-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy Award-winning
actor, writer, and director you know from his work on
"Saturday Night Live," "Documentary Now!",
and "Trainwreck."
New episodes of his hit show, "Barry,"
air Sunday nights on HBO
and are available to stream anytime on HBO Max.
Let's take a look.
-Talking to Sally Reed. It's spelled R-E-E-D.
The show's called "Joplin." I'm talking to Sally Reed.
You all set? Alright.
Mm. [ Clears throat ]
[ Door opens ] Hey, Sally.
-Hey. -Here's Madeline from E! News.
-Sally Reed, how you doing, girl?
-I'm good.
-Now, the show takes place in Joplin,
and you were raised there.
-Mm-hmm. That's right.
-Is that really what Joplin's like?
-Well, it's a lot less freezing on set.
[ Both laugh ]
Okay, great. Thanks.
-Please welcome back to the show our very good friend
Bill Hader, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ] Hello, friend!
-Hey, buddy.
-How are you? -How are you, man?
I'm good, man, I'm good.
-We've been talking a great deal via text,
because I'm really obsessed with this season of the show.
It's a fantastic cast.
And that clip is -- Just to set it up for anybody
who isn't watching, she has written and created a show,
and that is a press junket that people like you have had to do
over the years when you're in a movie or for "Barry."
And is it as much like that as you have written it in the show?
-Yes. Yes.
Press junkets are not fun, and that was one is based on --
I was in a movie called "The Skeleton Twins,"
and in that movie, my character attempts suicide.
Hilarious.
And I was in Australia, and the guy --
I was being interviewed, and the guy was --
He said, "So, you know, you try to commit to suicide
in this film, and, you know, that's a big epidemic
here in Australia.
So can you tell us a bit about it?
You know, what you think about suicide."
And I was like, "Oh, well, I mean, it's awful,
and, you know, the character, what he's going through,
you know, he feels hopeless."
And then the guy cut me off and went,
"Uh, we're running out of time.
Real quick, what do you think about
Ben Affleck as the new Batman?"
[ Laughter ]
I just was like, "Uh..."
-Oh, my God.
That is -- That does make my next question awkward.
What do you think about Robert Pattinson as the...
[ Laughter ]
Sorry. Once I write it down, Bill, I have to ask it, so...
Have you ever -- Like, I would also imagine
one of the problems is, you know,
when it's five minutes, which a lot of these --
And to, like, these reporters' defense,
they often only have five minutes.
-Yes, that's true.
-So they want to ask --
You must get the same questions all the time.
Have you ever thought of, like,
making up answers that weren't true?
-[ Laughs ]
Yeah, I mean, you can kind of -- You know what it is?
You go in these things -- And I can tell you the movie
if it was, like, "It."
I was in "It Two," and everything was like,
"Did you read the book?
Did you see -- Have you ever met Stephen King?"
And, you know, "Did you see the first movie?"
And, you know, it didn't matter what language it was in.
You would go to another country, and they --
You didn't even have to speak the language to be like,
"I did read the book.
I have not met Stephen King.
I did see the first movie."
But -- I don't know.
Yeah, I wish I could make something up.
Yeah, just be like, "And then, you know, there was that fire.
[ Laughter ]
And, well, we all know about the fire."
-One of the things about "Barry" that I have been
talking to you about -- I've seen a few more episodes,
I think, than have aired at this point.
There's some incredible action sequences.
There's some incredibly tense, dramatic scenes.
As a director, have you been lucky enough
to talk to other directors over the years?
Because it does feel like --
I mean, I know you to be somebody who loves movies,
and it does seem like you borrow from
all your favorites, stylistically.
-Yeah. Yeah, I mean -- You know, I mean,
a lot of credit to Carl Herse,
the D.P. on some of those episodes.
You know, we work really close together, and --
But, yeah, you know, it is neat to get texts or e-mails
from people you really admire.
But my problem -- and I don't know if you relate to this
when we were at "SNL" -- is, like,
your heroes would come in.
Like, Martin Scorsese came in to do a bit on "Update,"
and I -- You know, someone told me like,
"Bill, you got to get out of his dressing room,"
'cause I was just asking him like 100 questions.
And, like, I think the minute I walked in,
he went, "Uh-oh, geek, uh-oh."
You know, he's been dealing with this since like 1975,
and I'm like, "Hello, Mr. Scorsese."
And Steven Spielberg did a "Laser Cats."
And, you know, they don't want to hear, you know --
-Well, I think I remember you telling me,
because I think this really speaks to the kind of geek
you are, when Steven Spielberg showed up at "SNL,"
tell everybody the movie you asked him about.
-[ Laughs ]
-Everybody here, make your guess of the Steven Spielberg movie.
[ Laughter ]
-I said, "How did you get a specific shot in
'Sugarland Express'?"
Which is the first feature film he made before "Jaws."
And he kind of looked at me like, "Is that even on DVD?"
-You know, he was like, "I'm not sure I directed that."
-Yeah, I don't know -- Yeah, and Lorne was like,
"Bill, just can you please get off of his lap?
The man's just trying to eat."
-I am genuinely curious.
Because I keep having friends now who
their kids are teenagers -- and I know your oldest is 12 --
that they start finding old "SNLs," like, our-era "SNLs."
But do your kids -- They're 12, 9, and 7, I think, right?
-Yeah. Yeah, my daughters -- they like the current season
a lot, and I will watch it with them.
And then I turn to them and say,
"You know, I used to be on this show."
And they say, "Uh, yeah, you keep telling us that."
And -- But one night, I did peek into my daughter's room,
and she and her friend had the laptop open
and they were watching Stefon.
And, so, they think you are related to them.
No.
No, but they were very confused.
-Yeah, Stefon's gonna be a fun one
to break down over the years, yeah.
-Yeah, yeah.
It's like, yeah, that's one for them and their therapist.
-You know, you were kind of known as the impression guy
at "SNL," but you obviously have "Barry"
and, you know, a lot of other things right now on your plate.
And I feel like there's been a vacancy,
and I think I'm kind of the impression guy now.
-Oh, yeah? -Yeah.
Yeah, I do the impressions.
-Wait. When did you do it --
Wait, but did you do impressions on the --
I don't remember you doing -- -No.
I think out of -- You know, I think out of
deference to you and respect, I kind of let you have that.
It felt like that was the thing you needed at the time,
and then -- But I do the impressions.
I do the impressions now. I do them.
-Alright. -I do Pacino now. I do it.
-Well, let's see it.
-Okay, but before I do it, don't do it after me.
[ Laughter ]
-Let's see it. -Okay. Alright, ready?
This has been my Al Pacino. Ready?
[ As Pacino ] I'll see you in the Zoom Room.
[ Laughter ]
-I'm so glad I had not seen that before I did my Al Pacino.
-Yeah. I should have told you to turn off the camera first.
-That was really...
I had no idea you had the skill set.
-Yeah, it's weird.
It's like once you left the building, like,
I feel like all your skills, like, came --
like, I inherited them.
So, just, if you don't mind, like,
letting everybody else know, that's me now.
-Who else can you do?
-I can do -- You want to hear Vince Vaughn?
[ Laughter ]
Okay, ready?
Ready? Here's my Vince Vaughn. Ready?
[ As Vaughn ] Buddy, buddy, buddy...
[ Normal voice ] Pretty good, right?
Bill? Bill? Oh, there he is. He came back.
-Wait. Do it again. -Okay, wait.
And now I'm gonna do Michael Keaton.
Just ask me any question.
-Oh. How do I get to 30 Rock? -Oh, sorry.
It's gotta be a "yes"-or-"no" question.
-Oh. [ Laughter ]
-It's one of my newer ones.
-Oh, okay. -Okay, hold on.
-Am I in 30 Rock?
-[ As Keaton ] No.
-That was good.
-Right? [ Laughter ]
See? At first, you had doubts,
but now you know I'm the impression guy now.
-Do your Vince Vaughn again. Do Vince Vaughn again.
-Do Vince Vaughn again?
[ As Vaughn ] Buddy, buddy, buddy...
-[ Laughs ]
-This must be so weird for you to, like,
realize the torch has been passed.
-I am just so happy I did not know that
while you were there or I would have been super in my head,
'cause that's really solid.
-Yeah. -You're not on "SNL."
You're just doing these on your show.
-Yeah, I'm just doing them here now.
Bill, I really -- this season is spectacular,
and it constantly -- I was a fan of the first two seasons.
I'm just blown away by how you've raised the bar.
And it's just so lovely to see you, buddy.
I love you so much.
-Thank you, buddy. Love you, man.
-Alright, you guys. That's Bill Hader.
New episodes of "Barry" air Sunday nights on HBO
and are available to stream anytime on HBO Max.
We'll be right back with Minnie Driver.