Bill Hader Reveals Why ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Stefon Always Covered His Face (Video)

“The Skeleton Twins” star reminisces about the popular character with former Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers on “Late Night”

Stefon became a staple of Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live,” cementing a relationship between then-host Seth Meyers and Bill Hader, who played the flamboyant lunatic who knew all of New York’s hottest clubs. When Hader appeared on Meyer’s “Late Night” on Monday, they reminisced about the genesis of the character.

“I did do it once on-air with Ben Affleck as a sketch, and it barely worked,” Hader said of Stefon. “It was a long walk to get to what the sketch was about.”

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Meyer concurred that it was much easier to simply introduce him at the Weekend Update desk and then let him do his thing, which included outlandishly insane descriptions of New York hot-spots that we hope never existed. As the years went on, a big part of the appeal of the character — as is always the case on live television like “SNL” — was when Hader couldn’t hold it together anymore.

“People always ask me why I put my hands in front of my face,” he said of his signature move to hide his snickers and smiles. But he wasn’t laughing at the ridiculous things Stefon was saying, like the audience was.

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“A person being patient with an insane person is my favorite thing in the world,” he revealed. It was Meyers’ patient responses to him, trying to keep Stefon on track, that cracked him up. “You were being so patient with this maniac who had the simplest job in the world.”

The two then talked about their emotional fake wedding on the show, which proved that all of those nightclubs really did exist, and the outlandish characters Stefon talked about all showed up for his wedding. Meyers and Hader both admitted to tearing up a bit when they watched the video of their nuptials during Hader’s final episode on the show.

“Just a little bit less emotional than my actual wedding,” Meyers said.

Bill Hader costars alongside fellow “SNL” alum Kristen Wiig in “The Skeleton Twins,” currently available in limited release with a wide release scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26.

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