Bill Hader is revealing the truth behind his SNL50 absence.
The Barry creator and Saturday Night Live alum was among a handful of the sketch show’s notable alumni who didn’t attend the three hour broadcast or appear in a pre-taped cameo. At the time, a rep for the actor said his absence was due to a “longstanding schedule conflict,” but Hader is now admitting otherwise.
During his Tuesday appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Hader revealed that he got an invite from Andy Samberg to appear in an SNL50 sketch about cast members dealing with anxiety but turned it down.
“When he told me about it, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that,'” Hader recalled. “He’s like, ‘Why?’ and I’m like, ‘Because I’m anxious!'”
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Bill Hader and Seth Meyers on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Hader, who then did an impression of Samberg trying to get him on board, said he ultimately declined: “I was like, ‘I don’t want to do it.'” He added that it all worked out in the end, as Bowen Yang ended up playing the role originally meant for him and “he was great.”
Hader’s response was pretty on the nose given the content of the sketch. The video begins with Yang confessing his nerves about attending the anniversary special, before the Lonely Island member reassures him through an ’80s-inspired bop that “every single person who ever worked at SNL had anxiety.”
It’s no surprise that Hader was Samberg’s first thought — the comedian has been very open about his own struggles with anxiety, which were exacerbated by his time on SNL. While looking back on that period with Meyers, the late-night host joked that Hader suffered a “relentless list of maladies” during his tenure, including migraines so bad he once lost his vision.
“You and [Amy] Poehler were just, like, ice in your veins,” Hader complained. “You guys went out there, and I was, like, trembling, anxious, and you guys went out and something went wrong, and you went, ‘Oh, something went wrong!’ I was like, ‘You can just do that?!'”
Also in their conversation, Meyers said he heard that Hader recently had shingles — which caused the Barry star to burst out laughing.
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Bill Hader zttends the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater
“Yeah, from stress,” he shared through laughter. “I was like, ‘What causes this?’ and the guy was like, ‘Anxiety! I know because you always talk about how you have anxiety.”
He joked that if he had appeared on SNL50, he would have to deal with “double shingles.”
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Hader wasn’t the only alum who missed out on the anniversary festivities. Also absent from the show was Dana Carvey, who had otherwise been a frequent guest in Studio 8H after taking on the role of former President Joe Biden in the leadup to the 2024 election. A rep for the actor told EW that Carvey “had the flu and could not fly.”
Former “Weekend Update” anchors Dennis Miller and Colin Quinn also did not attend, nor did original SNL cast member Dan Aykroyd.
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