Bill Hader's hottest recurring Saturday Night Live character is and always will be Stefon, the flamboyant and trendy New York club enthusiast with a penchant for anything and everything weird. The character mostly retired from SNL when Bill Hader left the series back in 2013 (with the occasional exception), but the Trainwreck star recently resurrected the face-hiding fan-favorite with his recent hosting stint. It was a glorious return, and you can check out the Paddy-fied Weekend Update sketch, below.
That segment definitely played to the strengths of Saturday Night Live's Stefon formula, making it a welcome return. With St. Patrick's Day dominating the weekend festivities for many people in New York, Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che brought the neo-classic SNL personality back to offer up some Stefon-specific tips for tourists. As one can typically expect in a scene like this, things went horribly awry when Stefon started recommending activities and venues that definitely don't appeal to family crowds, including several clubs that all somehow manage to fit the film Roman J. Israel Esq. into their aesthetics.
Of course, while most Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Stefon follow a general outline, this one headed in a slightly different direction towards the end. Eventually, Stefon finds himself unsure if his particular verbiage can be expressed at the Weekend Update desk, so he calls in his lawyer Shy, played by none other than stand-up comedian John Mulaney.
One thing to note about John Mulaney's presence in this Stefon sketch is the fact that he actually has a long-running history with the character. While Bill Hader is the face of Stefon, John Mulaney actually helped create the persona during his time as a Saturday Night Live staff writer, and the Broadway star and Big Mouth voice actor is largely responsible for many of Stefon's most enduring traits. Now, with Mulaney finally joining Hader on the SNL stage as Stefon's own guest, it lends the sense that the character has finally come full circle. (Surely he could get us into the club Full Circle, which sets its thermostats at 360 degrees.)
It is safe to say that Stefon's return to Saturday Night Live was a welcome one. Even with the resurrection of this classic character, though, we still have a brand-new Bill Hader character to watch out for when his new HBO series Barry premieres on Sunday, March 25, at 10:30 p.m. ET. Make sure to watch out for Barry, and use our midseason premiere guide to keep yourself in-the-loop on all of this spring's biggest movie debuts!
