John Mayer Has Noticed A Pattern Of ‘SNL’ Alums Hurting His Feelings, So He And Conan O’Brien Had A Thoughtful Chat About It

“Paper Doll” singer John Mayer has broken his fair share of hearts. From Taylor Swift and Katy Perry to Jessica Simpson, the artist has played loose and fast with the feelings of his former romantic flames. Apparently, in a karmic turn of events, according to Mayer, the Saturday Night Live team has been there to kick his emotions around all over the place.

On January 29, during an appearance on the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast, Mayer asked the host and former SNL writer about former cast members’ seemingly covert mission to routinely hurt his feelings.

“Why do you think it is that the largest community of people who have hurt my feelings at parties over the years have been related to SNL,” he asked. “What is it about the SNL experience — and I’m being very open-minded about it because it can’t be this sort of ad-hoc thing where everyone at SNL is just a little pathological — what goes on at SNL”

As Mayer worked through his thoughts on the matter, O’Brien jokingly said he shouldn’t generalize. But Mayer’s monologue was far from over. “It’s not evil. It’s not pointedly mean. It feels like a coldness,” he added. “It’s almost like someone on SNL has a difficult time pretending to be interested if they’re not.”

Eventually, O’Brien shared his opinion on Mayer’s jaded outlook on the SNL team. “I think it’s something in comedy, and maybe it is particular to SNL,” he said. “[But] it’s a two-way street. First, this wouldn’t happen to you if you didn’t put SNL on a pedestal. So part of the problem is maybe you putting other people on a pedestal.”

However, O’Brien believes that the competitive nature brought forth on set is what Mayer is picking up on. “There is a ‘too cool for school’ philosophy that can thrive at SNL,” he said. “I’ve known great people there. But I think one of the things that makes SNL actually really good or helped it endure all these years is that there is a limited amount of real estate to get stuff on the show… there’s a competition to get your sketch on, so at the end of the day you’re competing with other people in the room.”

Watch the full clip above.