Bill Hader: Kristen Wiig returning to host “SNL” will be “a blast”

Kristen Wiig will be back on Saturday Night Live this week as host, and her old co-star Bill Hader couldn’t be happier.

“That’s going to be a blast,” he said in a phone interview last week. “I love it when old cast members come back and host, like when [Amy] Poehler came back and hosted, and Tina [Fey] and Maya Rudolph and Jimmy Fallon. Dana Carvey, when he came back, it was unbelievable. Specifically, the people who were cast members when I was a cast member, you have an automatic shorthand with them. It’s very relaxing. You’re not going, ‘Oh, I hope this person is having fun. I hope they’re having a good time.’ You know they’re having a good time.”

Hader’s shorthand with Wiig should be particularly strong since they have often been costars outside of Saturday Night Live in films such as Adventureland, Paul and the upcoming The Skeleton Twins, in which they will play twins. They filmed Skeleton Twins late last year after Wiig made her tearful farewell last season, and also saw each other when Wiig made a brief cameo during the SNL Christmas episode.

Hader is in his eighth season on the show, and has a thriving film and television career, so the question comes up as to whether this year might be his own swan song.

“We’re figuring it out,” he says. “It is my eighth season, so we haven’t made any decisions yet. But I’ve been having a great time.”

UPDATE: Bill Hader tells The New York Times that he’s leaving Saturday Night Live after this season.

Photo: © NBC Universal, Inc. Credit: Mary Ellen Matthews