<\/p>\n
\n Going on stage live in front of millions of people was apparently the least of Kevin Nealon\u2019s worries during his time on \u201cSaturday Night Live<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Nealon<\/a>, who was a cast member on \u201cSNL\u201d from 1986 to 1995, spoke to Ted Danson on the \u201cWhere Everybody Knows Your Name<\/a>\u201d 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 \u201cclaustrophobia for several years.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In order to get a mold of Nealon\u2019s 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 \u201clife mask\u2026 or a death mask.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI never thought it\u2019d be a problem. And (then) it starts to get warm. And it\u2019s hardening and you\u2019re thinking, \u2018Oh my God, all that\u2019s open is my nostrils. If they close those up, I\u2019ll suffocate,\u2019\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n He recalled that he \u201cstarted to get panicky and I remember (being) about to pass out.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The next thing he knew, he was being administered smelling salts, he told Danson.\n <\/p>\n \n Determined to continue portraying Jay Leno on \u201cSNL,\u201d Nealon said he went through the process a second time and nearly passed out again. The experience marked him.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTwo weeks later, I\u2019m stopped in a subway between stations. It\u2019s dark. I started getting that same feeling again. And it just snowballed from then. I started getting it more and more,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt became almost agoraphobic (for me). I thought it was over for me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n 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.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI think, how am I gonna get home? If I need to get home \u2013 it\u2019s so backed up!\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n The \u201cWeeds\u201d actor then explained that he went on to work through his issues over the course of a couple of years, and that \u201cit doesn\u2019t bother me anymore.\u201d\n <\/p>\n