Mike Myers would ‘go into a depression’ over cut ‘SNL’ sketches until a joke from Conan O’Brien changed him

Turns out, rejection is hard, even for a pro like Mike Myers.

The comedian and actor revealed that he “used to go into a depression” whenever his sketches would get cut from Saturday Night Live.

“Dress rehearsal bums me out, and I get nervous,” he said in a new interview with Variety about the recent 50th anniversary specials for the long-running show. “Then if the sketch gets in, I’m like, ‘Okay!’ I’m way more psyched that it got in, that I’m going to be in the show this week. I used to go into a depression when my sketch got cut.”

Myers was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series from 1989 to 1995 and has appeared sporadically via cameos or as host in the years since. One day, he had an epiphany about cut sketches that changed his mindset, which came courtesy of fellow comedy legend Conan O’Brien, who was a writer on the series from 1988 to 1991.

“Then one week, Conan [O’Brien] had worked with a very, very hard host who had put him through the wringer,” Myers recalled. “Conan was just a mess and saw that a sketch was cut and he goes, ‘Perfect. It’s all going perfectly to plan.’ It got a big laugh, and I was like, ‘You can be that way? You don’t have to be depressed?’ He taught me how to say, ‘Okay. It’s not the end of the world.'”

The interview with Myers included fellow SNL faces Colin Jost, Marcello Hernández, and Sarah Sherman, who empathized with Myers’ plight. To Hernández, Sherman said, “You’ve seen me have a f—ing meltdown!” 

Hernández compared the experience to athletics: “There’s a sports thing about it. I just smile and wave, but I appreciate it when people get upset. You’re competitive, and you get mad.”

But, the experience of having a sketch get axed in the dress rehearsal is nothing compared to it getting cut in the table read for the episode, according to the group, who told the outlet that fighting for their sketch isn’t even worth it at that point.

“I have witnessed people try it,” Myers said. “That’s when I go invisible. Too much tension! The captain has spoken, move on.”

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The Austin Powers star said he used to have a different feeling on that, however.

“When I was younger as a writer,” Myers said, “if [SNL creator] Lorne Michaels asked, ‘Do you think you can make that work?’ I’d say, ‘Yes, I think I can.’ Whereas now I think I’d be more likely to say, ‘If you’re not sure, let’s not!'”

The 50th season of SNL concluded on May 17, and inspired a number of specials and docuseries featuring current SNL cast and legends like Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Martin Short, David Spade, Molly Shannon, and more.