Heartbreaking Reason Mark Ruffalo Passed On Hosting SNL

Mark Ruffalo would be one of the most hyped hosts of Saturday Night Live ever, but sadly it doesn’t look like he’s going to be jumping into the gig anytime soon.

While speaking to Marc Maron on this week’s episode of the WTF podcast, Mark broke down the reason he’s turned down hosting SNL in the past, and it’s so heartbreaking. According to the 56-year-old actor, creator Lorne Michaels himself approached him and asked him if he wanted to host the sketch comedy show. But he had to say no — all because of a learning disorder:

“It scares me. I’m dyslexic. I’m not gonna lie. You don’t lie on this show. I’ll lose where I’m at on the page. When I hear about how that show works, changing things at the last second, and I want to be good at it.”

Aw… He’s not wrong. We’ve heard multiple past guests say the key to hosting is reading the cue cards. And if you can’t do that? Maybe it’s not possible.

Ruffalo went on to express how sad he is to say no — but being bad on the show would be worse:

“I’ve been watching that my whole life and like, I don’t want to be the guy, the host who sucks. I owe Lorne Michaels more than that.”

While trying to help, the podcast host suggested maybe he should just memorize the lines instead of read them off the cards. But sadly the 13 Going On 30 star said that would also be a struggle:

“I have the double whammy. I’m dyslexic, and I have a hard time memorizing stuff. Like, I have to start so early. What am I going to do? Ginkgo, now it’s wasabi. I chase all the memory s**t. I try everything. I’ve tried everything across the board.”

Now he fears Lorne won’t ever give him the opportunity again. So sad!

We can say with 100% certainty we’d love to see Mark on the show no matter what! Even if he only did like two sketches the entire time so he could just memorize less. Or maybe if he co-hosted with someone? Like an amazing co-star? Like maybe an Emma Stone or a Robert Downey Jr? Just a couple great ideas we know we’d love to see… What do U think, Perezcious readers? Worth the risk??

[Image via MEGA/WENN/NBC/SNL Studios]