Andy Samberg was a recent guest on Kevin Hart’s Peacock interview series “Hart to Heart” and got candid about his exit from “Saturday Night Live“12 years ago. The comedian was one of the biggest stars of the sketch comedy show during its tenure, which lasted from 2005 to 2012.
Alongside the members of Lonely Island Akiva Schaffer And Jorma TacconeSamberg turned the digital shorts into one of the most popular and viral segments on “SNL” through iconic videos like “Dick in a Box” and “Natalie Rap.” However, Samberg told Hart that “my life was falling apart” backstage in 2012 and that he couldn’t “take it anymore.”
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“Physically, it was a real ordeal for me and I got to the point where I was like, I haven’t slept in seven years,” Samberg said. “We wrote stuff for the live show all night Tuesday night, the reading on Wednesday, and then we were told to create a digital short film, write all Thursday, all night Thursday, don’t sleep, get up, shoot on Friday, edit all night Friday and into Saturday, so it was like I didn’t sleep four days a week for seven years. So I kind of physically collapsed.”
Samberg said the work on “SNL” changed after Schaffer and Taccone left, leaving him as the sole creator of digital shorts for his final two years.
“I was tasked with making the short films, which I never claimed I could do without them,” Samberg said. “We’ve done some stuff that I’m really proud of in my last couple of years, but there’s something about the songs that I can only do with Akiva and Jorm. That’s just the way it is, we’re just a band in a way.”
Samberg consulted with his former SNL costars, like Amy Poehler, when deciding whether or not to continue working on the show. Part of the reason he was so nervous about leaving was that being off SNL meant he wouldn’t have such an instant creative outlet.
“I thought, once I get into it, when I have an idea, I can’t do it,” Samberg said. “The crazy thing about this job is that once you get into it, if you’re in the shower and you have this idea that something can be on TV in three days, it’s the most intoxicating feeling.”
“They told me straight up, ‘We’d rather you stay,’ and I said, ‘Oh, that makes it harder,’” Samberg added of his departure. “But I figured in order to get some mental and physical health back, I had to do it. So I did it, and it was a very difficult choice.”
“Saturday Night Live” is set to enter its 50th season this fall on NBC. Samberg’s full interview with Hart is now available to stream on Peacock.
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