The following comedians have served as cast members on the show for more than 9 seasons:
Two people have been publicly announced as having been hired to the cast, but never performed as cast members:
• Catherine O'Hara, hired in 1981, quit before appearing on air. She has subsequently hosted the show twice.
• Shane Gillis was announced as a cast member in 2019, but the offer was withdrawn due to controversies surrounding past use of racial stereotypes. Gillis went on to host episode 12 of season 49. Eight months after Gillis hosted the show, executive producer Lorne Michaels revealed that the decision to fire Gillis was not his, and it was forced on him by NBC executives.
One person was credited as a cast member but did not actually appear on the show as such.
• Emily Prager was hired as part of Ebersol's temporary season six cast following the termination of Jean Doumanian. She was credited for one episode even though she did not appear on the show, as her skit was cut after dress rehearsal. She was not chosen for season seven of the show. Prager had worked as a writer on the show, and also made several appearances in skits prior to being officially named as a member of the cast.
The following cast members spent less than a full 20-episode season on the show.

Darrell Hammond had the longest tenure portraying a U.S. president, portraying Bill Clinton from 1995 to 2001 and George W. Bush during 2003. He, Joe Piscopo, and Phil Hartman are the only cast members to have portrayed two sitting presidents. Jason Sudeikis portrayed two sitting presidents, but the portrayal of the second president was performed as a host, rather than a cast member. Dana Carvey also portrayed two sitting presidents, with the portrayal of the second president performed as a recurring guest.

George H. W. Bush grew fond of Dana Carvey's impersonation of him. Carvey was invited to headline a White House Christmas party in 1992, during the lame duck period after Bush had lost the election. Two years later, on October 22, 1994, when Carvey hosted the show for the first time, Bush appeared in pre-recorded videos, in both the cold open and the opening monologue, critiquing Carvey's impersonation of him.

Presidents are not usually portrayed on Saturday Night Live after they leave office. Exceptions are limited to the portrayal of former president Richard Nixon who left office prior to the launch of the show in 1975, Bill Clinton who appeared in sketches related to the presidential campaigns of his wife, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump who continued to be politically active after leaving office. Dan Aykroyd portrayed Nixon from 1975 to 1979, and Darrell Hammond portrayed Nixon on episode 12 of season 34. James Austin Johnson portrayed Trump in several episodes of seasons 47–50.
Donald Trump, having been a public figure before being president, was portrayed by several cast members over the years. He was portrayed by Phil Hartman (1988–1990), Darrell Hammond (1999–2011, 2015–2016), Jason Sudeikis (2012) and Taran Killam (2015). Alec Baldwin started impersonating Trump as a guest during the 42nd season of SNL in late 2016, when Trump was the Republican nominee during the 2016 United States presidential elections. Baldwin continued with the guest impersonations of Trump after the elections when Trump was president-elect, as well as after Trump was sworn in as president. Baldwin continued to impersonate Trump throughout Trump's first presidency.

Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Donald Trump earned him an Emmy award in 2017, in spite of his public declaration that he "loathes the role." At the end of Season 44, Baldwin publicly announced that he will cease impersonating Trump, but changed his mind prior to the beginning of Season 45 after SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels convinced him to continue with the impersonation. Following the 2020 presidential elections in which Trump lost re-election, Baldwin tweeted "I don't believe I've ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before!" As of 2025, Baldwin's recurring guest appearances during Trump's presidency makes Trump the only sitting U.S. president in the show's history who was not portrayed by a member of the show's principal cast. Although since Trump has been re-elected, he will likely be played by cast member James Austin Johnson (who played the role several times prior to Trump's re-election); still making Baldwin the only non-cast member to portray a sitting president throughout at least one term.

Trump has criticized Baldwin's portrayal on multiple occasions. In response, …

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