“SNL50” had everything — hot dogs and heroin, alien probings, a naked Pete Davidson, oodles of celebs, and tons of “Saturday Night Live” alums — but it didn’t have Bill Hader.
After the iconic sketch show aired its 50th anniversary special in February, many longtime fans were disappointed that Hader, a former and beloved cast member, didn’t make an appearance. When Variety reached out to ask why the comedian had skipped the celebration, a representative for Hader said it was due to “longstanding scheduling conflict.”
And if that sounds like an excuse, it’s because it was — at least according to Hader himself.
On Tuesday’s episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Meyers, who is also an “SNL” alum, casually revealed the real reason Hader was absent.
“You were very open and honest, sort of, after you left ‘SNL,’ about the anxiety you had when you were working there,” Meyers began. “And then for ‘SNL’ 50th, people were, obviously, at first, disappointed you weren’t coming, but that was the reason.”
Meyers, who helped write the special, went on to say that when he found out Hader didn’t want to appear because of his anxiety, he accepted it. But it seems that another “SNL” alum tried to convince Hader to do it anyway.
“Andy [Samburg] called me and was like, ‘Hey, so we’re doing this short about how, you know, everybody had anxiety.’ … And when he told me about it, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that,’” Hader recalled to Meyers. “And he was like, ‘Why?’ and I was like, ‘Because I’m anxious!’”
Hader said current “SNL” cast member Bowen Yang played the part Samberg had initially pitched to him, a performance the “Skeleton Twins” star said was “great.”
After Hader confirmed he had skipped the “SNL” special due to anxiety, Meyers dropped another tidbit about Hader’s life.
“I just heard this — anxiety aside, you just had shingles!” Meyers said to Hader, who burst into laughter.
“Yeah, from stress,” Hader replied. “And I was like, ‘What causes this?’ and the [doctor] was like, ‘Anxiety! I know because you always talk about how you have anxiety.’”
Meyers joked that if Hader had appeared on “SNL50,” he would have gotten “double shingles.”
Hader has indeed been open about the anxiety he experienced while working on “SNL” from 2005 to 2013 — and from his descriptions of it, skipping “SNL50” was probably the best call for his own mental health.
“The live aspect of ‘SNL’ — I’m just not built for it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. “Before shows, I would go into a bathroom that was way down this hall, go into a stall and have a full-blown panic attack, crying, the whole thing. And then I go and get in a giant banana costume.”
He continued, “This voice would come on in my head of, like, ‘You fucking asshole, do you know how many people would kill for this? Dude, get your shit together, come on.’”
