For years, Bill Hader has been open about his difficulties during his time as a cast member on Saturday Night Live due to anxiety, and that’s apparently an issue that hasn’t gone away. During a Late Night with Seth Meyers appearance on Tuesday, August 5th, Hader revealed that the reason he chose not to participate in the SNL50 live anniversary special was because of his mental health.
Ironically, the sketch he was asked to participate in wasn’t a live one, but instead a digital short about the anxiety cast members experienced during their time on the show. “Andy [Samberg] called me and was like, ‘Hey, so we’re doing this short about how, you know, anxiety, everybody had anxiety, and so it’s me calling you, and dah dah dah dah,’” Hader told host Seth Meyers. “When he told me about it, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that.’ He’s like, ‘Why?’ and I’m like, ‘Because I’m anxious!’”
After leaving Saturday Night Live, Hader became a critical darling with his four-season HBO dark comedy Barry, which he created, starred in, and largely directed. (The hitman-turned-actor he played also suffered from similar mental health issues.) He’s currently developing a series about the events of Jonestown for HBO. Watch his appearance on Late Night below, as well as the SNL50 sketch he would was asked to participate in (Bowen Yang ended up taking his role).
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Hader wasn’t the only notable SNL cast member to skip the show’s 50th anniversary celebration — Dan Aykroyd was also absent, explaining that he preferred to watch the special from home with his family.
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