'SNL's' New Cast Members: Odds They'll Make It Big

Bill Murray. Jane Curtin. Eddie Murphy. Mike Myers. Will Ferrell. They all went from semi-anonymous Not Ready for Primetime Players on 'Saturday Night Live' to stardom.

So three episodes into a season with four newcomers, which comedian out of the quartet of feature players is destined to join 'SNL's' pantheon of uber-talented alums? We provide the odds:

Jay Pharoah, 3-to-1: So far, the YouTube sensation has lived up to some of the hype. His impressions of Will Smith and Denzel Washington were maybe a little too spot-on. But come on, Jay ... we've seen it all before, namely here and here. Before we can declare Pharoah a star in the making, he'll need to expand his repertoire beyond jaw-dropping imitations. Take Bill Hader -- before he got guffaws in flicks like 'Tropic Thunder' and 'Superbad,' he had to get past being known as the guy who did the world's best Al Pacino and Vincent Price. Plus, the odds are still in Pharoah's favor -- his Barack Obama is a million times better than Fred Armisen's take. When, not if, he takes over as POTUS, Pharoah will officially make the leap.



Paul Brittain, 5-to-1: You're probably asking "What up with that?" With a small body of work thus far, we are too. But his Johnny Depp in 'The Miley Cyrus Show' sketch actually had some subtlety, while his turn as Vili Fualaau (Mary Kay Letourneau's student/hubby) was -- as DeAndre Cole (Kenan Thompson) sang -- creepy. Brittain has the quirkiness of the recently departed Will Forte. Plus, he's Bob Newhart's nephew, which is worth its weight in comedy gold. Stay tuned.



Vanessa Bayer, 8-to-1: The Cleveland native and former 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' intern made a fairly big (and loud) splash in just her second episode with the aforementioned Cyrus skit. While it was an admirable attempt, the sketch wasn't all that yuk-worthy (Brittain's Depp stole the show). Before anointing her the next Kristen Wiig, we'll need to see something else.



Taran Killam, 6-to-1: Face it -- He's a known quantity. Not only did he star in 13 episodes of 'MadTV,' but he's also shown his mug in 'Scrubs,' 'How I Met Your Mother' (with fiancee Cobie Smulders) and on the failed but funny pilot 'Nobody's Watching.' Unfortunately, he's barely been on 'SNL' so far this season. Perhaps we'll find out Killam is more humorous in sitcoms, not sketch comedy. But remember, he's a former member of The Groundlings, the troupe with graduates including Ferrell, Forte, Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman.