Kevin Hart is making a compelling case for a Saturday Night Live Hall of Fame.
The comedian voiced the idea during an episode of his Peacock talk show Hart to Heart, while interviewing former SNL cast member Andy Samberg.
“Does that exist? Is there an SNL Hall of Fame?,” Hart asked Samberg.
“Like, an actual organization?” Samberg asked, seemingly confused.
“Look, you know all of the cast members that were on SNL,” Hart explained. “But there should be an SNL Hall of Fame.”
What would the requirements for something like that be? Hart went on to describe his vision. “What I mean by that is, the people that did the show and that were able to do multiple things after. The careers that were built after the show.”
“And then after that,” he continued, “you have another one with the careers that have existed, that are still on the show.” Hart singled out one current SNL player in particular that meets that (albeit vague) criteria: Kenan Thompson.
“Kenan is one of my favorite people in life. Kenan is pound-for-pound one of the funniest,” Hart declared. “He understands funny. He is so giving with the space of funny. And his success story attached to SNL is a story that’s just for him. No one else is going to duplicate [it].”
After praising Thompson some more with Samberg, Hart doubled down: “The Hall of Fame for SNL has to happen,” he said. “When you look at the NBA, and they go over the 75 greats in the NBA, well there’s a lot more than 75 people that played in the NBA. There’s a lot more than 50 people who have been on SNL… The comedy hall of fame that has come from that environment.”
While Saturday Night Live does not have an official Hall of Fame—either physically or figuratively—it has been given the museum-style treatment. Visitors to New York’s Tour at NBC Studios can see display cases with a rotation of screen-used wardrobe and props from historic sketches like The Coneheads and Mary Katherine Gallagher—and even cast members’ head molds.
In 2015, the show staged an offsite exhibit in New York City, titled SNL: The Exhibition. The exhibit was then brought to Chicago from 2017 to 2019 as SNL: The Experience.
To Hart’s point, now might be the best possible time for Saturday Night Live to build out an official Hall of Fame.
“If there was an opportunity to give jackets,” Hart said, “and have all of that comedy history in one room…”
“I mean, the 50th is coming up,” Samberg interjected.
