
50 Years of Saturday Night Live – How Many Iowans Have Worked on the Show?
This year, Saturday Night Live is celebrating 50 years on the air! There have been a few documentaries and specials released in recent weeks, including Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music and SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, both of which are available to stream now on Peacock.
After watching both specials, I was curious to see how many Iowans have either written or starred in the show over the past 50 years. I came up with four names! Here is a rundown of Iowa's SNL alum:
Gary Kroeger
Born in Cedar Falls in 1957, Gary Kroeger was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985. He graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1981, and went on to join Chicago's Practical Theatre Company. According to Wikipedia:
"In 1982 Kroeger, along with his fellow Practical Theatre Company performers Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Paul Barrosse, joined the cast of Saturday Night Live during Lorne Michaels's hiatus from the show, under the direction of Dick Ebersol."
During his time on the show, Gary was known for his impersonation of 1984 presidential candidate Walter Mondale, as well as his role as Donny Osmond during a Christmas sketch with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He also served as a writer. You can check out a YouTube playlist of sketches that he was in HERE.
After leaving SNL, Gary went on to appear in a few different movies and TV shows, as well as host a few different game shows. He even ran for the Iowa House of Representatives in 2016! Gary is currently 67-years-old and retired. He lives in the Cedar Valley and is both a father and step-father. He also runs an active blog called Gary Has Issues.
A few months ago, our friend Justin Roberts at KCRG sat down to chat with Gary about what he's doing now, and it appears that he is still a pretty busy guy! You can check out the interview below:
Brooks Wheelan
Brooks Wheelan's time on SNL was short-lived, but he is definitely memorable! He was both a writer and cast member for the show during the 2013/2014 season.
Brooks was born in Cedar Rapids in 1986 and grew up in Manchester. He attended Dubuque Hempstead High School as a teenager, which is when he first started doing stand-up comedy. Wikipedia reports that he graduated from the University of Iowa in 2009 with a biomedical engineering degree, but still did stand-up regularly during his time in college.
After college, Brooks eventually settled in LA, where he was both a biomedical engineer and a comic. He initially got hired to write for SNL, but found out he would also serve as cast member just one week before the start of the season. He ended up impersonating some big names during his time on the show, including Harry Styles, Slash, and Matthew McConaughey. He also appeared on Weekend Update several times.
Unfortunately, Brooks got fired from the show after that season. He doesn't know exactly why he was let go, but he has a theory. In a 2014 interview with the Wrap he said:
"I feel like I was hired because they hired so many new cast members, and I feel like I was let go because they hired too many new cast members. So I can’t really fault them."
Brooks doesn't have any ill will towards the show. In fact, he says that he was lucky to work there. His firing lead to a viral tweet that read:
"Had a blast and loved every second of it. I'm totally honored to be able to make this next joke... FIRED FROM NEW YORK IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!"
In the years since his time on Saturday Night Live, Brooks has continued doing stand-up, even releasing a popular comedy album called This Is Cool, Right? in 2015. He's also made several TV appearances, done some voice acting, and performed at a number of big festivals. His latest special, Alive in Alaska, was named the Best YouTube Comedy Special of 2024 by the New York Times! You can watch it for free HERE.
Steve Higgins
Although he was never an official cast member on the show, Steve Higgins served as the co-head writer of SNL from 1995 to 1997. But, he is probably best known as the official announcer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and then The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Steve was born in 1963 in Des Moines. Before he made it big, he formed a comedy troupe with two of his brothers and one of their friends. It was called "Don't Quit Your Day Job," and Wikipedia says that the group "performed at notable places in Iowa including the Hotel Kirkwood, Corky's, and the Spaghetti Works." After moving to California, they landed a Comedy Central sketch comedy series called The Higgins Boys and Gruber. It was on from 1990 to 1991.
To this day, Steve is still a writer and producer for Saturday Night Live, and the Television Academy reports that it has earned him 41 Emmy nominations over the years! He has taken home a total of eight awards, the latest in 2022 for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.
A few fun facts for you:
- Steve's son John is also part of a comedy group called "Please Don't Destroy," and he's been serving as a writer on Saturday Night Live since 2021!
- Writer Mike Schur, who also wrote for SNL, says that Steve was the inspiration for the character Andy Dwyer on his hit show Parks and Recreation. He said in a 2012 interview from the AV Club: "Steve had several brothers, and Andy’s story is a little bit Steve’s story, which is that Steve and his brothers—all of whom are gigantic men—used to pound the crap out of each other. And even today, in their 40s and 50s, they still pound the crap out of each other. Steve used to come running into my office and scream at me—in a joking way—that I had to get out of my head, and would punch me on the arm so hard. He bruised me repeatedly. And he would take off his shirt, and tackle me to the ground, and talk like Robert Mitchum, and rub his naked belly in my face."
- Steve was transformed into a butter sculpture for the 2024 Iowa State Fair, and even paid his sculpture a visit! The Des Moines Register said that Steve finds this honor "more thrilling" than winning his Emmy Awards.
Harper Steele
63-year-old Harper Steele is a writer from Iowa City that worked at Saturday Night Live for many years. She was on the writing staff from 1995 to 2004, and then took over as head writer, a title she held until she left in 2008.
According to Wikipedia, Harper was born and raised in Iowa City, as she was the child of two University of Iowa professors. She attended Iowa City High School and then University of Iowa, where she earned an English degree.
Thanks to her work on SNL, Harper was nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning one in 2002 for Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program. After leaving the show, she served as creative director for Funny or Die and executive producer of Funny or Die Presents.
Harper was hired at SNL the very same week as Will Ferrell, which is how they developed such a strong friendship. That eventually lead to the film Will & Harper, which was released on Netflix in 2024. Will was inspired to learn more about the trans community after Harper revealed her gender transition to him back in 2022, and it culminated in the filming of a a cross-country road trip that made several stops in Harper's hometown of Iowa City. It was nominated for a People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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