Cheri Oteri Was Unjustly Excluded From 'SNL 50' Performances

I thought SNL’s 50th Anniversary Special was pretty successful. It was packed full of member berries (a few too many sometimes), but it managed to earn some new laughs as well. Some of our favorite stars, old and new, were given spotlights to show off their contributions to the show over the years. There was a fun mix of stars, which gave us a chance to see Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell share the stage for the first time. However extensive as it may have been, not everyone was included.

Everyone has their favorite casts and cast members, and there will always be folks people can’t agree on. The only exception, in my mind, is Phil Hartman. If someone tells you they didn’t like him, then they have no sense of humor, and you should go non-contact with them as soon as possible. Hartman aside, there will always be someone who will claim they don’t like a certain cast member for whatever reason. Regardless, Cheri Oteri should have been asked to participate in SNL 50, and it sucks that she wasn’t!

The Scary Movie actress was a member of the show from 1995 to 2000 and left an immense impression. She was big and loud and silly and brought a kind of energy that is welcome in sketch performers but not always there. Even her quieter characters had an energy to them. She was incredible and has been working steadily ever since, but she should be a bigger comedy star. Why she hasn’t shown up in more big, ensemble comedy movies over the years is beyond me, but maybe it explains why she didn’t get to do anything at SNL 50 as well.

Oteri recently appeared on the Fly on the Wall podcast to chop it up with David Spade and Dana Carvey. Carvey asked her about her involvement in SNL’s 50th Anniversary Special, and she had to break the bad news to him (Carvey missed the special). “No, I was not asked to do anything. I sat in the audience,” Oteri explained. “Bastards,” said Carvey. “Waste of talent.” Agreed, Dana! That Oteri didn’t at least get to appear as her Spartan Cheerleader, Ferrell or not, is crazy!

But there was a small silver lining. Oteri appreciated a shout-out from a fellow former cast member, who sang her and Colin Quinn’s praises. “Adam gave me a shout-out in his song,” Oteri recalled. “I thanked him afterwards. I go, ‘Hey, thanks. That was the most I was in the show.’ He’s like, ‘Of course I’m gonna name you.’ He was sweet.” That led Spade to jokingly complain that he wasn’t named in Sandler’s song, but Oteri was quick with a reply. “Well, you were actually on the show,” Oteri pointed out. “You were a favorite child.”

Plenty of people weren’t included, but Oteri was there and felt awkward afterward for not appearing onstage. “And then everybody I know doesn’t say anything to me after the show,” she explained. “You know, because they were wondering why I wasn’t (in the show).” Fifty years is a long time. So many cast members have come and gone. It doesn’t look like Cheri Oteri has any resentment. But, dammit, she should have been given a spotlight.