Andy Samberg got candid with Kevin Hart on his Peacock show Hart to Hart and told his fellow comedian why he left Saturday Night Life 12 years ago, Variety reported.
Samberg was one of SNL's biggest stars when he was a cast member from 2005 to 2012.
He and his Lonely Island cohorts Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone created digital shorts which turned into one of the sketch comedy show's most popular and viral moments. Two of their most notable videos are Dick in a Box and Natalie Rap. Lonely Island won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding original music and lyrics for Dick in a Box which Samberg performed with Justin Timberlake.
Andy Samberg and the SNL digital shorts
However, this came at a price. He told Hart that he was “falling apart in my life” by 2012 and he wasn't able to “endure it anymore.”
“Physically, it was taking a heavy toll on me and I got to a place where I was like I hadn't slept in seven years basically,” the comedian said.
“We were writing stuff for the live show Tuesday night all night, the table read Wednesday, then being told now come up with a digital short so write all Thursday, all Thursday night, don't sleep, get up, shoot Friday, edit all night Friday night and into Saturday, so it's basically like four days a week you're not sleeping, for seven years. So I just kinda fell apart physically,” he explained.
Working in SNL changed when Schaffer and Taccone left, which left Samberg the only digital shorts creator in his last two years at the show.
“I was basically left in charge of making the shorts, which I never pretended like I could do without them. We made stuff I'm really proud of in my last two years, but there's something about the songs that I can only do with Akiva and Jorm. It's just how it is, we're just a band in that way,” he continued.
Know when to fold 'em
When the time came for him to decide whether to stay or go, he asked his former SNL co-star Amy Poehler for advice. One of the reasons he didn't want to leave was that not being on SNL meant he would no longer have the kind of creative outlet the show provided.
“I was like, once I go, when I have an idea, I can't just do it. The craziest thing about working there is once you get going, if you're just in the shower and you have an idea that shit can be on television in three days, which is the most like intoxicating feeling,” Samberg said.
When he spoke to SNL producers about leaving, they told him that they preferred that he stayed.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, that makes it harder.' But I just was like, I think to get back to a feeling of like mental and physical health, I have to do it,” the comedian stated.
“So I did it and it was a very difficult choice,” he added.
Samberg left SNL in June 2012. He went back to host the season 39 finale two years later and hosted the 40th anniversary special's digital short.
Since leaving the show, the comedian has had several projects both in film and TV such 2015's pseudo-sports comedy TV movie 7 Days in Hell with Kit Harington. 2016's comedy drama Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, the 2020 Hulu comedy mystery feature Palm Springs and the Emmy winning hit comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show lost one of its most beloved characters, Captain Ray Holt, played by Andre Braugher last year.
Samberg was most recently seen in the biopic Lee with Kate Winslet. He's currently filming the remake The Roses with Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. He's currently in pre-production for the romantic comedy feature 42.6 years with Jean Smart.
Saturday Night Leave is about to enter its 50th season this fall on NBC.
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