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Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: bill hader, saturday night live, snl
SNL: Bill Hader on Lorne Michaels' Tough Love Approach to His Anxiety
Bill Hader (Barry) reflects on his anxiety and being a "basket case" during his SNL run, and how Lorne Michaels would address it.
Article Summary
- Bill Hader opens up about dealing with anxiety during his SNL tenure.
- Lorne Michaels tried a "tough love" approach to helping Hader with his anxiety.
- Hader recalls his anxiety being misunderstood as his seeking attention.
- Hader will be part of SNL's big 50th anniversary event on February 16th.
Considering how much of a revolving door Saturday Night Live has been by design since its premiere in 1975, Lorne Michaels has seen the bulk of the cast changes for all but five years as it approaches its 50th anniversary. The New Yorker published an excerpt from Susan Morrison's upcoming biography of the SNL creator called Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live about how he dealt with each cast member mentally by adhering to their respective psychology. One of those featured was Bill Hader, who was a cast member from 2005-2019.
How SNL Creator Lorne Michaels Helped Bill Hader Deal with His Anxiety and Being a "Basket Case"
"To some, Michaels will bark, 'Don't fuck it up,'" Morrison wrote. "Bill Hader, who is prone to anxiety attacks, remembers Michaels coming to his dressing room when he hosted and snapping, 'Calm the fuck down. Just have fun. Jesus Christ.'" While Michaels had a unique approach with each cast member from Jan Hooks, Molly Shannon, and Andy Samberg, it didn't always take as Hader recalled telling Variety, "When I was on 'SNL,' I was a bit of a basket case. It could not have been easy on my wife at the time. I was so consumed with work and anxiety. Sometimes I felt like people thought, 'Oh, he's just wanting attention or something.' It was like, 'No, man, I'm legit. I'm freaking out right now.'"
Come to think of it, it does put a new perspective on some of his more memorable sketches, like when Hader channeled Daniel Day Lewis's Daniel Plainview and his intensity from There Will Be Blood (2007), which parodies Lewis' pivotal milkshake scene from the 2007 Paul Thomas Anderson film, but flips the concept to an absurd Food Network parody called I Drink Your Milkshake. The sketch has Daniel and his son H.W. Plainview, with Amy Poehler playing the Dillon Freasier role in all its awkwardness as the host talks to random patrons at a diner and, as the sketch title suggests, drinks their milkshake to their disdain. For more on Michaels' ongoing legacy, you can check out the full New Yorker piece here. Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live comes out on February 18th.
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