Andy Samberg says he was physically, emotionally falling apart at 'SNL' and had no choice but to to quit
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Andy Samberg recently revealed how he struggled during his last few seasons at the ‘Saturday Night Live’ show.
The ‘Tour de Pharmacy’ star said on the ‘Hart to Hart’ interview series, "It was a big choice. For me, it was like, I can't actually endure it anymore. But I didn't want to leave."
"Physically and emotionally, like I was falling apart in my life," he told the host Kevin Hart.
Andy Samberg decided to leave 'Saturday Night Live' after seven seasons in 2012
Samberg didn’t make a big announcement about his exit and quietly left the ‘SNL’ after its 37th finale in May 2012.
A major setback for Samberg came when his friends and Lonely Island collaborators, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, decided to leave the show in 2010 after their writing contracts were over.
"I was basically left in charge of making the shorts, which I never pretended like I could do without them," Samberg admitted during the interview, according to PageSix.
“We made stuff I'm really proud of in those last two years, but there's something about the songs that I can only do with Akiva and Jorm. It's just how it is, we're just a band in that way," he shared.
On 'SNL's crushing schedule, Samberg confessed, "Physically, it was taking a heavy toll on me and I got to a place where I was like I hadn't slept in seven years basically," the ‘7 Days in Hell’ star explained.
"We were writing stuff for the live show Tuesday night all night, the table read Wednesday, then being told now come up with a digital short so write all Thursday [and] Thursday night, don't sleep, get up, shoot Friday, edit all night Friday night and into Saturday, so it's basically like four days a week you're not sleeping, for seven years. So I just kinda fell apart physically," he shared.
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Samberg shared that he even reached out to 'SNL' alum Amy Poehler for her advice.
"I had talked to Poehler and other people that had already gone. I was like, once I go, when I have an idea, I can't just do it," he recalled.
"The craziest thing about working there is once you get going, if you're just in the shower and you have an idea that s--- can be on television in three days, which is the most like intoxicating feeling," he added.
Samberg said it wasn't easy for him to leave the show. "They told me straight up, 'We prefer you would stay,' and I was like, oh, that makes it harder," he said. "But I just was like, I think to get back to a feeling of like mental and physical health, I have to do it. So I did it and it was a very difficult choice," he stressed of finally pulling the plug," Samberg shared.
