Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Bill Hader

Episode Date: June 2, 2019

Bill Hader’s rise to stardom began behind the scenes on movies and TV sets, before he took an improv class and quickly made the leap to “Saturday Night Live.” In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist talks to the actor and comedian about what he calls his journey from "preschool to Harvard,” his Emmy-winning HBO series “Barry,” and his lifelong dream to meet the subject of his most famous impression: “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. My guest this week, S&L alum and current Emmy winning star of HBO's hit show Barry, Bill Hader. Bill spent eight seasons, you'll remember fondly, on SNL. And we did the interview at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City, where I'm talking to you right now. And that is where he worked on SNL. Up on the eighth floor, I work on the second floor. So we shared that thing. We came. We sat down. down. We talked a little bit about what it's like to be back in this building after all those years, hopping in the famous elevators, going upstairs, and creating characters like Stefan, the legendary, the icon Stefan, with his buddy John Malaney, who's now perhaps the best stand-up working, but was a writer at SNL when they came up with that together. We go through his years on SNL, the anxiety he had, which I didn't really know about as an SNL performer. His leap is crazy. He was working behind the scenes in Hollywood as a producer. a PA on sets out in L.A.

and then started doing a little improv work on the side for fun, was discovered, got an audition, and before he knew it, he went from behind the scenes to being on SNL. It's a crazy story that he gets into. You'll remember one of his best impersonations is of Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, our beloved colleague at NBC, Keith Morrison. It's, for me, I think maybe,

I mean, Stefan is in a class. of its own, but I will say I think Keith Morrison is my favorite. So we thought, here we are at 30 Rock. Dateline does its show from here. Could we get a meeting between Bill Hater and the real life Keith Morrison? Because they never met before. And so we invited you'll hear toward the end of the interview. You hear us kind of getting on the elevator, walking down the hallways, and going to the Dateline area where we sit in an edit bay and watch an editor cut the show, putting the show together. and then taking in a voice track from Keith Morrison, we told Bill Hader that Keith Morrison was in L.A.

And it was cool enough for Bill to hear Keith's voice. Then we had Keith come out of the booth, come around the corner, and surprise Bill Hater. It's amazing. So hang in for that at the end of the interview. In the meantime, we talk about Barry, the HBO series that is a bona fide hit. He won the Emmy, did Bill Hater for Best Actor last year, and is one of the favorites to win it again this year.

He's the co-creator. He directs episodes. He writes episodes. And of course, he's the star. A great conversation with a really fun, deep, interesting guy, Bill Hader. And stick around for the Keith Morrison surprise right now on the Sunday Sitdown podcast. Thanks for doing this, man. I appreciate it.

Yeah. What's it like, first of all, to walk in this building, go up those elevators that you've been up a million times? Oh, man. I still get anxious. Like, yeah, you walk in and I immediately, the, you know, My thing is I have no ideas. Good news is you didn't have to have any today. I don't have to have any ideas today.

Yeah, usually it's like, I have no ideas. I don't know what we're doing. I don't know how to do this, yeah. So, you know, that's usually my issue. Well, we can talk about SNL in a few minutes, but want to focus on Barry because you come to the end of another season here. As I said, you have the rare combination of ratings and critical acclaim. It's often one or the other.

What does it feel like to be sitting here through two seasons of this thing you've dreamed up this crazy idea. I don't, I mean, yeah, I was saying before we started, it's like, Alec Berg and I are not the most, like, gregarious. We're kind of like, you know, we have this producer on the show, Amy Solomon, always texts us, Twitter, loved the, you know, this, the episode last night or, you know, or the ratings are great or whatever, and we're just like, cool, cool, or like, thumbs up emoji, you know, and, like, we're not.

the most uh we're we're just kind of our whole our whole thing is just where's the story going you know and and i just finished episode eight last week oh is that right you know i mean we i mean we really just ahead of them coming out you know so last week it was like the final right you know mix and color you know color timing and all that stuff and watched it i was like all right that's season you know and and and and and and and And then so it is nice, but our brains are constantly, you know, it's weird being inside it, you know, because you're trying to tell a story. And I think from being on Saturday Night Live, I used to, you know, after the after party, all of us would be on our phones. Right.

What did everybody say? What did everybody say? And that's a weird trap to get in because it's like you're in a weird vacuum of the same 12 people love it. Right. you know or like you know this one website hates my characters right you know what i mean and so you're then writing that character going i want to make the people that whatever that's happy and you're like just and that's such a distortion of what you should be doing yeah it's all distortion so you should just like not not really look at it and just focus on the thing and

you know hopefully you know if if alec and i are happy then That's good. We were talking just a minute ago. It's really only been about 14 months, I think it's the number since season one started. So we're talking about a stretch of a year, basically. We put two seasons together. As I said, it's done really well. When you set out to make Barry, did you have expectations for it?

Are you just happy to put it out in the world? No expectations. It was just telling a story. Hopefully people will like this. I mean, the biggest anxiety I had about the show on. Honestly, it was the first thing that I was the lead of. And I had turned down the opportunity to be the lead in things a lot. Because I wanted to own it, I wanted to create the thing

and really have that kind of ownership over it. And then finally, okay, well, here's your shot. And so that feeling definitely was there. You know, before going, I remember I was hosting SNL for that. One of the writers and I walked through Times Square after we had the host dinner on Tuesdays, and there was this giant buried billboard in Times Square. That was when it was like, ah, ugh. You were celebrating.

You were freaked down. No, I just, I was like, ah, I don't want to look at that. You know, it was just that, that feeling. Yeah, that's a lot of pressure, you know. So, and, and, you know, but as far as the story goes in the show, I mean, I have no, I, I, I, I had no real thought of how, you know, any expectations on any of this stuff. It was just, like I was saying, Alec and I, our whole thing is just, like, telling the story and making ourselves, you know, happy. It's like, well, this is the thing we want to see, and hopefully people will dig it, you know.

So. Did you do anything differently, Bill, for season two? So you learn how to do this effectively, you're writing it, you're producing, you're sitting in the edits bay, watching yourself act and all that. It's terrible, awful experience. I know how much you love that. Yeah. So then did you learn things during season one that you did differently from season two? Was it a different process for you?

You know what? In the writing process, it was, let's get deeper with the characters. Let's get to know the characters a little bit more. I mean, when you're trying to do something, it has this kind of a propulsive narrative that comes from the movies I like and weird the comic books I read growing up, you know, every issue would end. And you go, oh, my God, what happens next? And, you know, I love that feeling.

so um and then um and then you know liking tv shows like the sopranos and breaking bad and all these things and then uh um we we were i thought episode one it was it worked but season two the going in it was like let's get to know everybody better i want to get to know jean and sally and fuchs and no hank i want to know their stories a little bit better um so in doing that we try to give them all the same issue, which is, are they comfortable with their nature and them trying to change their nature? Everybody, you know, Barry's, you know, am I an inherently violent person, you know? There's an inherent darkness about you. And he's like, it's not inherent, you know, that. And then everybody kind of has that same problem. So that was good. And then in

directing, to be honest, I personally, you know, season one, I watched those first. three episodes and was like, okay, okay, I need, all right, I need to stick to my guns or I need to, like, move the camera more, you know, I want to make it a little bit more, like, whose point of view is that, you know, shot? Like, why did I, you know, there's a sequence in episode three of season one where I strangle this guy Paco in his house, and when I watched that, I just was like, I could have done this better, you know? And so, coming in this season, it was a bit more just taking bigger swings, you know, directorially and kind of going more an instinct, you know, and, and, and, you know, when you're directing, you have to have a lot of confidence

because a lot of times when you tell people you want something, they look at you like you're crazy. Yeah. And I directed this one episode, this season called Ronnie Lilly, where this hit that goes wrong. And we had this scene where this little girl runs. up a tree onto a house. And our producer, Aida Rogers, we had picked out a house that had a tree, and I just wasn't happy with it.

And I didn't want, what you want is that house, and you wish there was a tree right there. And I went, right, so we got to build a tree. And just the silence permeated, everybody just staring at me going, you want to do what? And I was like, well, build a tree right here. No, it'll be great.

We'll build a tree, blah. And then this creative conversation happens, you know? And I think on season one I would have been like, no, we'll use the first house. Forget what I said, you know, because you just, you know, you're too like, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. And so season two was like, no, we're building a tree. And then I walk back to the van where we all, I'm just sit. So by season three, you're going to be sitting in one of these with a megaphone, just screaming at actors. I want trees everywhere.

I want a tree there, I want a tree there, just about trees. Yeah. The long cigarillo. Yeah, yeah. What is that? A riding crop. So now you've led me my next question, which is season three. You say you're always thinking ahead.

You don't stop and celebrate the season. Do you have a vision for where season three goes now that you've been renewed and given that chance? Yeah, I mean, Alec and I definitely have, and the writers, we have an idea of where to start. It's like every season. We kind of have tent pole moments. You know, season one, it was, we knew Barry had to have a breakdown on stage that then people construed as good acting, you know, but it was him just having an emotional breakdown. And so we're writing to that point, you know. Season two, we knew that the character of Loach was going to want Barry to do a hit.

So we were writing to that. We knew that Sally's ex-husband was going to come. back so we're writing to that um you know uh fuchs working with the cops we knew so all those things at the beginning of season you kind of like go well here's the things we know we have so it gets us from that to that right you know right and then we try a lot of different things and then we're like we got it and then i'm usually the one that comes in the next day like no this doesn't work anymore and they're like why yesterday we were high-fiving each other like no no it doesn't work you know and you'd kind of go bananas and then alec will be the guy

the next day going like, no, it doesn't work because XYZ. But it's it can be really hard and frustrating, but it's all it's also really exhilarating that work because you're making it better and you can feel it getting better and a lot of it is

weirdly raising the empathy for the characters. Finding a, you know, God, you know, I just not everyone's bad and not everyone's good. So it's this thing of finding this interest. interesting area and go, oh, this is feeling a little character tree.

So what if we bring that up and let Hank at the end of episode one this season be dark and scary? Right now. It's like, well, that's interesting. I remember Alec pitched that. We all went, oh, right. And then those are the moments that I get really excited about. So we have those for three. I have no idea what will happen.

The season ends on a pretty dark note. So hopefully people will want to. come back. How did you a couple of years ago, first of all, conceive of this character, Barry, but second of all, present it to HBO or the people you were pitching it to? Who did you say he was? What kind of guy was he when you got in the room? Alec and I went in and pitched it.

It went through a lot of permutations, and actually HBO was really smart. Initially, Barry was the movie version of a hitman, you know? It was kind of like not like skinny black tie, not John Wick, but like a guy who just was a, he was just like a cipher, you know. It was like traveling salesman. And HBO said, we like this,

the acting world seems very lived in and real, and I know all those characters. But then they said, you know, but this hitman world, this, I don't, who is this guy? I don't know, does that exist? You know? And essentially what they were,

kind of saying was this is the hitman world is more genre and it should feel as real as the acting world which was a good note and so then we made him a vet you know and by making him a vet it was like oh now i understand why he has these these skills i understand now that he's kind of lost it just made it just by making him a former marine or a marine it just just everything clicked into place. And so when we did pitch it to them, though, I think I just sat and told them essentially what the pilot was, you know, the pilot episode, like beat for beat for beat for beat.

And then they went, cool. All right. Well, thanks. That just hung out there. And I was like, okay. Oh, and they said, who do you want to direct this? I was like, I want to direct it. And they said, have you directed before?

and I was like, no, that went great. No, and then Alec, I think, because Alec Berg had, you know, directed Kirby enthusiasm and Silicon Valley for them. They were like, well, Alec will be on set. You know, he'll oversee this dummy. Well, it's immediately interesting. The sniper you've seen before, but then you hear he's taking improv classes. Yeah.

I'll let you go, wait a minute, what? I need to know more. Yeah, it could be really bad. I mean, I think a lot of people, when it was announced, I think they had in their head what kind of show it was. you know, which was kind of a glib, kind of, you know, wacky comedy.

Right, a little slapstick. Like, Weekend at Bernie's type jokes. Like, this is my guy I just killed. Like, this is my friend Harold, you know, or whatever. And trying to, in front of the acting class, whatever. But no, I think when they saw the pilot, though, they went, oh, wow, you know, this is. Yeah.

You know, I said in the pitch, you know, I was like, no, the violence is going to be, very real and it is about how the effects of violence on a person, you know, and this kind of thing that I've always been interested in is, is how that destroys you, you know, over time. And the propensity for everybody to have violence, you know. Like, it's like, it's like we're all born with this house and it's like, here's the house, this is the thing. And then there's this giant machine gun over in the corner.

And you go, hey, does that go off? person giving you the house goes, I don't know, I don't, I don't know. And you're just like, okay, cool. And so this like thought, you know, that, the, of, and this idea of Barry is a perpetrator of violence, is dating this woman, Sally, who is a victim of violence. And just, you know, I just, to explore that was a thing I was interested in exploring, but I think what HBO was so nice about was I said, I don't have any answers. Alec and I just want to figure it out.

Right. Barry is such a fascinating character study. He's just fun to think about and watch what he's going to do next. And that's kind of what you're known for is understanding human nature and like getting right to the core of it. Have you always had that skill? Like when you were a kid in Tulsa, were you like studying people and analyzing them? No. No, I think it comes with time too as just whatever.

You know, as you get older, you have more life experiences and you do a fair amount of therapy and you have kids and people you love die and your life goes through massive changes and things like that. And then you start to see that a lot of people have these feelings. I'm like someone that I always say like, have you ever been through that? Like, I always assume that I'm the only one who's going through something. And you're like, yes, I've been through that. What are you talking about?

So this universal experience that we're all having, I find interesting. And the kind of things I enjoy watching and reading and things are, I think I get a lot out of things that have like a, like the finite humanity. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, I watch a movie like Kira, this Karasawa. movie and you watch it and it's about a guy who's dying and it's one of them I just think one the greatest movies ever made because it's incredibly relatable you know what I mean and just there's no bull-de-hs in it you know yeah so I don't know I and so I if we could try to do that and at the same time you know be funny that's it's a good thing so where does the sense of humor come from then

if you go back would did you grow up in a funny household yeah Both my parents are really funny. My sisters are funny. We live next door to my grandparents. Both of them were super irreverent, very dry sense of humor. And I don't know. But, yeah, and it's, you know, just always, I always was told I was funny or that I, I talk too much. I talk a lot when I'm nervous.

So, yeah, I was at school, I was always like, I don't know what I'm doing. Just because I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Just filled the space. Yeah, just filled the space. Like, anyway, so, well, everybody's being quiet. Did you do impressions back then? Yeah, yeah, I did impressions.

The first impression I could do was Bart Simpson, and then I went through puberty, and that ended. But, yeah, I would do impressions of teachers and friends and stuff. like that and it wasn't in some way SNL audition that I had to do like famous people. So when did you get the idea in your head that you could do this for a living, that you could move to LA and be an actor or work on a set or maybe someday do comedy and impressions? Well my grades were terrible in high school and I just, but I was, I knew, I wasn't doing drugs, everyone thought I was on drugs and I wasn't, I wasn't doing any, for the record.

I wasn't doing any drugs and I wasn't drinking or anything. I was actually not in any sort of, you know, moral way, but just, I was just like, I wasn't interested. I was more interested in movies, books, stories, you know, I was interested in that, music, and things. And so, and I think parents that were cool enough to realize, like, oh, he's, he's not doing well in school, but he has, like, he's just not interested. He has a real passion for this thing. So the money they had saved for college, I just took that and moved to L.A. and just, I went to a community college for a little bit. and then moved to LA.

And it was just a PA, and I just thought it was cool being on sets. It was just like, oh, my God, this is, like, this is amazing. And, yeah, just working and meeting people, and it didn't really occur to me how hard it all was. When you're in your 20s, it doesn't seem like it's going to go bad. Right. You know, and then, then it, you know, around mid-20s, I was like, oh, maybe this is going to go bad.

Maybe this isn't going to work out. Did you want to be a performer, though? Because, like you said, you worked on all those sets. Were you happy doing that? Yeah, yeah, I was happy doing that. Yeah. No, performing came solely at a friend named Eric Philip Kowski, who worked as, we worked on a show called The Surreal Life together in the Post Department.

And he was like, oh, I'm taking classes at Second City, L.A. Do you want to come see my Level 5 show? And that's your final big show. And so I went and. watched his level five show and I went oh wow there's all these people my age doing comedy and improv

and I remember one of the guys in the show or he was in another show with Simon Heldberg who's in Big Bang Theory and Derek Waters who does drunk history and all these people were doing at this theater and I went wow how do I get in on this so I just started taking classes and then I got just crazy lucky

that one of the guys in my class Matt Offerman. His brother's Nick Offerman. Nick Offerman's married to Megan Malalley. She came to see Matt perform, saw me, and was like, you're really funny, and told Laura Michaels about me. So I was, and I was taking it as a way of, like, how do you direct actors and, you know, that kind of thing. So you're still working those jobs on sets while you're taking these classes? Yeah, yeah, every Saturday I would go take a class.

So for all intents and purposes at that point, you're behind the same thing. scenes guy. I'm happy to be doing it. Yeah, fully behind this. I was like the funny guy of the crew. Right. Not at all. And then I got an S&L audition and just was like, what?

Okay. You know. All right. And then, like, oh, it was the thing I'll tell my grandkids, you know. I met Laura Michaels once, you know. And then, yeah, we're all worked out. Do you remember some of your early gigs? before you came to SNL, there was a show called Night Calls, I believe.

Night Calls, yeah, I was a PA. On Night Calls, there was a phone sex show that was on Playboy. That was awkward. I did that for a week. Do you screen calls or what role? No, no, my job was to tell the porn actresses, because people would call in, and then the porn actors would have to re, like, recreate whatever their fantasy was. And then they'd be like, Bill, can you get Candy and Cindy and,

Raj. You know? And I'm like, hey guys. I guess you guys, you guys all know each other because you're about to. And then and then having to get like coffee for them, you know.

Right. And it's, you know, all the names are like, candy, candy, you know. Celeste, Celeste, Celeste, Celette, you know. And so, yeah, that was my job for a week. And then I was like, oh, my parents knew I was working on this. This wouldn't.

Oh, so you bailed on it pretty quickly. Super quickly. And then I worked on a lot of low, but I worked on collateral damage with Armiswurstager. I worked on this, like, but then like movies like, worked on a movie called Final Payback with Richard Grieco and John Saxon. That was rad. Weren't you Fred Armisen's driver at one point, too? Is that true story? Yeah, so Bob Odenkirk did this short film called the Frank International Film Festival that was on the Melvin Goes to Dinner DVD.

Okay. And Fred, and the short film was about a guy who he has his own festival, film festival, but it's just in his house. And Bob wrote it for Fred, and I was a PA on it. And my job was not to pick up Fred from the airport, but to meet him, a place called Fries in Burbank. And so I was in the parking lot, and he pulled up. And I go, hey, man, I'm Bill. You're following me to set.

And he was like, okay, and he followed me to set. Wow. And then I was getting him, like, coffee. And I was like, you know, you're in charge of Fred. So I was like, hey, man, do you need anything? He's like, no, man, I'm fine. And then so when I got the show, I was like, I was a PA for you on the, yeah. And he was like, oh, yeah.

And you know what? Here's the thing. This is disturbing. But there's that Netflix show about the guy, the documentary about the guy, the pizza bomb or the guy that. Oh. Yeah. Remember that? Yeah.

So that was that day. No way. So, like, when I was driving around, we were shooting Franken and all, we were all, you know, before you could look on your phone, everybody was asking, like, what's going on with that? Because it was, like, national news. Right, of course. And then I remember them being like, the bomb went off, and I was being like, Jesus. All right.

And then I was having to be funny. But, yeah, that's, like, isn't that weird? That's, some documentary came up, I'm like, that's the day I met friends. Little did you know. That disturbing, awful story. That's damn it, Fred. Little did you know you'd be dressed in wigs playing gray gardens together someday. Yeah, years later.

Exactly. So you touched on it, but man, your jump from, okay, I'm a PA who Moonlight's doing improv comedy to, I have an audition at S&L to say zero to 100 is putting it mildly. I think you've described it as preschool to Harvard. Yeah, preschool to Harvard. That must have been totally head spinning. Yeah, it was. And it took me, I don't think I was ever necessarily that comfortable. I mean, I got a little more comfortable as time went on.

But during the live show, I was always really anxious. But man, those first four seasons was, boy, oh, man, I was, I was a wreck. Now, was that because you didn't feel like you belonged with everything? I didn't feel like I belonged. I had massive, massive stage fright. But I didn't have that when I would do shows, like, you? in the backyard, like we would do shows in a backyard in LA. And I remember having a tie on and I was totally convinced that the tie was choking me.

I was like, guys, I can't breathe. Like, who gave me this tie? Like, I was just, and I didn't realize I was having a panic attack. Right. But, yeah, so I always, like, getting up in front of people. That's so interesting for a guy. It never showed on the air, by the way. But for a guy who does this for a living, do you still feel that way?

