'Saturday Night Live' Cast Members Have A Long History Of Hurting John Mayer's Feelings

John Mayer’s going to be waiting on an apology from the icy Saturday Night Live stars even longer than it will take the world to change.

Over the course of his quarter-century-and-counting career, the dreamy, 6’3” singer-songwriter sensation has enjoyed a level of adoration and affection that would warm even the most embittered and insecure comedian’s soul. Mayer has hordes of female fans and a sea of super-famous ex-girlfriends, all of whom were similarly drawn to his tall, dark and handsome songbird act as Mayer’s music continues to capture hearts in a way that a killer impression of Ted Cruz simply can’t. Perhaps that’s why so many unnamed members of the Saturday Night Live cast treat Mayer with a level of aloof disinterest that continues to hurt his feelings with every passing season.

On a recent episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Mayer was the one who found himself desperate for friendship from the comedians whom he respects too much to ignore at their little celebrity A-list events. Despite being a huge Saturday Night Live fan and a self-professed outgoing personality, Mayer says he’s long been given the cold shoulder from the comics of Studio 8H in social situations, asking his host, “Why do you think it is that the largest community of people who have hurt my feelings at parties over the years have been related to SNL?” Conan might be the wrong person to ask about this, seeing as he’s still finding creative new ways to bully Jack McBrayer.

“It’s not evil, it’s not pointedly mean, it feels like a coldness,” Mayer explained of the uncomfortable sensation he gets every time he tries to start a conversation with a performer from SNL, “Because I’m open, I show up open, and I show up with the weird expectation that other people are going to meet me there. And there is this sort of pull-away.” Mayer had a theory about his icy treatment, positing, “It’s almost like someone on SNL has a difficult time pretending to be interested if they’re not.”

Conan validated Mayer’s feelings, admitting that the environment of the most sought-after production in comedy may shape some of the performer’s treatments of one of Bill Hader’s best impersonation targets. “I think there is something in comedy, and maybe it’s particular to SNL. … there’s a too-cool-for-school philosophy that can thrive at SNL,” Conan explained, clarifying, “There’s only so much physical real estate in Studio 8H, and they can only get so much show on every week and there is a competition to get your sketch on, and so, at the end of the day, you’re competing with everyone else in the room.”

“SNL is a very specific environment, and I think it’s possible that there’s a kind of maybe toughness there,” Conan told Mayer, explaining that he’s received his own share of cold-to-openly-hostile treatment from comedians both during his time writing for SNL and beyond. “I’m not a big believer in naming names, but there are certain comedians in my generation. … that come from stand-up specifically, who I have met over the years and they have left me feeling that way.”

However, later in the talk, names were named. Admitted Conan, “We’re talking about Pat Sajak.”