Why Did Bill Hader Miss SNL 50? Reason Revealed – E! Online

“When I was on SNL, I was a bit of a basket case,” he told Variety in 2019. “It could not have been easy on my wife at the time. I was so consumed with work and anxiety. Sometimes I felt like people thought, ‘Oh, he’s just wanting attention or something.’ It was like, ‘No, man, I’m legit. I’m freaking out right now.’”

Even after leaving the show, the stressful memories kept Hader—who shares daughters Hannah, 15, Harper, 12, and Hayley, 10, with Carey—from revisiting his past sketches.

“I never saw any of the stuff I did,” he continued. “I think a nanny showed my kids Stefon, or ‘The Californians’ or something. They came in and were like, ‘Dad, look at this.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah. There I am.’”

But while Hader was certainly missed, he wasn’t the only former cast member absent from SNL’s birthday celebration. Inaugural cast member Dan Aykroyd was also missing from the night’s crowd, though he gave a shout out two days prior.