Bill Hader on Finding His Voice, Breaking Out of Comedy + ‘The Cat in the Hat’

I'm very lucky that both my parents are very funny. My sisters are very funny. And I was raised around, you know, coming up watching like really great kind of comedy, you know, like Money Python or Spinal Tap or, you know, those early Mel Brooks movies, stuff like that. And so, um, I don't know. I don't know if you can learn to be funny. I'm very excited to be sitting down with you about Cat in the Hat. Uh, so I know this isn't the first time you got to play the character. - There's the SNL sketch where you play Cat and he ends up visiting his ex-wife's kids. - Uh, it's hilarious. I loved it. Uh, did that sketch cross your mind at all when you signed on for the city? - No, I had kind of forgotten about it. Honestly, I forgot I did that. And then cuz you do a lot of sketches when you're there. So I I had forgotten about it. But uh but then when it was when I started doing press actually that people started reminding me of it and I was like, "Oh, right. Yeah, I did it already." But um but yeah, that was a lot of fun. Yeah. And that was a very funny sketch. - Well, the cat, he's an agent of chaos, so I wanted to know if there was maybe anything else you pulled from SNL for inspiration. - Not really. I mean, it's it was such a good script and, you know, I've known Erica and Aleandro, the directors and the writers, you know, for for a while and so it was easy working with them, you know, and and and and you know, like I said, the script was so funny, you didn't really have to do much, you know, you just kind of - whatever was there. - No, I I only asked or because there's a clip in the trailer where you or the cat is dancing and he does the Allen dance. - Oh, right. I just wasn't sure if there was any other - No, that was I think that was that was not my idea. I don't know if someone else decided to do that. Yeah. - Well, you definitely broke out of the SNL comedy box to become a serious actor and director. For actors who maybe feel trapped by their famous work, how do you prove you can do more? - Well, I mean the biggest thing is learn to write. You know, if if you can write, you can control your destiny a bit, you know, and and don't you know, if if you can learn to write and you're okay not making like, you know, a ton of money, - then you're you're kind of fine, you know, cuz it's just about if it's about the work, then you can um you can uh make that thing and and and and show a side of herself that no one else has seen. You know, I uh for a long time I was always cast as uh crazy authority figures. I was in Adventureland and and you know, Super Bad and these other movies. And so it became this huge thing where I was always that and then cuz you're from SNL, it was you know um being kind of typ casted as as a kind of big comedy performer. Um, the other thing was I started going to I would talk to casting agents and I would say, "Can I do a dramatic reading? You know, if you guys are doing table reads, I'll just be a, you know, think of me because I'll come and I'll read a couple of parts and do whatever I need to, you know." And I did that a couple times. Ay Kauman was one of the casting directors and she um was casting this movie, The Skeleton Twins, and she, you know, they wanted another actor, but he was really expensive. And she went to the director and said, you know, he can do it. That guy from SNL could actually do it. You know, I I've seen him do it, you know. So that it it you have to kind of find different avenues to prove yourself. October 1st was also the 21st anniversary of your first SNL appearance. Looking back at that first sketch, what's the biggest thing that's changed about you as a performer? - My gosh. Uh, I would hope that I'm a little bit more confident and not as rigid. I mean, anytime I see myself on SNL, I'm so kind of rigid and I'm not projecting loud enough. So, I would hope that I'm more that I'm just, you know, confident and a little more relaxed. - Yeah. Well, the cat definitely is confident. Um, - he is definitely an extension of you because it's known that the animators used uh the lipstick cam to capture your facial expressions and mannerisms. Did that change your approach when voicing the cat at all knowing that they were capturing everything? - Um, not really. You know, you it's just kind of anything. you don't I mean for me at least like I I don't want to really think about it and I kind of put myself in the director's hands and let the director say you know try this try that and and you know I'm more of that kind of a person instead of working everything out you know meticulously - right well the directors also gave you a lot of freedom to improvise in the booth uh when there's so much play involved how do you keep your performance grounded Well, you know, you just I mean, for me, you're just trying to find whatever the emotion of the scene is and you don't, you know, want to corrupt that or sell it out or whatever you want to, you know, that's one thing I've learned over the years is like I think there was times you just try to go for the joke and whatever the big laugh is, but if you can make something that's more um, you know, you're you're sticking to the emotion of it and the true feelings of it and then you allow the situation to be funny. You know, that that tends to be the best stuff. - What's your best advice for an actor trying to get better at improv? - Oh man, it's so hard. I'm not that great at improv. Um I mean it it's a thing that you know at UCB the there's a sign that says don't think. I mean that's their motto is don't think and and it kind it's kind of true. It's like the more you think about it. I mean, the other thing you could say is don't, you know, don't think and and and don't worry about failing, you know, cuz you're going to fail and eat it a couple time, you know, all the, you know, you'll probably do it a lot. I do it all the time. Um, you just kind of have a better relationship with failure and tripping over yourself and stuff. The other thing I would say is, um, the thing that that improv is good for is it forces you. you have to listen to the other actor. You have to you have to be very in tune with what the other person's doing, you know, cuz if you're not, you're uh uh you're, you know, I've done that where you're improvising with somebody and they already have all these ideas kind of in their back pocket and they're just throwing them out instead of listening and not trying to control the situation and letting it kind of bloom. You know, you know, it's a thing they teach you. You try to make each other look good, - right? - And improv. - Was it hard? because I know the the cast is stacked with, you know, you got Quinn Brunson, Titus Fergus. Was it hard maybe, you know, you're recording a lot of this uh separately. Is it hard