Bill Hader joins the list of ‘Abbott Elementary’ celebrity guest stars this season
He joins a wave of guest stars on Season 6, which includes Ali Wong, Miranda Cosgrove, and Edi Patterson
It’s a big season for celebrity cameos on Abbott Elementary, the Emmy-winning sitcom set in a West Philly public school. Comedian and former SNL star Bill Hader announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week that he’s joining the wave of guest stars on Season 6, that already includes comedian Ali Wong, Nickelodeon star Miranda Cosgrove, and The Righteous Gemstones actor Edi Patterson.
After Hader broke the news, Kimmel joked that it was rare for Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson to invite actors who aren’t from Philly to the show.
“I had to act like I was from Philly,” Hader quipped. “It was hard for me. I was like, ‘I love the Phillies. I think they’re great.’ Blood coming out of my ears.”
Hader and Brunson star in The Cat in the Hat, the new animated Dr. Seuss film releasing on Friday. He didn’t disclose further details about his cameo.
So far Wong, Cosgrove, and Patterson have already appeared on the show in a variety of hilarious roles. Cosgrove played a new substitute teacher who happened to be a Catholic sister. That shocked the Abbott crew, who invited her to drinks at a fictitious Philly restaurant called Bone Town, and she arrived wearing a habit. It was one of the funniest scenes of the season as all the cocktails had overtly sexual names and there were several jokes about how Cosgrove’s character had never been to Bone Town before. (She doesn’t last long at Abbott anyway: she eventually tells them she’s leaving for a Jesuit school because they’re less weird.)
In the same episode, Wong played a no-nonsense special ed teacher who managed to check the school’s reigning divas, Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter), who were made to attend her strict certification course. They started off as disruptive students ready to coast through class — Wong’s character has to literally separate the chatty friends — but wound up respecting their teacher through the process.
In the Halloween episode, Patterson appeared as a wacky jewelry seller. Gregory (Tyler James Williams) visited her Bensalem store to (spoiler alert) buy an engagement ring for Janine (Brunson) despite the shopseller’s lengthy and bizarre delays. Their interactions led Janine to suspect Gregory was either a cheater or a murder (he is neither) before Ava (Janelle James) accidentally lets the secret slip.
How will Hader fit into the mix? Abbott fans can’t wait to find out.
