Bill Hader became a mainstay on “Saturday Night Live‘s” “Weekend Update” segment with his flamboyant, Ed Hardy-wearing character Stefon, who is always in the know about the city’s hottest nightclubs. Seth Meyers, who anchored “Weekend Update” from 2006 to 2014 and played the straight man opposite Stefon, revealed new details about a “Stefon” movie that never got made.
“There was a moment in time where the idea of a ‘Stefon’ script was being discussed,” Meyers said in a Nov. 22 episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ “Las Culturistas” podcast. “This was not a scene that was written, but I did have a pitch for myself and Stefon, because I knew it was going to be Stefon and James Franco, or whoever. It wasn’t going to be me and Stefon.”
Meyers continued, “I said, here’s how I think it should start: It should start with Stefon at ‘Weekend Update,’ and when it’s over, I’m once again disappointed that as the city correspondent he did not bring whatever St. Patrick’s Day tips. And he says, ‘To make it up to you, just come out, have a night me and you together, Stefon’s New York.’ And I’m like, ‘All right, one night.’ And then you would do these super fast cuts of he and I at all these crazy clubs. That would be the opening montage, and then it would end with me in a body bag, and Stefon would say, ‘He’s dead!’ Then the splash: ‘Stefon: The Movie.'”
The “Las Culturistas” hosts praised Meyers’ idea on the podcast, with Rogers saying, “15 years before, they would have made that movie.”
Looking back on the “Weekend Update” segments, Meyers reflected on how his perception of his own role opposite Hader evolved over the years. “I thought my job was just to be Stefon’s foil. And then [John] Mulaney wrote this … it was my romantic comedy,” he said. Meyers then reminisced on Hader’s final “SNL” show, which included a sketch in which Stefon goes off to marry Anderson Cooper. Stricken with love, Meyers runs after him and interrupts the wedding, punches Cooper and brings Stefon back into the “SNL” studio for a final embrace.
“It was Bill’s last show … I also know I’m leaving next year to host ‘Late Night.’ Bill and I are holding hands and we’re both starting to cry,” Meyers said. “It was so funny because I was getting married a few months later, and I was like, ‘If I don’t cry at my wedding…'”
Without mentioning specifics, Hader told The New Yorker earlier this year he “a hundred percent” felt pressure to expand the Stefon character beyond “SNL.”
“It’s this weird combination of being open, but also clearly knowing what youdon’twant,” Hader said. “Like, nah, I don’t want to do a Stefon movie. It didn’t work as a sketch! That’s why it was on ‘Weekend Update.’ And the reason people liked it is because I kept laughing.”
After “SNL,” Meyers went on to host “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and Hader co-created and starred in the HBO dark comedy “Barry,” which aired its fourth and final season earlier this year.
