John Mayer Says 'SNL' Cast Members Always Hurt His Feelings at Parties

"It's almost like someone on 'SNL' has a difficult time pretending to be interested if they're not"

Photo via @ConanOBrien on Twitter

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jan 30, 2024

If you see someone from Saturday Night Live at a party, don't talk to them! That's the takeaway from John Mayer's appearance on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, as the musician called the long-running comedy show "the largest community of people who have hurt my feelings at parties over the years."

Speaking with host Conan O'Brien, who is a former SNL writer, Mayer asked, "Why do you think it is that the largest community of people who have hurt my feelings at parties over the years have been related to SNL? What is it about the SNL experience — and I'm being very open-minded about it, because it can't be this sort of ad-hoc thing where everyone at SNL is just a little pathological — what goes on at SNL?"

He clarified that he is referring to performers rather than writers or people behind the scenes. "It's not evil. It's not pointedly mean. It feels like a coldness," Mayer explained. "It's almost like someone on SNL has a difficult time pretending to be interested if they're not."

O'Brien suggested that these interactions might be a result of Mayer's heightened expectations as a longtime fan of SNL, as well as a possible emotional toughness among SNL performers caused by the show's competitive environment.

"I wondered if it was because they're so deep in the trenches together that, if you're not someone they recognize from the trenches, you can kind of feel it," mused Mayer. "Or I represent something kind of anti-comedy, because I'm the tall musician guy."

Watch tall musician guy Mayer discuss getting snugged by SNL actors in the video below.

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