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Comic actor Bill Hader has confessed that he wasn’t sure whether he would make the grade during his time on US TV series Saturday Night Live.
However, his rising status as one of America’s biggest comedians was foreseen by an unlikely source, Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd.
Speaking to FastCoCreate, Hader recollected his conversation with the former SNL host: “[Aykroyd] said, ‘Here’s what’s going to happen: your first couple years, you’re going to be on unsteady ground, you’re going to think you’re gonna be fired at any moment, and the audience will not know you.
“It’s your job to get the audience to know you and like you. Then the audience will know you, you’ll go out to your mark and get a little applause break because they know you, then you can start doing weird things and they’ll go with you.
“You’ll do that for a couple years and get to a place where you’re just clocking in. You’ll get to a place where you come in, do your impression, do your character, play a game show host, do whatever’s needed of you, do it really well – you’re a pro at it – and then you clock out and go home.’ He said, ‘Once you know you’re just clocking in, though, it’s time to leave.’ And that’s exactly how it went.”
Famed for his exceptional impersonations and his various roles as bizarre characters on the show, Hader has also found success in his big-screen career.
He has mostly featured in comedy films including Superbad, Tropic Thunder and Paul, as well as appearing in more dramatic projects like Her and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.
The Oklahoma-born actor can next be seen in upcoming dramedy The Skeleton Twins, which co-stars fellow SNL star Kristen Wiig.