Bill Hader has long made it quite clear that his beloved tenure on Saturday Night Live, while iconic to most, was plagued by severe anxiety, shyness, and a serious case of imposter syndrome. While we yukked it up from the comfort of our couches, Hader was in in the midst of an emotional (and physical) collapse, none so severe as when he portrayed New York governor Eliot Spitzer.
“I did Eliot Spitzer once…I got so nervous doing that,” recalls Hader during an episode of Off Camera with Sam Jones. “…the next day, I had a fever and chills. My whole body broke down, and I was sick for, like a week [because] my defenses were up the whole week I was doing it.”
While the interview is from an older episode of Off Camera, the clip itself was uploaded to YouTube recently—for which we are grateful, since it serves as a helpful reminder to all you thankless fans that Bill Hader, an angel if there ever was one, is out there consistently suffering for our own enjoyment.
Take heart, though. Apparently the sage advice of Sir Paul McCartney helps him manage some of the weight of our expectations.
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19 Comments
I still think Hader’s going to win an Oscar within the next ten years. I have no idea if he will, but I…just get this feeling that he’s going to.
Maybe 10 years… maybe more. I think he might have it in him but even though he’s in his 40s he still has a young-guy gawkiness about him, even on Barry.
Hader’s performance on Barry is incredible. One of my favorite shows.
And he’s gonna age magnificently, like a thundering herd of Chryslers.
“barry” is sooooo good!
Barry’s great! He just seems like he’s still kind of got a leftover awkward teenage thing going on and I don’t think he’ll get shot at being an “Oscar Caliber Actor” ™ until he ages a bit. But I think he’s capable, he kind of seems like he could be Michael Shannon’s younger brother to me.
Bill seems to be moving out of acting and into directing (which was his main passion – he got into sketch comedy and then acting as somewhat of an accident), but he’s a phenomenal actor and he would be a real asset to many films if he gets the chance.
Hader will get his Oscar at some point, even if it’s an honorary one when he’s in his 80’s. I don’t care for any of Adam Sandler’s “hangout” movies, but he was definitely robbed of at least a nomination for Uncut Gems. Sandler has the range, but he just won’t commit to more serious roles because it seems he likes filming his paid vacations with all his best buds. Hader seems a bit more devoted to honing his skills and talents.
If he can lands a role that allow him to show complete range of acting talents the way he committed to in Barry, he better damn well be awarded an Oscar.
I may be in the minority but I don’t find his Barry particularly deep. Given what we’ve all read or heard about Hader, Barry is just a violent version of himself. It’s a guy who is good at a job about which he feels a lot of ambivalence. He finds something that interests him more but keeps getting sucked back into the old work. The wetwork is comedy, particularly SNL. The acting class is his other aspirations (he even struggles with being a *literal* impostor).It’s not a *bad* performance, don’t get me wrong. But it gets more praise than it deserves.
Bill Hader is the best
someone posted this Photoshopped image of an imaginary live action King of The Hill and they put Hader as Dale…OMG I would love for this to be true.
Hader would be a great Dale.Koechner’s fine but come on, Bill’s gotta be Stephen Root.
I agree, love Koechner but Stephen Root all the way.
Tom Hanks would suck as Hank Hill. He’s got too much of a personality. Hank’s gotta be dull.
I think Hanks could do it, but he’s not allowed to lose and gain weight for roles anymore.
How can Matthew McConaughey be Boomhauer if he is Rad Thib-uh-day-okss-ss
This is pure garbage. It’s so bad, I’m personally offended by whoever retched this abomination out unto the world. Also, it’s racist. All Asian people aren’t interchangeable. Ken Jeong is Korean, Kahn Souphanousinphone was from Laos and that’s like, do I have to even explain why that matters????? GAH.
Some people may not agree, but I’ve gotta say it. I don’t care how many feathers I rustle or how many friendships I lose.
Bill Hader is a funny guy and a good actor.