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Tulsan makes good impression on late-night comedy show


By Chad Previch
The Oklahoman

Bill Hader never imagined making bad grades and impersonating teachers and students would land him in the big time. He was wrong.

Hader, who once entertained friends at Tulsa's Patrick Henry Elementary School with his Bart Simpson impersonations, is now entertaining millions with his Al Pacino impersonations on "Saturday Night Live."

Hader, 27, is a new cast member on NBC's iconic late-night show that has been turning comedians into stars since before he was born.

It can be said Hader's success goes all the way back to abysmal grades.

After elementary school, he went to Edison Middle School and then Cascia Hall, where his grades were so terrible teachers let him entertain.

Students there watched "Channel One," a national news program for students. Somehow, Hader and several friends pulled a coup and convinced school administrators to allow them to broadcast a fake news show every Thursday.

Ashley Dugan, Hader's English teacher his senior year from 1996 and 1997, said it took the comedian about five seconds to derail a lesson. She said Hader is the only student who ever got away with that.

"I feel kind of bad for the rest of the kids in that class because they might not have been able to get what they should have out of the class, but he was so funny," she said. "He was so hard to shut down."

Hader, the older brother of two sisters, anchored the show, "You Can't Do That on Channel One."

Eric Taylor, a member of that show, said Hader was perfect.

"Anything was better than having to watch that poor excuse for a program that was the actual 'Channel One,'" Taylor said.

One particular Hader sketch stands out for Taylor. For a homecoming special, Hader stood at the 50-yard line and used a banana to interview the homecoming court before their photo-op.

"So he was talking to one of the girls, who looked nervous to be in front of the camera and talking into a banana, and his speech started to become choppy, as if the mike was acting up," he said. "The look on that girl's face was priceless. I have a feeling I might see that clip on the 'E! True Hollywood Story' someday."

The progression to "SNL" came fast for Hader. After graduating high school, he moved to Arizona for college. He then went to California and worked on several movies.

Scouts from MTV's "Punk'd" were impressed enough to hire him. That led to one of Hader's proudest moments. He fooled pop singer Ashlee Simpson into thinking she destroyed some of Hader's fictitious dead brother's artwork.

"She started crying," Hader said. "I started yelling at her and I couldn't help but think, 'I'm making Ashlee Simpson cry.' I was like just saying really mean things to her."

In his first "SNL" episode, he was unaware, because of nerves, that the crowd responded in a rambunctious cheer after his Pacino impersonation.

"I get nervous just playing a cop with one line," he said. "You can ask anybody. I get very, very nervous. I'll watch the show and it doesn't seem like I'm nervous but I am insanely nervous. I tend to pace around and mutter things to myself."

Hader's goal is to become a more prominent member of the show. But if it doesn't work, he'll still have his memories and fiancee, who he'll marry this summer -- and all of those bad grades.

"It sounds really corny, when you come to work you're just like, 'I can't ... believe I'm working here,'" he said. "I just can't believe it. You read the books and grow up watching the show."