Going on stage live in front of millions of people was apparently the least of Kevin Nealon’s worries during his time on “Saturday Night Live.”
Nealon, who was a cast member on “SNL” from 1986 to 1995, spoke to Ted Danson on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast on SiriusXM on Wednesday, where he recounted the preparation it took to get a fake chin applied for his imitation of Jay Leno, and how the process contributed to him having “claustrophobia for several years.”
In order to get a mold of Nealon’s face, the makeup artists had to cover him in thick plaster that left him unable to breathe through anything other than two straws that were stuck into his nostrils. He called it a “life mask… or a death mask.”
“I never thought it’d be a problem. And (then) it starts to get warm. And it’s hardening and you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, all that’s open is my nostrils. If they close those up, I’ll suffocate,’” he said.
He recalled that he “started to get panicky and I remember (being) about to pass out.”
The next thing he knew, he was being administered smelling salts, he told Danson.
Determined to continue portraying Jay Leno on “SNL,” Nealon said he went through the process a second time and nearly passed out again. The experience marked him.
“Two weeks later, I’m stopped in a subway between stations. It’s dark. I started getting that same feeling again. And it just snowballed from then. I started getting it more and more,” he explained. “It became almost agoraphobic (for me). I thought it was over for me.”
He said that it contributed to a fear of flying and that it even got to a point where he would feel anxiety while driving on the freeway when he would see traffic backed up on the other side.
“I think, how am I gonna get home? If I need to get home – it’s so backed up!” he said.
The “Weeds” actor then explained that he went on to work through his issues over the course of a couple of years, and that “it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
Nealon was last seen on screen in “Happy Gilmore 2.” He’s currently on a standup comedy tour.
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