(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BILL HADER: (Reading) The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day. I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two. I said, how I wish we had something to do.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
That's former "Saturday Night Live" actor Bill Hader reading the first lines from the classic Dr. Seuss book "The Cat In The Hat." That is also his latest starring role. A new animated film based on that book is in theaters Friday.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE CAT IN THE HAT")
HADER: (As the Cat in the Hat) Let's get it started. All right? Let us skip and hop and jump, brighten up this crappy dump - brighter walls, brighter boxes, brighter ceiling, stinky sockses (ph). I can balance if you wish, brighten up your boring fish. I can wear him as a hat. I can...
MATT BERRY: (As the Fish) Put me down, you crazy cat.
MARTÍNEZ: Hader says the directors of the film helped him find the Cat's voice.
HADER: And I think they preemptively could tell I was going to, like - hey, I could do a couple of voices. And they - you know, they go, we just like you. You know, your voice is goofy enough.
MARTÍNEZ: That's good to hear...
HADER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...We just like you.
HADER: Well, yeah, your weird, nasally Midwestern voice.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter) All right. So...
HADER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So at the center of the movie - there were three gadgets that played a role in "Cat In The Hat." There was the emotoscope, the mess-o-meter and then the go-backer. The emotoscope I really kind of focused on because it could tell what a kid was feeling through an emoji. You hold it up, you see what they're going through and there you have an idea of what they're feeling. So - I mean, I've had kids. I even have grandkids.
HADER: Oh, wow.
MARTÍNEZ: And I'd love to know, like, sometimes what they're feeling...
HADER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Just by pointing something at them...
HADER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Because sometimes they get so withdrawn. You have three daughters, right?
HADER: Three daughters.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
HADER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: Would you like to have something like that?
HADER: I don't know. I would like, hopefully, that they just feel comfortable coming to me, or, you know, you talk...
MARTÍNEZ: Ideally...
HADER: ...About it...
MARTÍNEZ: ...Right?
HADER: As...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
HADER: ...Opposed - instead of having a gadget that would - you know, are you OK? I'm fine. (Imitating emotoscope) No, you're not. You know, that doesn't really (laughter) - yeah. I don't know how many kids will, like, respond to that. But with my kids, yeah. You try to just chat and give them some space, and then hopefully they'll come to you. And - but you know how it is. It's, like, all trial and error with every parent. I'm sure I started out by going, what's wrong? What's wrong? Tell me. Tell me what's wrong. Why won't you look me in the eye? You know, and it's like, I'm 5 years old, Dad. And chill.
MARTÍNEZ: Look, chill. Maybe you had too much coffee.
HADER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop. Let's take the coffee out of your hand.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you also played the Cat in the Hat before - "Saturday Night Live," a little different version of...
HADER: Oh, yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Cat in the Hat.
HADER: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: It gets into the - you know, the Cat's very complicated dating history.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
HADER: (As the Cat in the Hat) Hello, little kiddies. A rat-a-tat-tat. If you haven't put it together, I'm the Cat in the Hat.
CECILY STRONG: (As Linda) Cat, what are you doing here?
HADER: (As the Cat in the Hat) Linda.
(LAUGHTER)
HADER: (As Cat in the Hat) My God. You look good.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTÍNEZ: You were wearing a lot of makeup for that, a full costume. And I was wondering how different that was because...
HADER: Oh.
MARTÍNEZ: ...You look pretty close in - on set. They did a good job on "Saturday Night Live."
HADER: No, they did an amazing job. The - Louis (ph) and the makeup team at "SNL" are phenomenal. They just had it down. It was like seeing a race car - you know, the pit-crew race-car thing. It was like that, you know? You walk in, and they just - puh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. You know, they've got, like, five people on you. And it looked great (laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Nine years you spent at "SNL." And, Bill, I don't know of a single show that gets scrutinized as much as "SNL." Like, this cast versus this cast versus this cast. Why do you think that people make that a discussion point? 'Cause it's almost like Magic's Lakers would be Kobe's Lakers, and Kobe's Lakers would be LeBron's Lakers. It's a weird thing that there is no right answer to.
HADER: Yeah. It's also people just kind of talking about their generation. You know what I mean? Or, like, what they grew up with. And also, you know, senses of humor and sensibilities change, and "SNL" can really track that better than anything. The seasons I grew up with was, like, you know, Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks and Dana Carvey. And so, to me, that's, like, never got better than that, you know?
MARTÍNEZ: Not even your group?
HADER: Oh. I mean, I can't talk about our group, you know? I think we're - we were good, though. I mean, I was very, very lucky. I came in with...
MARTÍNEZ: Jason Sudeikis.
HADER: I mean, I came in with Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, wow.
HADER: I mean, you're very lucky if you get to come in with those three people. Kenan Thompson - he's an unsung hero to me. Kenan Thompson - I would sit and watch him 'cause I just felt I was very rigid on the show and really just not really that relaxed, and I would watch him. But he and Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph - they could just be chatting and then go, oh, we're going to do a sketch, and go over and nail it, and then come right back and be like, anyway, as I was saying, Bill - you know?
MARTÍNEZ: There are people like that that...
HADER: And I'd go, man, I'm...
MARTÍNEZ: ...Can just, like, on a dime, like...
HADER: Yeah. I would just kind of marvel at that 'cause, you know, I would be thinking and obsessing about the show for 48 hours before it started and obsessively going over my lines and...
MARTÍNEZ: That was your process, though. I mean...
HADER: Yeah. I guess so (ph).
MARTÍNEZ: Maybe that's how you got the performances.
HADER: Yeah. Maybe. But it - I think it was - just the live aspect of it was so just like, oh gosh. We got one chance, and it's live. You'd do a sketch, and it kind of wouldn't go great. And then you'd go back, and you're on your phone. It would be your friend in Oklahoma going, Wow. That sucked (laughter). You know?
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
HADER: You're like, oh God. That's right. It's live all over the country, you know?
MARTÍNEZ: Can I just say - it's very adorable to hear how humble you are about this. You're acting as if you're this minor piece...
HADER: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: ...Of this.
HADER: No. No. But that's how I see it - is, like, I don't - I mean, people will go, oh, you were really good on the show. And I was like, well, I just have a hard time watching my - I just see it as being very rigid, you know? But I mention all them not - but I just learned so much from all them, you know, even if - I don't even know if they know how much I learned from all them. You know, I would sit - any time Amy Poehler was in a cold open, I would go onto the stage and watch it and just go like, man, look how relaxed she is and confident. And I always thought she was kind of a master.
MARTÍNEZ: So one of the things we find out in "Cat In The Hat" is that I - the film is part of the - what? - Seussiverse.
HADER: Oh.
MARTÍNEZ: And that's, like...
HADER: Are they doing that?
MARTÍNEZ: I think I heard something about a Seussiverse.
HADER: Oh, really? Oh, awesome.
MARTÍNEZ: It's one of other Seuss films that are going to come.
HADER: Oh my gosh.
MARTÍNEZ: You'd be up for becoming the Cat again?
HADER: Oh my God. Yeah. So if we do Seuss Avengers...
MARTÍNEZ: Oh.
HADER: I'm going to be rolling in dough. No (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTÍNEZ: That is Bill Hader. His new film is "The Cat In The Hat." Bill, thanks for coming in.
HADER: Thank you for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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