Working on “Saturday Night Live” is not for the faint of heart — take series favorite Andy Samberg, for example.
During his seven-year stint on the sketch comedy show, from 2005 to 2012, Samberg became one of its most prolific and beloved members. As the leader of the Lonely Island singing comedy trio, he made the digital shorts a fan-favorite segment of “SNL” with hits like “I just had sex” and “Loving mother.”
She barely slept, she told Kevin Hart in a Thursday article. episode of the “From heart to heart” Peacock Talk Show.
“Physically, it was really affecting me,” Samberg said. Between writing for the live show and producing digital shorts every week, “I basically didn’t sleep four days a week, for seven years.”
Things got worse after fellow Lonely Islanders Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer left the show in 2010 and 2011, respectively, making Samberg the sole creator of digital shorts during its final two years.
“I was falling apart,” she said, and eventually, she couldn’t “take it anymore.”
Unsurprisingly, “SNL” producers tried to persuade him to stay: “They told me straight up, ‘We’d rather you stay,’ and I said, ‘Oh, that makes it harder. ’”
In addition to any outside pressure, Samberg said he also feared that leaving the show would curb his creative output.
“The craziest thing about working [at ‘SNL’] “Once you start, if you’re in the shower and you have an idea, that shit can be on TV in three days, which is the most intoxicating feeling,” he said. Still, after consulting with “SNL” alumni, including Amy Poehler, he knew it was his time.
It was a “very difficult decision,” Samberg said, but one he ultimately had to make for the sake of his mental and physical health.
After leaving “SNL,” Samberg led the police comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” for its eight-season run from 2013 to 2021, winning a Golden Globe for best actor for his portrayal of charming detective Jake Peralta. Samberg’s late co-star Andre Braugher also received four Emmy nominations and two Critics Choice Awards for his portrayal of Capt. Raymond Holt.
Both Taccone and Schaffer have Directed by and starring guests on episodes of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and is credited alongside Samberg as co-producers on her 2020 romantic comedy, “Palm Springs.”
“The goal of ‘Palm Springs’ was to try to find the difference between a studio romantic comedy and ‘Punch-Drunk Love,’ an independent film mixed with existential horror,” Samberg told The Times in 2021.
