Chris Evans’ friends told him he wasn’t funny and now he refuses to do Saturday Night Live

Is this an act of uncalled-for bullying or the kind of benevolent guidance only close friends can bestow? Chris Evans has been megafamous for more than a decade, and many of his Avengers cohort have appeared as hosts of Saturday Night Live. (Scarlett Johansson even married a cast member.) Yet Evans has never hosted himself, apparently having been gifted with self-awareness by some buddies of his. “I’m not a funny person,” he admits to ET Canada. “Maybe I only feel that because I have very, very funny friends who once told me I’m not a funny person.” Imagine how different the history of SNL would be if more hosts considered whether or not they were funny first!

Opinions on Evans’ comedic talents may vary; certainly, he’s played comedic roles. He is, at this moment, promoting a romantic comedy, Ghosted, starring alongside upcoming SNL host Ana de Armas. Asked if he’d show up to the episode for a cameo, he says, “Well, now a cameo I can handle. … A cameo sounds great, that’s perfect. In and out… get your toes wet. But hosting, I tip my hat to her. She’s going to be amazing. But it would provide a lot of sleepless nights for me.”

You see, not being funny isn’t his only reason for staying away from Studio 8H: “I’ve avoided hosting SNL like the plague for years now just because I’m so scared. It’s terrifying to me,” he explains. “To me, it would just be one of those things that every single night I would wake up in a cold sweat.”

“I just know how I would feel… it would just be an everyday anxiety, constant regret,” he says. He then shares his utterly relatable inner monologue: “‘Why did I do this? I could have been comfortable at my house, in my bed, not worrying about this.’”