As "Foxcatcher" hit theaters Friday, everyone was buzzing about Steve Carell's big dramatic debut, not to mention his prosthetic nose (which is how you know this role has Oscar potential). He plays the real-life character of John du Pont, a homicidal multimillionaire, who became obsessed with two wrestler brothers. Carell turns in a creepy, troubling performance that doesn't require any of the comedic talents that made the actor famous on "The Office."

Carell got his start as a correspondent on "The Daily Show" before making the leap to primetime. He hadn't done much onscreen beyond faux-serious interviews and sketch comedy on "The Dana Carvey Show" when he nabbed the job of heading up Dunder Mifflin paper company on the American version of "The Office." And at the time that seemed like a huge leap.

Now, though, it's par for the course. "The Daily Show" correspondents tend to move on to bigger things. It's become a breeding ground for up-and-comers.

For years, "Saturday Night Live" served that role: Hollywood's farm team. Lorne Michaels put the spotlight on next-big-things, who used the show as a stepping stone. The list of funny people is staggering: Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Chris Farley, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Chris Rock, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, to name very few.

But is "SNL's" time as the taste-maker of things to come in peril? Aside from decent numbers last weekend, ratings have not been good. What's more, the actors that "SNL" is churning out recently don't end up having the varied careers and impressive reach of "Daily Show" alums. Kristen Wiig was hilarious in "Bridesmaids," which she co-wrote, but she hasn't gained much traction since, mainly starring in middling indie dramedies. (One big exception is "The Skeleton Twins," co-starring fellow "SNL" alum Bill Hader, which was tremendous but didn't get as much attention as it should have.)

Seth Myers took over "Late Night," which was a big get, and Andy Samberg stars in "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," but beyond that, cast members that left in the last five years haven't produced much beyond the broadest comedy (Jason Sudeikis in "Horrible Bosses 2") or the most niche (Fred Armisen on "Portlandia").

Meanwhile, "Daily Show" alums are dominating in an array of spaces, in the comedy world and beyond. After Stephen Colbert paved the way with his own satirical news show, "The Colbert Report," John Oliver has done the same. Video clips from "Last Week Tonight," which airs on HBO on Sundays, are inevitably viral by first-thing Monday morning, traveling around the web with the same urgency of the silly ditties from "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" (another "SNL "alum). What sets the two apart is that viral clips of Fallon inevitably involve dance-offs or colorful xylophones, while videos from "Last Week Tonight" revolve around net neutrality or the American Legislative Exchange Council. Oliver shies away from being called a journalist, and yet he's helping people understand complicated issues, albeit in a somewhat comical - and definitely share-worthy - way.

Current host Jon Stewart has also dabbled in more serious work. His directorial debut, "Rosewater," came out last week. It follows a journalist, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, who is detained in Iran because the government accuses him of spying.

The "Daily Show" contribution extends to kid's fare (Josh Gad voiced the singing snowman, Olaf, in Disney inescapable "Frozen"), much dissected dramas (Olivia Munn is arguably the best part of "The Newsroom") and the next frontier of entertainment (Rob Corddry stars in the Vimeo web series "Wedlock" alongside Mark Duplass.)

There are more coming, too. Samantha Bee and Jason Jones, married "Daily Show" alums, had a pilot about a family road trip picked up by TBS. But "SNL" can at least take partial credit for Rob Riggle, who was a cast member of both shows. His new series, based on an Austrian series, is a comedy about a mayor of a small, struggling town.

But "The Daily Show" gets full credit for Carell. Maybe, amid the Oscar chatter and the accolades, he's even forgotten about that time he tried out for "SNL" and they didn't take him.