NEED TO KNOW
- Bill Hader is coming clean about why he missed the monumental SNL50: The Anniversary Special after starring on the long-running show for eight years
- A rep for the actor previously told PEOPLE: “Bill had a longstanding schedule conflict”
- “I sort of celebrated your choice,” Seth Meyers told Hader of his actual reason for not attending
Bill Hader has a valid reason for missing SNL50.
Despite appearing on Saturday Night Live between 2005 and 2013, when the long-running NBC sketch comedy series celebrated its 50th anniversary in February, the 47-year-old actor was one of several cast members who weren’t in attendance.
The Cat and the Hat star revealed during the Tuesday, Aug. 5, episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers that his absence was due to his anxiety.
“You were very open and honest after you left SNL, about the anxiety you had when you were working there. Then, for the SNL 50th, I think people were obviously at first disappointed you weren’t coming, but that was the reason. I sort of celebrated your choice,” Meyers, 51, said to his guest.
Andy Samberg drew inspiration from Hader’s anxiety, the host revealed, and “did, basically, a short about the fact that everybody had anxiety at SNL.”
Hader recalled hearing about the sketch when it was just an idea and opting out of it.
“When he told me about it, I [said], ‘I don’t know if I want to do that.’ He [said], ‘Why?’ and I’m like, ‘Because I’m anxious,’ ” the Barry star said.
He then jokingly mocked his former costar, imitating the Hot Rod actor doing his best to get Hader to agree.
Hader complimented Bowen Yang’s acting in the sketch, but admitted he was “really shaky” at the thought of doing it himself.
Following SNL50: The Anniversary Special, Puck News’ Matthew Belloni reported that Hader, who was on the show for eight years, replied to his invitation to the event with “a polite decline.” However, Hader’s rep told PEOPLE that “Bill had a longstanding schedule conflict.”
Ahead of the legendary anniversary show, author Susan Morrison claimed that SNL creator Lorne Michaels once told Hader to “calm the f— down” before hosting an episode.
“To some, Michaels will bark, ‘Don’t f— it up,’ ” Morrison wrote in Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, according to an excerpt in The New Yorker.
Morrison described Hader as someone who is “prone to anxiety attacks,” and shared Michaels, 80, went for a more aggressive approach.
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Hader told the author he remembered Michaels “coming to his dressing room when he hosted and snapping, ‘Calm the f— down. Just have fun. Jesus Christ.’ ”
During an April 2023 interview with PEOPLE, he revealed that his panic attacks helped him with his role as Barry Berkman in Barry, the HBO dark comedy that he co-created, starred in and directed.
“There’s definitely been moments in the show where the character has gotten panicked and got a panic attack, and I definitely felt that before,” Hader told PEOPLE of the Emmy-nominated series.
“When I was on Saturday Night Live I would get panic attacks pretty frequently,” he said. “You know Barry has a panic attack and you go, ‘I know exactly what that feels like.’ ”
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
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