Bill Hader Recalls the Failed Saturday Night Live Sketch That Almost Injured Justin Bieber

During a recent interview, Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader recalled a skit with Justin Bieber that didn’t exactly go as planned.

By Mona Thomas Jan 08, 2021 2:15 PMTags

One Saturday Night Live sketch took an unexpected turn.

During the Thursday, Jan. 7 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, SNL alum Bill Hader recalled a certain skit involving Justin Bieber that didn't make it past dress rehearsal.

While talking to host Seth Meyers about his time on the sketch comedy series, the 42-year-old star said, "'Song for Daddy' was Justin Bieber and that sketch only went to dress, and everything that could possibly go wrong in a sketch went wrong during that sketch."

He continued, "Immediately I think the set almost fell on Justin Bieber. And I tried to make it like, a part of the sketch or something. And then I remember none of the props I was supposed to have were there. And it went—it just went terrible."

Bill laughed as he remembered fellow SNL star Kenan Thompson walk in as Steve Harvey and calmly say, "I don't know. I like it."

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"My favorite memory of that was going upstairs after it happened and going up to the writers room on nine," the comedian recalled. "Still in my costume and walking into the writers room on the ninth floor and James Anderson is just on the floor, laughing, and he tackled me and started laughing because it was like, this—everybody was like, ‘That was…"

Bill added, "That was one of the classic like everything that could go wrong…it just ate it."

Host Seth Meyers reminded the comedy star that the incident also happened at the "height of Bieber fever" so the audience would have been much younger in age watching their favorite pop singer crushed under a set.

Bill joked, "Just seeing John Solomon just in the audience, pleasantly looking at me, going like—just knowing like—I was in front of a firing squad."

Watch the video above to see Bill talk more about the unaired sketch!

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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