Saturday Night Live’s hottest character is Stefon. It’sBill Haderas a flamboyantly off-putting city correspondent in an Ed Hardy shirt and some truly devastating 90s-era highlights. TheseWeekend Update performanceshave everything: different voices with crazy inflections, Seth Meyers blushing at his advances, Hader laughing so hard he turns beet red and tears up — you know, that thing, when the actor reads a new joke off the teleprompter, and he thinks it’s funny, so he covers his mouth with his hands to pretend he’s not laughing?
Since his first season ofSaturday Night Livein 2005, it’s been clear that Hader is one of the comedy powerhouses of his time. He’s been instrumental as a character actor(Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), blown minds as now-iconic characters onSNL(Stefon, his hilarious Keith Morrison impression,cantankerous veteran reporter Herb Welch), and stunned audiences with more poignant performances (Kristen Wiig’s estranged twin brother inThe Skeleton Twins,depressed hitman turned actor in his HBO seriesBarry).From starring inInside Outto co-creating multiple wildly successful television series, here’s how Hader’s career skyrocketed after his eight-year run onSaturday Night Live.
Bit Parts on TV shows and Movies
From an uncredited performance as Restaurant Vampire in a horror-themed restaurant on the first season of Ellie Kemper’sUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidtto playing the aggressively unflexible interim Captain Dozerman on fellowSNLalumAndy Samberg’sBrooklyn Nine-Nine,the years immediately following the end of Hader’sSaturday Night Liverun were full of bit parts, where he proved that his ability to steal any scene wasn’t an eight-year fluke.
Hader also appeared as supporting roles in films, such as the neurotic, anxiety-ridden Fear in Pixar’s emotion-drivenInside Outwith Amy Poehler, the irreverent Dr. Turnstall in the Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhall rom-comAccidental Love,and begrudging friend who acts as the audience member Kyle in the rom-com satireThey Came Together.While he certainly makes his presence known and brings hisSNLskills to these roles, Hader also allows room for his fellow comedians and scene partners to breathe and perform their roles with passion.
Related:The Best Bill Hader Performances, Ranked
Leading/Supporting Roles Showing More Chops
Who could forget Hader’s iconic lip sync with Kristen Wiig to Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”? Hader’s character Milo attempts to reconnect with his sister with a goofy performance requiring a mental connection that only siblings could replicate. This role, along with his performances as the best friend in romances likeMaggie’s Plan(featuring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, and Maya Rudolph) and theDisappearance of Eleanor Rigbyseries (featuring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy), gave Hader the opportunity to showcase his more serious acting chops (while still giving his signature huge facial expressions and earsplitting delivery) — and he doesn’t disappoint. With a compassion and empathy that he wasn’t able to explore in short sketches onSNL, Hader executes these supporting characters with a plaintive affectation previously unseen by his fans.
Co-Creating and Producing His Own Shows
Hader has proven time and time again that his talents don’t just lie in his acting. In the years after leavingSNL, he teamed up withSNLcolleagues Fred Armisen, Seth Meyers, and Lorne Michaels to produceDocumentary Now. He and Armisen costar in a hilarious anthological series parodying popular documentaries likeGrey GardensandSwimming to Cambodia, hosted by the Dame Helen Mirren (yes,thatDame Helen Mirren, doing some wonderful hosting while she describes wild scenarios that only come from Hader and Armisen’s sensibilities), with guest stars like Jack Black and Michael C Hall.
Related:Why HBO’s Barry is Bill Hader’s Best Role Yet
Hader also created the now-iconic HBO seriesBarrywith Alec Berg, where he plays the titular character, a disillusioned hit man turned actor, who wrestles with an internal struggle of following his dreams while remaining beholden to his dark past and those who would blackmail him with it. While Hader certainly uses Barry’s passion for acting to showcase his beloved comedic deadpan delivery, audiences are also treated to a darker side of the actors himself than previously seen as he portrays a killer with mental illness and a shaky grip on reality. It’s a dark comedy, but Hader and his team have woven elements of desolation and horror that rival other HBO shows likeThe WireandThe Sopranos.Thefourth and final season, premiering April 16 on HBO, promises more of this intense romp, featuring incredible performances from the likes of Hader, Henry Winkler, Sarah Goldberg, Stephen Root, and dozens more phenomenal actors.
Saturday Night Liveaudiences first met Hader as characters like Stefon, Keith Morrison, and Stuart fromThe Californians(“Whuuuuuat?"). After a phenomenal, historical eight-year run where he cemented himself as one of the strongest cast members on the show, both as a lead and a straight man. In the years following, Hader proved his skills as an actor in supporting roles, then moved his way up into producing, writing, directing, and starring in multiple now quintessential comedic series of the modern day.
