Guild awards and four Writers Guild of America Awards for her work as an actress and a writer. She also received a Grammy Award nomination for her autobiographical book Bossypants which was on the New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks in 2008.
She has appeared in great comedy films such as Date Night, Baby Mama and more.
She exited the show in 2006 to develop 30 Rock
30 Rock lasted seven seasons ending its critically acclaimed run with 112 Emmy award nominations.

Fey hosted the 70th Golden Globe Awards with friend and former SNL cast mate, Amy Poehler. Their performance was critically acclaimed.The duo was asked to host again the following year and they produced the highest ratings for the annual ceremony in a decade.

Fey is currently working on some film projects as a producer and actress.

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1.Adam Sandler

Sandler was hired in 1990 as a writer and after a year became a performer. His last year on the show was 1995. During his reign, he performed original hilarious songs that got him noticed even more. Two songs that are now a part of pop culture are “The Thanksgiving Song” and “The Chanukah Song”.

He founded a production company for film and television called Happy Madison Productions that has produced many films.

He is well known for his films such as 50 First Dates, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer and Mr. Deeds. He was nominated for the Golden Globe for his work in Punch-Drunk Love. There are many movies that are great movies he starred in that are not listed here.

What did you think of this ranking? Is your favorite SNL actor with a post-Saturday Night Live career missing from the list?