Robert Downey Jr. is the biggest movie star on the planet. He’s an Oscar winner. He's Iron Man. He’s Dr. Doom. But back in 1985, he was just a twenty-year-old kid with a messy haircut and a serious lack of sketch comedy experience. Most people forget—or maybe they’ve blocked it out—that Robert Downey Jr. Saturday Night Live was once a very real, very awkward thing.
It wasn't a triumph. Honestly, it was a disaster.
The Weirdest Cast in TV History
When Lorne Michaels returned to the show in 1985 after a five-year hiatus, he didn't do what he usually does. He didn't go to The Second City or The Groundlings to find hungry improv nerds. Instead, he tried to build a "Brat Pack" version of the show. He hired established actors. We're talking about Academy Award nominee Randy Quaid, Joan Cusack, and Anthony Michael Hall.
Hall was actually the one who got Downey the gig. They were buddies from Weird Science, and Hall basically told him, "Hey, I'm doing SNL, I'll get you an audition."
Downey got the job. He was 20. Hall was only 17.
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The writers had no idea what to do with them. You had these "serious" actors trying to do broad sketch comedy, and the chemistry was non-existent. It was like watching a high school play with a multi-million dollar budget. The reviews were brutal. Critics started calling the show "Saturday Night Dead."
Why It Failed So Hard
Downey has been pretty candid about this lately. In the SNL50 docuseries, he admitted he just wasn't "of that ilk." He didn't have the improv bones. If you watch those old episodes, you can see him trying—really hard—but he looks like he's in a different show than everyone else.
He didn't have a "Stefon" or a "Debbie Downer." There were no iconic catchphrases.
Most of his characters were... forgettable. He did impressions of Elvis Presley and George Michael, but they didn't land. The most famous thing he did was probably a sketch called "Suitcase Boy." It's exactly what it sounds like. He was a boy in a suitcase.
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It was weird. Not "funny weird," just "why is this happening?" weird.
Rolling Stone's Brutal Ranking
In 2015, Rolling Stone did a massive ranking of every single SNL cast member ever. There have been hundreds. Robert Downey Jr. came in dead last.
Ranked #145 out of 145.
They called him the worst cast member in the show's history. That sounds insane now, right? But at the time, he just didn't fit. He was a "green" performer who was better at living in a character for a two-hour movie than hitting a punchline in a three-minute sketch.
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Even the way the season ended was a cry for help. The finale featured a cliffhanger where the entire cast was trapped in a burning room. Lorne Michaels was shown choosing to only save Jon Lovitz. It was a literal "burn it all down" moment.
What We Can Actually Learn from the Mess
Surprisingly, Downey doesn't hate that he did it. He says it taught him "what he wasn't." That's a huge lesson for anyone. Sometimes you have to suck at something publicly to realize where you actually belong.
- Improv is a specific skill. Just because you're a great actor doesn't mean you can do sketch.
- Timing is everything. If the writers don't "get" you, you're doomed.
- Failure isn't fatal. He went from the "worst SNL cast member" to the highest-paid actor in the world.
If you’re ever feeling like you’re failing at a job, just remember that Robert Downey Jr. once spent a year being told he was the worst comedian in America. He didn't let it stop him. He just pivoted.
Digging Into the Archives
If you want to see the train wreck for yourself, you can find clips of Season 11 on Peacock. Look for the "Suitcase Boy" sketch or his Weekend Update segments with Anthony Michael Hall. It’s a fascinating time capsule of a show trying to find its identity and a young actor trying to find his feet.
Watching it makes his eventual comeback even more impressive. He didn't just survive the SNL fire; he used it to figure out he was meant for the big screen, not the small stage.
Next Steps:
Go watch the 1996 episode where Robert Downey Jr. returned to host. It’s the ultimate "I told you so" moment. He’s relaxed, he’s funny, and he’s clearly a different person than the 20-year-old kid in the suitcase.