21-06-2025
Seth Meyers recalls Billy Bob Thornton confronting 'SNL' lighting director: 'You got something to say?
Nobody, even SNL's lighting director, is going to tell Billy Bob Thornton where he can or can't wear a baseball cap.
Seth Meyers recalls a face-off between longtime lighting director Phil Hymes and Thornton when Thornton hosted in 2001.
Ultimately, Meyers said the two had a civil conversation after their initial from New York, it's a Billy Bob Thornton fight!
On this week's episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast, Seth Meyers recalled a tense moment between the actor and longtime Saturday Night Live lighting director Phil Hymes.
"Billy Bob Thornton was hosting and he was running his monologue wearing his baseball hat," Meyers recalled. "And Phil Hymes came up out on the floor and said to someone else, 'Somebody tell him to take his hat off.'"
Apparently, Thornton overheard the remark and retorted, "Hey old man, if you've got something to say, say it to my face," according to Meyers.
Andy Samberg, who cohosts the podcast, was well-known for his Thornton impression on the sketch show. So, he helped Meyers with his telling of the story by imitating the Oscar winner.
Hymes served as lighting director on the show from Saturday Night Live's from the show's second season in 1976 until early 2018, spending nearly 42 years with the comedy hit. Meyers noted that Hymes, well-known as an irascible backstage figure, often liked to remind the cast that he'd once lit President John F. Kennedy in the White House.
Meyers, who served as the show's head writer from 2006 to 2014, also took care to stress that the confrontation wasn't as public as it might sound. "Now I also want to clarify Billy Bob Thornton did not do this in front of everybody," Meyers added. "He walked off stage and he went and talked to Phil Hymes, real man to man.
"I never saw Phil do this," Meyers continued. "Phil had a real 'I apologize' moment. There was a real like two decent men of honor [exchange]."
Akiva Schaffer, another member of The Lonely Island, quipped, "Just two guys meeting at high noon, deciding not to fight," referencing the iconic Gary Cooper film High Noon.
Whatever truce that Thornton and Hymes reached, it appears that Thornton got his way. Footage of Thornton's monologue from his time hosting the show on Nov. 17, 2001, makes it clear that Thornton did indeed wear a baseball cap during his monologue, in which he entertained questions from audience members imitating his Sling Blade appearance on season 27 of SNL remains his only outing on the show (not counting Samberg's impressions of him).
Hymes was well-known for commenting on things he didn't like. He earned Lady Gaga's respect after commenting on her wardrobe and, in her words, "telling the truth," and he reportedly nearly caused Kanye West to walk off the show after a dispute about set pieces.
Hymes won his first Emmy at the age of 95 in 2018. He died at the age of 96 in 2019.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
