Who has been anchor of Weekend Update the longest?

Seth Meyers is starting his 5th season (so he's only had 4 seasons), but this will be only his 2nd full season as the sole anchor (a little longer than that, cuz Amy Poehler left mid season).

Amy Poehler was co-anchor for 5 seasons. Horatio Sanz co-anchored with Amy after Tina and before Seth for 1 season (05-06). Tina Fey was co-anchor for 6 seasons. Jimmy Fallon was co-anchor for 4 seasons. Colin Quinn was the sole anchor for 3 seasons (those were terrible). Norm MacDonald was the sole anchor for 4 seasons. Kevin Nealon for 3 years. Dennis Miller for 6 years (85-91). Christopher Guest for 1 year (84-85). Brad Hall was 2 years (82-84). Mary Gross and Brian Doyle-Murray co-anchored for 1 year (81-82). Jane Curtain mostly co-anchored for 4 years (76-80). Bill Murray co-anchored for 2 years (78-80). Dan Aykroyd co-anchored for 1 year (77-78). Chevy Chase anchored for 2 years (75-76).

Jane Curtain is a complicated story. She took over for Chevy Chase when he left in 76. Then in the next season (77-78), she co-anchored with Dan Aykroyd. Then they switched from Dan to Bill Murray and Jane co-anchored with Bill. So Jane has 4 years in her, but 1 wasn't a full year and 3 were as the co-anchor.

Kevin Nealon did the Subliminal News (check it out if you haven't).



So the answer to who anchored the longest (including as co-anchor):
1. Dennis Miller (6 seasons)
1. Tina Fey (6 seasons)
2. Amy Poehler (5 seasons)
3. Jane Curtain (4 seasons)
3. Norm MacDonald (4 seasons)
3. Jimmy Fallon (4 seasons)
3. Seth Meyers (4 seasons)
4. Kevin Nealon (3 seasons)
4. Colin Quinn (3 seasons)
5. Chevy Chase (2 seasons)
5. Bill Murray (2 seasons)
5. Brad Hall (2 seasons)
6. Dan Aykroyd (1 season)
6. Mary Gross (1 season)
6. Brian Doyle-Murray (1 season)
6. Christopher Guest (1 season)
6. Horatio Sanz (1 season)



Seth needs two more seasons (including this coming one) to tie with Dennis and Tina; 3 to win. Both Dennis and Tina were co-anchors in their first season, so each was only on SNL for 6 seasons. (So Seth and most of the others have the disadvantage that their first year on SNL was not as an anchor.)

Tina Fey was the only featured player to start as an anchor. (But she was the head writer at that point, so obviously Lorne was willing to take a chance with her.)



The only family members to both be anchors were Billy Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray (brothers). There have been other relatives as players, but not anchors... Belushis, Murrays, Aykroyds, Sweeneys, and Elliotts. They were all siblings except for Chris and Abby Elliott (father/daughter).

It's interesting that a lot of people thought that having Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon co-anchor was a new idea, but that first started in 1977 (3rd season) with Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd and continued with Jane and Bill Murray.



So if we were going to rank them for how long they anchored only as sole anchors (not co-anchors), then we have:
1. Dennis Miller (6 seasons)
2. Norm MacDonald (4 seasons)
3. Kevin Nealon (3 seasons)
3. Colin Quinn (3 seasons)
4. Chevy Chase (2 seasons)
4. Brad Hall (2 seasons)
5. Jane Curtain (1 season)
5. Seth Meyers (1 season)
5. Christopher Guest (1 season)

So if we're going by that scale, Seth doesn't have a chance. There's no way he's got 5 more years in him. =^)

- TAE