Darrell Hammond, known for epically impersonating Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Dick Cheney on SNL, has a new book coming out called “God, If You’re Not Up There, I’m F*cked,” which chronicles his drug and alcohol addictions that developed after what the New York Post calls “a traumatic childhood.” Hammond recalls in the book how his experimentation with various harmful substances negatively affected his performance on the NBC sketch comedy show, and even revealed that after one show in 1998, he was taken out of the studio in a straitjacket and transported to the hospital because he was too drunk and too high on cocaine to function. Among the disturbing confessions is also the admission of what Hammond used to do if drinking didn’t help him calm down before a show — he wrote, “I kept a pint of Remy in my desk at work. The drinking calmed my nerves and quieted the disturbing images that sprang into my head… If drinking didn’t work, I cut myself.”
But that isn’t the book’s most disturbing content. Hammond also wrote that in 2002, he began doing cocaine. He explained, “I’d started adding an obscene amount of cocaine to my binges… I had to be creative about how I did it without other people catching on or letting it interfere with work. At least not too much.” His drug and alcohol abuse continued all the way through to this summer, after he got out of rehab and then put together a very successful one-man play called Tru, which was based in Sag Harbor and based on Truman Capote. Unfortunately, Hammond encountered more troubles when he was so severely injured in a June car crash that he was unable to stand for long periods of time, and therefore, unable to work. He continues to recover, and is suing the driver responsible for causing the accident and for fracturing his ribs.
“God, If You’re Not Up There, I’m F*cked” comes out on November 8th, but Hammond has already sent copies over to SNL and is anxiously awaiting feedback. He expresses his fondness for his friends over at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to the Post and said, “I don’t have anything bad to say about anyone there. They all went above and beyond the call for me.” Perhaps they’ll be so proud of his sobriety that they’ll let him come back when Trump officially endorses a Republican candidate for president?