I got a little bit better. Weirdly, I'm okay on talk shows. where I can just kind of just do this. Right. It's like, okay, here's what we're going to do. The plan is this and your line is this. And you have a plan that you rehearse a thing. And you have to do it and you have one shot at it.

That's where I get the anticipation of that makes me like, okay, what are your line? You know, I start to get really freaked out. It's hard for me to relax. Clearly you were doing something well, though, if you're already there for four seasons feeling that way. Did Lorne ever say anything to you? Yeah, yeah, he told me to relax.

Did he? Yeah, he's like, we relax. He goes, you got the job. You got the job. Just relax. But yeah, I was always a bit, yeah, just a little nervous. And then wasn't there sort of an important Jeff Bridges moment where he was hosting the show and kind of helped you through a little bit? Yeah.

Jeff Bridges was very nice and he said, I could see you're nervous because I was talking about how nervous I was. And we talked a little bit about meditation, which I do because of my nerves, right? and he said that he worked with Robert Ryan on Iceman Cometh when he was young. And before every take, Robert Ryan would break out into a sweat. And he said, are you okay? After all these years, you still get nervous. And he said, oh, I'd be really afraid if I wasn't afraid. So he's like, that's your friend.

You know, don't, like, put your arm around it. Don't push it away. And that really helped me. And it was nice at the Golden Globes this year. I saw him on the red carpet. I go, can I just say, you told me this? It was like, you know, nine years ago, you told me this, but it really helped me. That's so cool.

He was like, oh, thanks, you know. That's really cool. But now that really reframed it in my head a bit. And then you settled into these famous characters that you kind of knew we're going to kill when you went out there. I imagine that had to relax you a little bit. Yeah, but there's also, again, it's like we're talking about, there's the anticipation of hoping that you're not letting people down with it, And you want it to be as good as the last one and not phone a thing in.

And, you know, so weirdly you get a little bit more. But then once you're out there and you're, it's like jumping out of a plane, you know, the anticipation is what makes me crazy. And then once you're out there, you're like, well, you know, we're falling. You know, what else are you going to do? What was that first character for you where you said, oh, I got something here? Like the audience really responded to this. What was the breakthrough if there was one?

I mean, I was always trying to get an original character on the show. I was mostly known for impressions, like the first show I did Al Pacino and that people like that. And then, but, Vincent Price and James Carville and some of these things. But, and I had like this Vinnie Bedecchi, which is Italian talk show. But nothing was, Stefan was the thing that everyone really freaked out over. And again, you don't like, John and I were like, I don't, We did that as a sketch.

No one liked it. Right. And then we put it on an update and everyone liked it. That's funny. And we don't know why. And then also, like, I broke a lot during it. And that also was, you know, I think of because I was so keyed up, you know, that I would. And the thing that I always wanted to do because of my nerves, if you watch, especially

in update, I put my hand in front of my face a lot. Yeah. I'll be talking and I'm doing this. My hand is always up like this. And it was a real concerted effort to put my hand down because I want to go like that. I'm nervous and I just want to hide my face. So I just was like, get your hand down.

Not just with Stefan, by the way. Every character. Yeah, go back and watch some of those things. I'm constantly doing this. And so you have a Stefan, that's where the covering his face came from, was that was a thing that I wanted to. to do and a lot of people think I'm trying to not laugh, but really it's just to like, it's like I want to breathe or something, you know.

Right. It's like a safe space. Right. So even when you roll out there in that chair and the crowd goes bananas because it's when you do it ten times, you still have that anxiety about it? Yeah, you just want it to be good. You just want it to be good. And then I think people just liked it when I would start laughing and then you feel like

you hear, you know, your friends, you know, at Second City and be like, oh, don't, don't, that's so easy. That's such a cheap thing. But it was genuine. I mean, I think, well, their friends were like, you know, and I'm like, no, I really like, I just, you know, I'm an easy laugh, especially when I'm all keyed up like that. I break a lot. Right.

Right. And you and Malaney dreamed up, Stefan, based on a couple of people that knew, you'd seen in real life. Yeah, this email that he got about a club. And the email said, like, this club has everything. It was like New York's hottest club is blank. This club has everything. And one of the things was a room full of broken glass. No.

In the actual email? I think so. And then John was reading it, and he was reading it in kind of his voice. And then I had this barista who lived in Chelsea, who worked in Chelsea, at this coffee shop. shop I used to go to when I'm on my way to work. And so I started reading it in that voice and we were just messing around in the office. And then, and then John was the one that was like, maybe you'd do the barista guy, you know, let's do that guy. And so initially it was a sketch and it was us pitching a movie. I mean, I think it did go to air where it's me pitching a movie with

that flick. Right. And so tried that. It was a like, huh, you know. And then we tried it a couple more times. I remember once with Bradley Cooper and once with Justin Timberlake on a dress rehearsal and it never made it to air. And then Doug Abels was running update at the time. So why don't you guys do, I love that guy. Why don't you do them on update?

And I mean, I didn't really think about it. I was like, oh, we're going to try that on an update. And it was the Gabri Sida Bay Show. I remember that. And did it address. went pretty good. And then during Air, or Jim Downey was legendary as an L writer. I walked

off after doing it for the first time and he went that you got a hit, man. That was amazing. He just was like that was great. He's like that's really good. He was like, you got something special there. And Malini and I were like, oh wow, thanks. He's saying it. Right. Yeah, it's like this one of our, you know,

writer idols or whatever. And he's like, that thing was amazing, you know? And so that was really cool. And then Lauren wanted another one like for the last show. So we had a show and then it was the last show I mean it was Alec Baldwin and he was like can I get another stuff on?

