Bill Hader says he lost his vision right before an "SNL "sketch on one of its biggest episodes: 'Freaking out'
Lloyd Bishop/NBC It's no secret thatSaturday Night Livewas mentally taxing forBill Hader— but sometimes that toll also became physical. TheBarrycreator recently reunited with fellowSNLalumSeth Meyers, who joked that during their tenure on the show, Hader suffered a "relentless list of maladies." TheLate Nighthost quipped on the latest episode, "The top 10 weirdest things that happened to any cast member I ever worked with were all Bill Hader." Hader, who burst into laughter at the declaration, couldn't disagree, admitting that his anxiety has led to shingles, panic attacks, migraines, and — in one very scary moment — vision loss. The latter incident occurred during Hader's very first season in the middle ofSNL's yearly Christmas episode. The comedian was just about to walk out on stage for a sketch starringJohnny Knoxvilleand musical guestNeil Youngwhen he realized something was very wrong. "I'm really anxious. I'm muttering to myself, freaking out. And then my vision goes," Hader recalled. He explained that the issue was a result of his struggle with migraine aura, a neurological phenomenon that causes sensory changes. In his case, this meant he suddenly couldn't see anything. NBC At that point, Hader was already in costume as a hillbilly character, complete with a fake dart going through his hand, for the "Appalachian Emergency Room: Christmastime" sketch — and there was no going back. "It was, like, a verySNLthing," he recalled to Meyers. "I just went, 'I can't see.' Neil Young went, 'Awww, no. That's too bad.'" In the end, he stepped out before the audience with a little help from a friend and fellow costar. "I had to hold on toJason Sudeikisand just try to figure out what my line is," he said, joking, "Jason is like, 'I'll take your lines, buddy, don't you worry.'" But Hader added that Sudeikis actually did come to his rescue. "Jason really helped me out there — he was very sweet," Hader said. "He put me on my mark and everything — I couldn't see anything." Hader managed to make it through the sketch before one of the show's nurses came over to help him. "Afterwards, I was sitting there with ice on the back of my head," he recounted. "I was out of it and I was like, 'What's going on in the show?' And the nurse was like, 'Oh, they just did this pre-taped thing withAndy [Samberg]and Chris Parnell rapping about theChronicles of Narnia.'" Maya Dehlin Spach/FilmMagic That pre-taped stand-in turned out to be "Lazy Sunday," themassively successful Lonely Island sketchthat thrust the trio of Samberg,Akiva Schaffer, andJorma Tacconeinto the public eye when it blew up on YouTube in 2005. "It invented YouTube or whatever!" Hader exclaimed in his late-night interview. "It was one of the biggest shows ever!" Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free daily newsletterto get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Hader's bouts with anxiety didn't keep him from thriving onSNL. He went on to star on the show for eight seasons, earning two Emmy nominations during his tenure before departing in 2013. He would later return as a host and for cameo appearances, earning two more Emmy nominations for his work as a guest star. In the years since, theBarrystar has opened up about the stress that came with his time on the weekly sketch show, saying he frequently experienced panic attacks and migraines. "When I was onSNL, I was a bit of a basket case," he toldVarietyin 2019. "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.'" Watch Hader run down his list ofSNL-related maladies in the interview above. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
Bill Hader says he lost his vision right before an "SNL "sketch on one of its biggest episodes: 'Freaking out' Lloyd Bisho...