maybe to connect with one another uh during voiceover work or what's your best advice? - Well, Quentyn and I got to do it for one day and then Sochi G we we got to do it for two days. Um and uh so that was good. - But for the most part, yes, just you. But the nice thing is that Erica and Alessandro, the directors and the writers, they were they were like in the room with us. - Okay. - So, it is they just keep the mic open and you're trying all types of things with them, you know, which which for a performer it's great instead of you do a line, they stop, you wait, and your energy then goes down and then you got to try to get the energy up to do the next line and then you energy goes down. they kind of made it a rolling thing, you know, that that it was - you felt like it was a conversation with them, you know? - Uh, do you think it's possible to learn how to be funny? - I don't know. It's hard. I I don't That's a hard I mean, I'm very lucky that both my parents are very funny. My sisters are very funny. I was raised around, you know, coming up watching like really great kind of comedy, you know, like Money Python or Spinal Tap or, you know, those early Mel Brooks movies, stuff like that. And um I don't know. I don't know if you can learn to be funny. I I don't um cuz there's something in, you know, anytime someone's like, "How what is comedy?" And they try to start dissecting why something works and something doesn't. Um it's kind of intangible. It's like I don't know what it is. It's just kind of a thing that happens and I I I you know if you try to pick it apart it loses its magic, you know. - Yeah. It's kind of like chemistry. - Yeah. It's a chemistry. Yeah. It's like why you fall in love with somebody. You're just kind of like I can't You could say certain attributes. Oh, I think they're this like I find them good-looking. I like like how confident they are. Whatever. But the actual reason is like, - you know what I mean? you can't figure it out. - Uh well, you've described your performance as using like a nerdy voice uh with a lot of high energy screams and shouts and laughs. Um my personal was favorite was the uh potato. - Oh yeah, - the potato. Uh what's your secret for not losing your voice after a long day of recording? - Oh, I am um I'm actually not very good at that. I mean, I should be drinking tea, you I drink tea and and water and not a lot of coffee cuz that'll dry out your voice. I did just uh direct and act in a movie and I blew my voice out on that and it was because I wasn't drinking enough water. I wasn't drinking tea and I was doing take after take of just, you know, screaming and I completely blew out my voice. So, um you have to you have to take care of it, you know, and when you don't, you're in trouble, you know. I have friends who are in uh I never had the guts to do anything on Broadway or any sort of theater stuff and I have friends who do, you know, theater on Broadway, off Broadway, everything. And uh they've lost their voice and they're just like this. It's a nightmare, - right? - Yeah. They just like I don't I have no voice. It's crazy, you know. Uh, well, a lot of our backstage readers are actors who are looking for their big breakout role. What advice were you maybe given when you were just starting out that still resonates with you? - I mean, it it's, you know, someone said to me like persistence plus talent equals luck or some, you know, it's like that thing. It's like you just have to when I was doing stuff, you just it you just did everything. you just I would go I would do improv I would shoot short films with friends I and now you know there's like so many avenues that weren't there when I was there you know doing this you know 25 years ago or whatever so you know just doing it just the act of doing it you get better and you fail you're and then that's the big thing is just to fail because you're going like I said like I always had a real fear of failing that most people do and you're this anxiety of of oh, I'm going to look like a fool. And um I think once you get past that and there's something where you don't care about it, it it gives you this kind of confidence to just try it, you know, keep trying things. And so the people, everybody I know who whatever's made it, you know, SNL or in these days, they they just did they, you know, they did everything. They just were that that's the common denominator of you know when I met Kristen Wig she was a nanny and taking and and doing stuff at grounds and she was you know like her and her husband at the time were running a you know the landlords in an apartment building you know what I mean like she was you know doing all these things so um so yeah don't like and and and you know the other thing is be inspired because you as you get older too and you get beat down by stuff you could really just you know you try to do things that you think the industry is going to like and uh I've done that and it's I'm I'm always wrong but the minute I would I said oh I want to do a thing about a hitman wants to be an actor which is what I wanted to see then they were kind of like oh that's interesting you know um so you know try those things will will be You've been open before about your first days in LA. You watched a lot of movies. Uh, is there a film that you got that helped you get through those early days of acting that you maybe still look to for inspiration? - Um, there's so many movies. I mean, there's just it's it's like, you know, I can't I can't just say one thing, but I know as an actor, I really love the movie Last Detail with Jack Nicholson and that movie uh Taxi Driver. Um I love a movie called Love and Death. I love it's a Woody Allen movie with with Diane Keaton's performance in that. I was that and Annie Hall. I just thought they were like perfect perform comedic performances in my mind. Um, uh, Knights of Cabiraia, the Fellini movie. I like I rewatch that a lot. Um, yeah, there's but there's just so many, uh, but anything that's just inspiring, anything that just you see people behaving and they're inspired. They're making inspired choices, you know. Uh, well, as an avid fan of also documentary now, I'd love to know. Is there any hope that you will get back together with Fred Armison and - oh, - do another episode or another project? - Oh, I would love to. I love Fred. He's one of my best friends. We we text I think every day. We I think we've texted every day since our last SNL episode. So, um yeah, he's he's one of my best friends. So, I would love to do it. Yeah, I would love to. It's just our schedules have been crazy. And then I was doing something HBO and I was exclusive to them, so I couldn't do stuff at IFC. So, you know, it's the way it works. - Keeping our fingers crossed. - Yeah. - Well, thank you, Bill. This was so fun. Again, I'm such a fan and love the film. - Thank you so much.