McBRIDE: Oh, I love that show. [laughs]

HADER: I know. I knew that when I said Night Calls, you’d be like, “Oh, what season?” [both laugh] But that was the lowest of the low. I wasn’t going to tell my parents I was running to Starbucks to get coffee for a bunch of porn stars.

McBRIDE: For every Night Calls, you have to do a Scorpion King [2002] or Collateral Damage [2002] that has more mileage with parents back at home. What were your thoughts then about performing, or was it that you were going to get behind the camera?

HADER: I think it was behind the camera. Didn’t you have a similar thing too? I feel like when we were on Hot Rod, we were both like, “This acting thing is cool, but I really just want to direct those guys.”

McBRIDE: Being flown to another country and put up in a hotel to talk about how this isn’t the shit we really want to do.

I’M NEVER THE ROMANTIC LEAD. I’M THE GUY WALKING IN ON THE ROMANTIC LEAD, GOING, ‘OH SORRY! I’LL LEAVE YOU GUYS ALONE.BILL HADER

HADER: I know. Thinking back, it’s like, “Dude, no.” This is the best thing in the world. But I definitely wanted to direct and write. I always went to films for the director. But, like a lot of people do when they first move to L.A. or New York to do something creative, I didn’t do anything creative for four years because I had to pay the bills. I was working 18-hour days as a PA. When would you have time to do anything? So I started working at a post-house, because that was normal hours. Then a buddy of mine, Eric Filipkowski, told me about [sketch comedy troupe] Second City L.A. and I started taking classes there, not thinking that I would get anywhere. I didn’t get a headshot. I wasn’t trying to be an actor. I just needed the creative outlet—you’re just going up every week and doing something. Because it’s really easy to lose focus, like, “Why the fuck am I out here?” [laughs] But then this weird thing happens. Megan Mullally’s bother-in-law Matt Offerman was in my show, so she came to see it and afterwards was like, “Hey, I thought you were really funny. I’m going to recommend you to Lorne Michaels.” I remember going home to Maggie, my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, and being like, “I met Megan Mullally and she said I was really funny.” It was just a crazy story. But then, I was at Triage, in an edit bay, getting yelled at by an Iron Chef America editor because I fucked up his project somehow, and I got a phone call from a New York area code. It was Lindsay Shookus, who now runs the talent department at SNL. She said, “Hi, I’m Lindsay. I’m with Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels wants to fly you out and meet you.” I was literally in shock, going, “Yeah, okay.” Megan called me and said, “I just talked to Lorne and he wants to meet you. I hope that was okay.” I was like, “Yes. That’s okay.” I remember getting off the phone and going back in the edit bay, and the guy went right back into yelling at me. [both laugh] I was in this other world for a second. Those two phone calls completely changed my life. So I flew out. Met him. I did the official audition with [Andy] Samberg, and got the show. I had a friend who went to South Africa for, like, four months—when he left I was dating Maggie and I was an assistant editor at Triage; when he came back, I was on Saturday Night Live and Maggie and I were engaged.