It’s almost hard to imagine Adam Sandler in a bad mood.
However, the actor and comedian recently opened up about how his attitude used to get the better of him—especially as an up-and-coming performer on Saturday Night Live in the early ’90s.
“I used to go nuts. I had a quick temper, quick reactions,” Sandler told AARP Sept. 21. “I made a lot of dumb mistakes and said a lot of stupid things. Looking back on relationships, I could be an ass. I was selfish. I was competitive with other comedians and stuff. My father would say, ‘That guy’s funny,’ and I would say, ‘Hey, I’m funny, blah, blah,’ and he’d be, like, ‘Why can’t you both be funny?'”
Sandler was hired as a writer on SNL in 1990 before joining the cast as a performer from 1991 to 1995, creating such memorable characters as Opera Man and debuting beloved original music like “The Chanukah Song.”
Despite his success, however, Sandler explained that his ego often got in the way.
“Because I was hungry, I didn’t always see clearly then,” he said. “I wanted to be a big comedian like Eddie Murphy, like Rodney Dangerfield.”