SNL’s Darrell Hammond reveals his dark past: child abuse, addictions

“I didn’t want to let Lorne down.”

That’s Darrell Hammond, the longest-tenured member ever on Saturday Night Live, telling CNN in a new interview about how he answered the call of SNL’s Lorne Michaels to perform his celebrity and political impersonations on live TV, even when, in at least one instance, he was led away from the show in a straitjacket. That revelation — and much, much, too much more — comes in Hammond’s memoir, “God, If You’re Not Up There, I’m F*cked: Tales of Stand-Up, Saturday Night Live, and Other Mind-Altering Mayhem.”

Child abuse, cutting, crack. Holy Jesus. And I haven’t even gotten around to the stuff about his dad and his reluctance in portraying John McCain. The shifty eyes make it even more difficult to take in.

Roll it.

To read more about Hammond’s amazing, baffling life journey from abused child to SNL star, go get yourself a copy of his memoir:

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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