Andy Samberg left ‘SNL’ after he ‘hadn’t slept in seven years’

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — “Saturday Night Live” helped make Andy Samberg a star, but it didn’t come without a cost.

During a recent appearance on Kevin Hart‘s Peacock series “Hart to Heart,” Samberg talked about his exit from “SNL” a dozen years ago and what led to his departure.

In 2012, Samberg said, he couldn’t “endure it anymore” as he was” falling apart in my life.”

“Physically, it was taking a heavy toll on me and I got to a place where I was like I hadn’t slept in seven years basically,” he said. “We were writing stuff for the live show Tuesday night all night, the table read Wednesday, then being told now come up with a digital short so write all Thursday, all Thursday night, don’t sleep, get up, shoot Friday, edit all night Friday night and into Saturday, so it’s basically like four days a week you’re not sleeping, for seven years.

“So I just kinda fell apart physically,” he added.

Samberg, along with Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, formed the group Lonely Island, which made the “SNL” shorts segments wildly popular.

Samberg said things changed after they left the show, leaving him alone responsible for creating the shorts.

“I was basically left in charge of making the shorts, which I never pretended like I could do without them,” he said. “We made stuff I’m really proud of in my last two years, but there’s something about the songs that I can only do with Akiva and Jorm. It’s just how it is, we’re just a band in that way.”

One of the reasons he stayed so long, Samberg said, was the immediate creative satisfaction the late-night series allowed him.

“I was like, once I go, when I have an idea, I can’t just do it,” he said. “The craziest thing about working there is once you get going, if you’re just in the shower and you have an idea that shit can be on television in three days, which is the most like intoxicating feeling.”

Samberg did eventually leave and found success in other projects, including the hit series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

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