So — live from New York — a passionate, definitive, opinionated, subjective, irresponsible and indefensible breakdown of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. It's a celebration of Lorne Michaels' creation 40 years on — and as every SNL fan knows, part of loving the show means surfing through the lows along with the highs. Keep in mind: We're not ranking their careers, merely their stints on SNL. Also, we're ranking them strictly for what they did onscreen, not behind the scenes. As for who counts as an SNL player, there's a lot of gray area. The whole point of this list is ranking everybody, not just the big names, so it tries to err on the side of being inclusive. "Writers who occasionally showed up in sketches" is a mighty crowded category, but they're ultimately judged by onscreen impact. It's a game of inches out there. And no guest hosts, no matter how often they return. No Alec Baldwin or Andy Kaufman or Justin Timberlake, even though they've had way more airtime than many cast members.