Bill Hader Finally Confesses Why He Skipped ‘SNL50’

The final mystery of the missing cast members at SNL50 has been solved. Dana Carvey was sick as a dog. Dan Aykroyd claims he preferred watching at home with family instead of working. And now Bill Hader is telling Seth Meyers why he decided to stay away.

Actually, Meyers was the one who spilled the beans to America. “You were very open and honest after you left SNL about the anxiety you had when you were working there,” Meyers told Hader. “And then for the SNL 50th, I think people were obviously at first disappointed you weren't coming, but that was the reason.”

Hader has discussed his SNL panic attacks several times in the past. “There will be moments,” he once confessed to Ted Danson, “where I’m like, ‘Oh man, am I going to be known as the anxiety guy?’” He’s talked about fighting off terror in multiple sketches, including a Julian Assange cold open in which he “started shaking,” and another in which he grabbed Vanessa Bayer’s arm thanks to “a full-blown panic attack.”

The phenomenon is more common than one might think. Andy Samberg did a digital short for SNL50 called “Anxiety,” describing how most cast members fret while making the show. In the sketch/song, Samberg calls Bowen Yang, who says he won’t be attending the anniversary show. “Honestly, it stresses me out too much,” says Yang. “You know SNL gives me anxiety.”

Unsurprisingly, Samberg wrote that part for Hader, but his old co-star declined to participate. “When he told me about it,” Hader said, “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that.’”

“Why?” demanded Samberg. 

“Because I’m anxious,” laughed Hader. “I don’t want to do it.

“Come on, man! What do you mean?”

“No!"

Hader thought Yang did a great job in the short, reaffirming that stories about his anxiety are “true. I was really shaky and everything. I was really anxious.”

Meyers, on the other hand, was “so calm” — or at least it appeared that way to Hader. He recalled appearing with his old friend on primetime Weekend Update specials when both were cast members. “I remember you and Poehler were just like ice in your veins,” he said. “You guys went out there, and I was like trembling, anxious.”

Something went wrong during the live broadcast, which made Meyers shrug with a nonchalant, “Oh, something went wrong.”

Hader couldn’t believe it. “I was like, ‘You can just do that?’”

Meyers revealed that Hader had at least one other reason for missing SNL50. “I just heard this,” Meyers said. “Anxiety aside, you just had shingles.”

True story, said Hader, describing his rash as something Jeff Goldblum would have dealt with in The Fly. Hader asked his doctor what caused his ailment. 

“Anxiety,” said the doc. “I know you always talk about how you have anxiety, and that’s probably why you have the shingles. I’ve been waiting for you.”