So we knew and then when I rolled out that second time it got a giant huge reaction and I was like whoa. Part of the fun for people who study it and kind of know your dynamic with Malaney is knowing the lines that Malaney has written between dress and the show that you don't know are coming

because you almost get a look on your face like, what? Yeah. Well, when I hosted last time, it was the very first line was different. I had to introduce Colin and Michael and I was like, and I was like, Moonlight, La La Land. And so for the entire thing, I'm laughing

because the fact that I called them Moonlight and La La Land gave me laugh. Oh, man. And then John came out. as my lawyer and he had shy who's a piss

and I go with my lawyer and a piss artist and then he at dress he did another guy I feel like or he was kind of doing a Stefan voice

or something and then he comes out he goes hello Stefan like he did like a very official kind of very conservative voice

and I started laughing and then he whispered in my ear my girlfriend works at Yoshino Beef Bowl which is a restaurant which is a restaurant which is a terrible not terrible, but it's a chain of food.

We reference it and buried to. But, oh my God, it's just, I'm just being pummeled. I don't know how you hang in on some of those. If you haven't seen them before. Also, I just laugh. I mean, I just, I laugh very easily. But it's endearing. It works in the context of that.

So then a couple of years after that, 2013, you leave the show. Was that a- Six years ago today, someone just texted me. Is that right? Yeah. Six years ago today. was when it was announced that I was leading the show. And I don't know why, but someone just texted me.

I'm not on social media, but it was like a tweet. And my friend was like, did you know this? Wow. I was like, whoa, that was six years ago. Some SNL historian dug it up for you. Yeah, some nerd. So that's always the question, I think, as you know, much better than I, because you've had a lot of friends do it.

Do I walk away from this thing that's been really good to me and that's kind of scary to see what's on the other side, or do I just stay with the show? What was that decision like for you? I think at the time I had a family, so it was like the time I had a young family and it was just getting too hard. And also the show was just a grind for me, you know, and I loved everyone there. But I just was like, I can't, I don't know how much longer I can just mentally do this, you know? And, excuse me, I wanted to be doing stuff like Barry.

I wanted to be directing and writing and things like that. And either in a film or a TV series, I know what it was. I didn't know what the idea was, but I knew I wanted to be doing something like that. And so it just felt right, you know. And also everyone, it changes. And everyone I came up with was leaving. You know, Kristen and Andy had left. I knew Seth was leaving.

I knew that Fred was leaving. I knew Stakesas was leaving. So it was kind of like, oh, I should probably, these are, this is my generation. You're graduating. I'm great. This is, we need a new generation. And I'm seeing people like Kate McKinnon and, you know, all these new people coming in and just being like, oh, it's their show now.

Right. You know, and that's the way it's always, that's, that's the way that show is, you know. I think for a lot of people who saw you as a really funny performer and an impressionist, train wreck was a huge moment for you as an actor, not as a performer. been an actor because they saw, they go, all right, he's funny in that movie, but he's really good, too. Like, he can act. Yeah. And maybe, did it feel that way to you? Like, okay, this is a nice step.

Yeah, you know, that one, I think a lot of people, that was a good experience to, to, you know, be the, whatever, the romantic lead in a movie. Because I would, I was never, no one wanted me in there, except for Judd, Judd, the only guy that was like, you're going to be the romantic thing. That weird, goofy. giggling idiot, you know, as Conan O'Brien has now anointed me a giggling moron or whatever. But yeah, that was a great experience in getting to work with all the, you know, Amy and LeBron James

and all these people was really cool. And then there's another movie I'd done called Skeleton Twins, and that was also a big one to work with Kristen. And that had a lot of funny moments, but also a lot of really dramatic. moments in it. So that was those two experiences were really good and kind of going, all right,

people can kind of accept me as this thing. Yeah. Maybe got you to Barry in some ways. Well, when I had that meeting with HBO about just doing a show, I didn't pitch Barry, but I met them, but well, do you want to do a show with us? You know, and I would love to do a show with you. You're kidding.

And it was like, well, you know, we've seen you do sketch and, you know, I was doing the show documentary now, and that had like, you know, some, you know, sketchy character stuff in it. And they were like, but what we want to see you do? We saw skeleton twins and we were more interested in something like that. So, yeah.

Do you mention your daughters. We have kids about the same age. Are they interested at this point in what you do? Do they say, oh, my dad's funny. Do they watch SNL on YouTube? No. No. No, I think they had, like, one of our friends showed them,

show stuff on to them and they just feel like, what is this? What are you doing? They just want you to be dad. They don't want to think of you in that way. I totally get that and respect it. You kind of want it that way, I think. Yeah, you want them to just keep you real. I'm like, I don't care.

You know, if I'm with them and someone comes up and is like, hey, I just want to say I'm a fan. I kind of look, I'm like, why? You're like, I'm not even a fan. He can't make waffles. He's butchered the waffles this morning. Why are you saying that he's a good guy? That's very funny.

So I want to ask you about last thing, your Emmy win in September. Were you surprised, first of all? Yeah, it was totally shocked. And what did it feel like as a validation, not just for you, but for this thing you dreamed up with your buddies? I mean, it's, I was so happy just that, We got recognized. I mean, that morning, I was shooting It, the sequel to It.

