Andy Samberg left ‘SNL’ to protect his health, he says

Andy Samberg says ‘SNL’ run took a ‘heavy toll’ on his health: ‘You’re not sleeping’

Andy Samberg smiling in glasses and a red-and-black plaid shirt in front of a dark background.

July 12, 2024 1:12 PM PT

Working on “Saturday Night Live” is not for the faint of heart — take it from series darling Andy Samberg.

During his seven-year tenure on the sketch comedy show, from 2005 to 2012, Samberg became one of its most prolific and beloved members. As the frontman for the Lonely Island singing comedy trio, he made digital shorts an “SNL” fan-favorite segment with hits like “I Just Had Sex” and “Motherlover.”

He also barely slept, he told Kevin Hart in a Thursday episode of the “Hart to Heart” Peacock talk show.

“Physically, it was taking a heavy toll on me,” Samberg said. Between writing for the live show and churning out digital shorts every week, “it’s basically like four days a week you’re not sleeping, for seven years.”

The situation worsened after fellow Lonely Islanders Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer left the show in 2010 and 2011, respectively — effectively making Samberg the sole digital-short creator for his final two years.

“I was falling apart,” he said, and eventually, he just couldn’t “endure it anymore.”

Predictably, the “SNL” producers tried to persuade him to stay: “They told me straight up, ‘We prefer you would stay,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, that makes it harder.’”

Aside from any external pressure, Samberg said he also feared leaving the show would slow his creative output.

“The craziest thing about working [at ‘SNL’] 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 said. Still, after consulting with “SNL” alums including Amy Poehler, he knew it was his time.

It was a “very difficult choice,” 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 procedural sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” during its eight-season run from 2013 to 2021 — going on to win a Golden Globe for best actor for his performance as the boyishly 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 Captain Raymond Holt.

Both Taccone and Schaffer have directed and guest-starred in episodes of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and alongside Samberg they are credited as co-producers of his 2020 rom-com, “Palm Springs.”

“The goal with ‘Palm Springs’ was to try and split the difference between a broad studio rom-com and ‘Punch-Drunk Love.’ You know, an indie mixed with existential dread,” Samberg told The Times in 2021.

Andy Samberg says ‘SNL’ run took a ‘heavy toll’ on his health: ‘You’re not sleeping’

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