In 2009, Saturday Night Live premiered a new skit featuring Keenan Thompson as Diondre Cole, the host of a BET talk show What’s Up With That? The show always starts with Cole singing the theme song “What’s Up With That?” before introducing his three guests. In each episode, Cole asks each guest a question then cuts them off before they can speak and jumps into a reprise of the theme song again with a random cast of singers, dancers, and musicians.
Since its inception on SNL, What’s Up With That? featured guests including Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Kate Upton, DJ Khaled, Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley, and more, and each episode always has one recurring third guest, Lindsey Buckingham, played by Bill Hader.
“I don’t recall how long they’d been doing those sketches until I was aware of it,” said Buckingham of the SNL skit in a 2021 interview. “My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, that seems so random, why me?’ But I was extremely complimented that they would come up with something that could be seen as somewhat obscure in terms of a persona, that they would go on to stay with me for so long.”
In each skit since 2009, Buckingham never speaks, just grins and nods. “Bill Hader was brilliant at doing me,” added Buckingham. “Just this whole premise of me—the repeating theme of Diondre Cole never letting me talk.”
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The ‘SNL’ Skit Resonated
The skits resonated more with Buckingham than he expected, and reflected his experience where it often felt like he went unheard while in Fleetwood Mac.
“It wasn’t like it didn’t resonate with my situation in real life, because I was doing my best getting heard as an artist in Fleetwood Mac, and it wasn’t always that easy to cut through the politics,” said Buckingham. “So there was an element that rang true to me in terms of my own life.”
Playing Buckingham, Hader would appear very dry, with squinted eyes when spoken to, which Buckingham admitted does describe his mannerisms. “Bill was the perfect guy to just sit there and squint his eyes and be slightly kind of overly dry and ironic, which I guess I am,” said Buckingham.
“It was such a lovingly thought-out sketch to begin with,” he added, “and the fact that they kept it on for so long is amazing to think about.”
The Real Buckingham on ‘What’s Up With That?’
Buckingham had a few SNL appearances as a musical guest, first with Mick Fleetwood‘s Zoo in 1982, performing “Trouble” and “Bwana,” and again, nearly 30 years later, when he joined Halsey on the May 14, 2011 episode. On that same show, Buckingham also appeared on What’s Up With That? and was introduced as “another Lindsey Buckingham.”
The episode also featured the real Paul Simon, who was cut short before he could explain his new album and Glee star Chris Colfer. Before Simon explained his album he asked Cole why Buckingham never speaks. The host then went around assuring Simon that everyone was allowed to speak, from members of the band and even Buckingham (Hader), who nodded.
“The other thing that I came away with after being a part of rehearsals and seeing how the show comes together is the rigor it takes to do it on a weekly basis,” said Buckingham. “They’re done at one in the morning on Saturday, they go party, and then they’ve got Sunday to sleep it off. And then they got to be back on Monday to construct a new show. It’s not for the faint of heart, I got to tell you.”
He continued, “I have nothing but respect for them and was thrilled to have been thought of and included for so long as part of the legacy of ‘SNL.’ I never got an answer as to why they thought of me for the sketch, but I never even asked those questions. I didn’t think it was necessarily something that should come up. I was trying to have a “when in Rome” mentality when I was there. I never found out about that. It always seems somewhat random, but a huge compliment.
Photo: Lindsey Buckingham on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Randy Holmes via Getty Images)
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