I was in Hamilton, Ontario, and I got that phone call. It was, you know, we were doing nights, so I was asleep, but it was, you know, noon. And they called me and said, hey, the show just got 13 Emmy nominations. And I'm going to what, you know, for first year. I mean, you couldn't believe it. And so, no, I was just. totally knocked out by that. I did not think we were going to win anything. So when Henry won, I mean, we were ecstatic when Henry won and Alec and I were just teeming over Henry

winning. So then when I won it, it sounds like a, you know, whatever, exaggeration or whatever. It's not, I literally do not remember anything. Blacked out. of that moment of being up. I don't, it was like, Michael Douglas set my name, and next thing I knew I was backstage with Michael Douglas, and I'm holding it,

and he's like, hey, that was good. And I'm asking, I'm like, what did I say out there? And he was like, you were good. You were good. I think you were pretty well. You were nice. And I was like,

what did I say? I was just totally in shock. Yeah. So that was nice. That was a very nice thing. And, but, you know, and then I,

I afterwards went to In-N-Out Burger, and the woman, the thing, Rubendo rolled down, and she went, didn't you just win an Emmy? Did she really? And I go, yes, and she was, let me see it, and I showed it to her. And then she goes, well, this is in the car with you. It's just me. And she went, maybe that's sad. It's such a bummer.

And I was like, I'm happy, you know? And I was like sitting there with an Emmy in my tucks watching Ace in the Hole, Billy Wilder movie. Kirk Douglas. Wow. Interesting. And just, yeah, just going away, all right. And then, because the next day, Alec and I had to work. So I was like, I can't stay out late because Alex's coming over at like 7 a.m.

because we have to, you know, write. We have to finish episode one, polish on episode one, so we were going to start shooting the next day. So, yeah, we had to get back to work. You blame the shoot day, but I get the sense you would have been there anyway, eating in and out per watching Turner Classic movies. Yeah. I'm very like, at the party and everyone's, I'm like, okay, okay, okay. I just did like a big, like walked into the HBO party and then like, walked right back out. Because I get, yeah, all the, yeah, people wanting pictures. I don't know. Yeah, I get very like, all right, okay, well, bye everybody. You know.

Just do the I was here photo. Yeah, like, hi, proof. And then I left where Henry was like, oh my gosh, he loves that. You know, Henry was basking in it, you know, which he very, well. I mean, Henry is what you should be. I am like a very socially awkward, like, cool! And I just left. But he completely missed A's in the Hole that night. He missed A's in the Hole, which, I mean, yeah. I mean, you can't argue that you can watch A's in the Hole anytime, but winning an Emmy and celebrating it is kind of a once-in-lifetime thing.

But I decided towards the thing you can literally do any day of the week. That's what I went and did. You chose Turner Classic movies. I chose TCM. Good for you. You're a huge Dateline fan. Huge Dateline fan. I know this about you.

Obviously, we've seen you do Keith Morrison on that's enough, but you do all the dateline correspondence. I do, yeah. That's like another lame thing that I'm able to do. Where does that fascination come from? I just like true crime shows, and I find them massively entertaining all the, I mean, especially Josh and Keith Morris and, yeah, yeah, those guys. really funny. Well, you're in the right building. We thought since you're such a huge fan,

we'd go up to one of the Dateline edit days and watch how they put together one of your two crime stories. You want to do that? Yes. All right, let's go. Thank you for listening to the Sunday Sitdown podcast. Stick around for more of my conversation with Bill Hader and our trip to the Dateline floor at 30 Rock, where he gets a big surprise. Welcome back to the Sunday Sitdown podcast. You've waited long enough, my friends, it is time for the surprise meeting between Bill Hader and the great Keith Morrison Dateline correspondent. Really one of for me Bill Hader's best impersonations the two had never met until we brought Bill up to the Dateline floor at 30 Rock and gave him the surprise of a lifetime. So this is the Dateline floor.

Whoa. This is awesome. I mean, it looks like the S&L floor, but I'm just seems like there's more murder more murder exactly it's just more murder this is a one of these is Keith Morrison's locker yeah you know Keith Morrison's an LA guy yeah yeah he's out there it's like um that's so cool have you ever met any of those guys no wow hi there hello hello this turn to yeah yeah I said I say you're doing like the Dennis Murphy. I was like, okay, this is like Keith they get,

but you really analyze the show. Their LOLs turn to WTFs. Is this, uh, whoa. Is this us here? Whoa. Chat. Hey, man. Hey, guys, come on in.

Bill Hager. Hi, how are you? Hey, wow. It's the world's biggest date line. Oh, yeah. This is cool. You can sit down if you want to a lot too much. This is how, this is where.

This is where it happens. This is where it all happens right here. What are we working on? So this is a episode here. A would be hitman who confesses for a little. Lester Holtz. I'm Lester Holtz.

How many does he? Enter the beautiful blog with an X-rated career. There's so many like this. What? She seemed to know everyone. Oh, I know this one. You've seen it? I've seen this one.

I know that story. She was fully involved with this hit. I didn't do this. She was fully involved with this. What did I did? Yeah, and they were going to have her killed. And she's super, and rightfully so, very, what you call it, sarcastic to Keith Morrison.

