Here’s the Type of ‘SNL’ Host Who Always Bombs, According to Seth Meyers and Kristen Wiig

As the old saying goes, pressure makes diamonds – so Paris Hilton must have had a pretty good night’s sleep that Friday.

As many actors, musicians and sports stars have pointed out, the duty of hosting Saturday Night Live is one of those “honors” that comes with an exhausting workload, much like being assigned the “privilege” of being group leader on a school project. Recently, Charles Barkley, one of the few athletes to truly kill as SNL host, said that the week before a hosting stint is “the longest damn week of your life,” which makes his four separate performances as host all the more impressive. Since they’re so heavily featured, hosts typically work longer hours than the regular cast, so it came as no surprise to see that SNL veteran Kristen Wiig was downright exhausted during last night’s appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers despite how her seven-season SNL tenure might have prepared her for such a moment.

During the interview, Meyers remarked on the demands of the SNL celebrity master-of-ceremonies, “I’ve always said,  when I was at the show, the hosts that weren’t nervous were the ones that were about to lay a real turd,” to which Wiig agreed. Maybe that’s why Burt Reynolds looked so relaxed.

Meyers congratulated Wiig on her imminent induction into the SNL Five-Timers’ Club before asking his guest if she thought that the hosting responsibilities get easier after so many repetitions. “No,” Wiig said bluntly, “I think because the essence of the show is that you don’t know what it is ever, even until 11:30. There’s just – you don’t know. It never goes away.”

“I feel like that’s just the energy of the show,” Wiig posited of Meyers’ theory that hosts who don’t get stressed don’t get laughs, expounding, “Like, you’re supposed to be nervous, I think.” Wiig said of her own preparation this week leading up to Saturday night, saying that she hasn’t slept well at all leading up to the show. “I was up writing things in my head," Wiig said of her creative insomnia, telling Meyers, “You know, your brain goes.”

When Wiig takes the stage tomorrow night, it’s safe to say that her nerves will be as bad as they ever were during her time in the cast, since she isn’t exactly known to bomb on SNL. Breaking, however, could be another story entirely – SNL hasn’t done a “Californians” sketch in a while.