Bill Hader has numerous high-profile credits to his name. Among them are his Emmy Award-winning performance in Barry and his eight-season run on Saturday Night Live. However, some may not know that from 2008 to 2009, Hader served as a consultant writer for South Park.
During his time working on the long-running Comedy Central animated series, there was a moment when David Lee Roth was hanging around the show’s production offices. One day, DLR pitched a movie to the South Park writers, but there was a bit of a problem with his idea.
Hader said on a recent appearance on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, ” … He pitched a movie to us where it was like he was an assassin. And he said, ‘It’s about a guy trying to get his dog back.’ And then, we had to say, ‘Oh, they made this movie, John Wick.’ That’s kind of similar.”
Hader, while hilariously imitating Diamond Dave, continues, “‘Nah, but the guy has a dog? I go, ‘Yeah, I know he has a dog.’ … Trey Parker then pitched, ‘Well, what if you’re you, and you’re having to go on these missions, but the band is going, ‘Hey, Dave, we need you on tour,’ and stuff like that. He goes, ‘No, I don’t want those guys involved with this.’”
While the idea of just having someone like Roth hanging around a busy place of work seems like a lot, Hader mentions, “I just want to make it clear: We loved him at ‘South Park.’ It wasn’t a thing where we were like, ‘Oh, why is this guy here?’ We were totally in awe. ‘Oh my God, that’s f—ing David Lee Roth!’ And he did not disappoint at all, and he was so sweet and nice.”
The Roth part of the clip happens in the second half at around the 3:53 mark. The first half of the clip, however, is about how Hader has a weird affinity for Eddie and Alex Van Halen, because, ” … They’re so talented and such great musicians, but they’re very touchy, and they would air out their grievances to anybody.”
Honestly, the whole video is worth a watch, so find the time to watch it in full, if only for Hader’s impressions of Roth and the Van Halen brothers.