She goes, are you offering? Yeah, yeah, yeah, she goes, what are you offering? Listen, to the episode. We didn't plan this, I swear. No, I was not. Are you offering? Yeah, there you go. Oh!

She goes, are you offering? She goes, are you offering? And Keith Morris is like, wow. Actually, this is a key story. I actually do have to take a track in from him. Oh, yeah. If you won't. He's in L.I., but. Oh.

Wait, this isn't live, is it? Yeah. Thanks for getting up to. Can you do one read for me, please for the script that you have? Sure. You want to give them. Oh, horrible. Those wealthy folk.

Give them some pointers. about the prominent banker, the glamorous former dancer, the sparkling society hostess, and the deadly plan of it here on the wrong end of America Street. That's too, that too creepy? I don't know, let's take the temperature of the room here for a second. Hang on. What do you think, Bill? That's pretty rad. here is that it's pretty bad. What the heck?

Thanks for getting up so. All right. No problem, yeah. Wow, that was crazy. Could have given him some pointers. I can't give him pointers. He's the perfect. He's the master.

He's the master. I don't know how you get better than Keith. Morrison, I knew he was going to be here. I knew he was going to be here. Oh my gosh. Wow. Oh, my gosh. Man, you're the.

Man, oh, man, I'm such a huge fan of ears. Well, no. That's huge. Oh, man. This is crazy. I've never liked anyone. I've never liked anyone before who made so much fun. No, I'm glad you have a good.

Thanks for appreciating the... Are you kidding? I think you've extended my career a couple of years. Oh, really? Oh, my gosh. Wow, this is the coolest thing of all times. Did you hear I quoted the thing? I knew the episode.

I knew the episode. He knew the characters. It's a good episode, right? She thought she was going to be murdered, and she's pretty sarcastic with you, and I was like, well. Man, no, John Mulaney, Larry David, there's so many of us

were, like, massive fans of yours, and we'll always be like, do you see what, Keith Morris? I mean, you're just, the, I'm super. This is me, me completely. Keith Morrison. That's rad, man.

Thank you, man. He means it. You should have heard him reciting word for word the episode. Come on. Oh, yeah. I've seen this one.

She can say this to Keith. He's like, are you offering? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that guy, the dumb Charleston guy. But yeah, one we like is when you say,

but then there was that DNA. Oh, that pesky DNA. And then you did say that. You think I said that? I think I said that. I think I said that. I think it sounds like that.

Do you say, yesky DNA? We could find out. I don't know. We'd have to be. I don't know. I have to say there are stuff we say that you didn't. You haven't said, but we would like you to say like your dad. Your dad shot you in the face.

That must have been wild. How long have that? I must have been, wow. What did you do after that? What have you thought about Bill's? impersonation over the years. As I said, it probably extended my career. But no, the first time I

used, there's an expression you can't use on television. I'll go for it. My daughter lived in New York when I was in L.A. and she phoned me at about, you know, whatever it was, 9 o'clock on a Saturday night, and she's screaming

into the phone and laughing. I said, you go watch Saturday on live, and what the hell are you talking about? So, then she hung up, and I I had to watch it. And I didn't know whether... What's the expression? I didn't know whether to...

I didn't know whether to... Go blind. It was very weird. I got to tell you. Oh, I can't imagine. Well, you did the thing with Seth Myers and Seth was, you know... I'm with Keith Morris and jealous.

I was like, yes. He's my favorite person. Yeah, so no, we... Yeah, no. I mean, that was one of those things where I would do it. and around the office. I would just walk around going,

oh, and I would like, and I would just do the voice or whatever. And then, and then this guy, Kent Sublette and Rob Klein, these two writers were like, well, we should try to do that on the show.

And so, yeah, no, but I, and then over the years, other people, you know, when I work at South Park,

those guys really liked them or Ben Affleck when he came. It was the first time we tried it was when he was hosting and he was laughing really hard. and then, yeah, so, no, people are just a huge fan. I'm so nervous right now. You're nervous.

This is me nervous. It's like, okay, cool. I had a feeling when I saw him on the thing, I was like, I worked on punks. I know a setup when I see it. They got three cameras on us. He's not a thing. I know something's going on. Keith came from L.A.

Just to be here to mention it. That's a true story. That's a true story. No, that's crazy. It's just a side product. It's like, no, I have. There's some victim in the other room that you're supposed to be interviewing. You're like, hold on, I want to do a bit real quick with the guy who does me on SNL.

This woman's like, oh, okay, cool. Well, I'm glad we made this happen. Dude, that's insane. Where are you at? Where are you working currently on a story? Yeah, right down the hall. Really? Yeah, we're going to screen it.

Wow. Oh, I want to check it out if I can. Some of it. Yeah, yeah, let me see some of it. Yeah, we're supposed to go to other shit. Let's do it. Let's go. Come on.

Dude. Thanks, man. Woo. Thanks, as you heard right there, Bill is a huge fan of Dateline, an even bigger fan of Keith himself. So it was so funny to watch them finally meet in person. As I said, they'd never met before. Bill said he had a little bit of a hunch. Why are all these lights in here?

You said, your editor's not a great actor. I felt something coming in the wind. And what the wind brought. Bill Hader, it's Keith Morrison. And our big thanks to Keith and the entire Dateline team for helping us to make that happen. My thanks to all of you for tuning in again this week to hear more of the conversations with all my guests. Make sure you click subscribe so you never miss an episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC.

I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.