'Saturday Night Live': 10 Stars You Forgot Were Castmembers

Paul Shaffer (1979-80)

Before he was David Letterman's right-hand man, Shaffer was the SNL house band leader, and later a castmember for season 5. He was the first bandmember ever to join the cast. He lasted just once season, but would return to host in 1987.

Billy Crystal (1984-85)

During his one season on SNL, Billy Crystal impersonated John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali, Prince and Sammy David Jr.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1982-85)

Before Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus spent three seasons on SNL, joining the cast when she was 21. In 2013, she admitted she was "miserable" during her time on the show. "It was very dog eat dog. I didn't have a bag of characters that I could start pulling from. I didn't have a writer that wrote for me," she said. "I wasn't a stand-up. I was just this actress hoping to get material that I could then make funnier."

Larry David (1984-1985)

While never a castmember, professional curmudgeon Larry David spent what he has described as a miserable year writing for SNL. Just one of his sketches made it to air. But he did meet future Seinfeld   star   Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was a castmember at the time.

Robert Downey Jr. (1985-86)

A 20-year-old Downey joined SNL in 1985 as part of a class of young castmembers who were promptly replaced the next year after a low rated season. He returned to host in 1996.

Randy Quaid (1985-1986)

Quaid did impersonations of Ed McMahon, Gregory Peck and Ronald Reagan during his season on SNL. He was the first Oscar nominee ever to join the cast.

Ben Stiller (1989)

Stiller was briefly a featured player on SNL in a cast that included heavy hitters such as Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, and Kevin Nealon. Among his shining moments? A Weekend Update appearance in which he and Mike Meyers reviewed Rain Man.

Damon Wayans (1985-86)

Wayans played Babyface, Little Richard, and Louis Farrakhan during his seven-episode tenure on SNL. Lorne Michaels fired him after he played what was supposed to be a straight police officer as flamboyantly gay, and improvised his lines.

Anthony Michael Hall (1985-86)

Hall already had The Breakfast Club and Weird Science under his belt when he became the youngest SNL castmemberr ever, joining the show when he was just 17. Like much of the 1985-1986 season 11 cast, he left after one season.

Gilbert Gottfried (1980-81)

Gottfried struggled to get airtime during his 12-episodes of SNL, and was even reduced to playing a lifeless corpse in one sketch. "I was there right after the original cast left, and so back then it was like 'How dare they continue Saturday Night Live without the original cast of people?' " Gottfied said in 2012. "Back then it would be like if in the middle of Beatlemania you just said "Oh the Beatles are not John, Paul, George, and Ringo — it's Harry, Artie, Phil" — you know, it was an outrage. So before we even got on the air, they were already writing these articles: 'Who the hell are these people?' "