Former ‘SNL’ star Andy Samberg admits he ‘hadn’t slept in seven years’ before leaving show

Andy Samberg is opening up about the whirlwind that was working on “Saturday Night Live.”

During a recent sit down with comedian Kevin Hart on his Peacock talk show, “Hart to Heart,” Samberg explained why he chose to leave the popular sketch comedy show in 2012.

“It was a big choice. For me, it was like, I can’t actually endure it anymore. But I didn’t want to leave,” the “SNL” alum said. “Physically and emotionally, like I was falling apart in my life.”

Samberg was on the show for seven seasons, starting in September 2005. As a member of the cast, he took part in some of the show’s most iconic sketches. He also worked closely with his longtime friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, who were hired as writers at the same time as him.

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Together, the trio wrote many pre-taped musical sketches as part of the fake music group, The Lonely Island, including “Lazy Sunday,” “I’m on a Boat” and the Emmy-winning “D— in a Box.” He went on to tell Hart that when Schaffer and Taccone left the show in 2010 to focus on making films, things became difficult.

“I was basically left in charge of making the shorts, which I never pretended like I could do without them,” Samberg said. “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.”

The show’s grueling schedule also contributed to Samberg’s decision to part ways with the show, explaining it was taking a heavy toll on him physically and that he “hadn’t slept in seven years basically.”

He detailed the schedule, saying he would write for the live show all day Tuesday, then attend a table read on Wednesday, write all day and into the night on Thursday, film and edit shorts on Friday and go straight into filming for the live show on Saturday. After a while, he “kinda fell apart physically.”

The grueling work schedule and the departure of his writing partners led Andy Samberg, center, to leave the show. (Photo by Thomas Iannaccone/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)

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“I had talked to [Amy] 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.”

One thing he took away from his conversation with Poehler was that being on a sitcom was “pretty chill” when compared to starring on “Saturday Night Live.” Poehler starred on “SNL” from 2001 to 2008, going on to star in her own NBC sitcom, “Parks and Recreation,” from 2009 to 2015.

Like Poehler and other “SNL” alumni, Samberg went on to star in his own successful comedy television show, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” On the show, Samberg portrayed an NYPD detective who thinks outside the box, often getting on the nerves of his straight-laced captain, played by the late Andre Braugher.

The show ran on Fox for five seasons before the network decided to cancel it. However, NBC would go on to pick it up, and the show aired on that network for an additional three seasons, officially ending in 2021.

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Andy Samberg, left, went on to star in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” for eight seasons. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/WireImage)

“On the one hand, I was like, I feel like eight years for a half hour comedy is a good run. On the other hand, I loved everyone I worked with, and I still felt like all the way to the last episode we were still making something that I enjoyed and was excited for people to see and was making us laugh,” he told SiriusXM Stars in January 2022 about the show coming to an end. 

He continued, “Saying goodbye was the hardest part by far. I thought I was going to be better prepared for it because I did seven years of ‘SNL’ and left, and I was like ‘OK, I’ve been through the hardest thing I can go through,’ but it was in a lot of ways harder because the show doesn’t continue on once we stop.”

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