Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Tom Holland is “petrified” about the idea of hosting Saturday Night Live because of his dyslexia.
The Odyssey actor revealed he has turned down multiple approaches to be the celebrity guest host on the comedy sketch show because he isn’t sure how he would cope with the fast-pace of script changes and handwritten cue cards being handed over at the last minute due to his struggles with the language-based learning disorder.
Speaking to Amy Poehler – a former SNL cast member who has hosted the show three times – on her Good Hang podcast, he said: “I’m heavily dyslexic. Which is one of the reasons why — and I’d love to talk to you today about it, actually — is why I’ve never done SNL.
“I’m just so petrified at the concept of, like, trying to read something and they change [it]…
“I’ve been really lucky that they’ve asked me a few times to do it. And the truth is that I’m actually just really scared at the prospect of… I love the show, and I love the idea of having fun and making a fool of yourself in such a fun, creative way. It’s just that thing of the cue cards.”
The 30-year-old star stressed he can “read fine” but he struggles to do so out loud.
He said: “I can read fine. But when I have to read out loud, it just becomes… it’s like a mental block. And I can freeze.”
Tom admitted his “worst day” on movie sets is usual table-read days, where the cast and director get together to go through the script, but he has worked out a strategy that helps.
He explained: “I will really try and highlight everything and learn my lines ahead of time. So that I’m more kind of skimming it than I am reading.”
Amy urged Tom to reconsider his reluctance to host Saturday Night Live as she believes he would cope.
She said: “You have to remember, there have been people that have hosted that have been fully on drugs.”
Her guest laughed and she added: “So I think you can do it.”
Tom isn’t the first star to turn down SNL because of their concerns about cue cards.
In 2019, Orlando Bloom admitted he had also said no to a guest host slot, in part due to his own dyslexia.
He said on The Howard Stern Show: “I was really insecure at the time. Partly my dyslexia, partly, like, that window of time where I couldn’t even… think straight and see the wood through the trees.
“I would love to [host] Saturday Night Live now.”
