'SNL's' Darrell Hammond Reveals Crack Addiction, Leaving NBC 'in a Straitjacket'

7:59 AM PDT 10/24/2011 by Lindsay Powers

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In his new memoir, the longest-running SNL castmember says, "When drinking didn't work, I cut myself."

Saturday Night Live castmember Darrell Hammond reveals a disturbing crack habit, cutting himself and alcoholism in his new memoir, God If You're Not Up There, I'm F--ked.

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Hammond -- who grew to fame impersonating Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and a raunchy Sean Connery on Jeopardy -- writes, "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 ... when drinking didn’t work, I cut myself.”

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Hammond -- who spent the longest time of any castmember on the show, 14 seasons and 270 appearances -- says he was once taken from NBC “in a straitjacket.” When his wife came to visit him at New York Hospital, "I didn’t recognize her,” he adds.

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He writes that he was addicted to cocaine in 2002, but in 2009 -- during his 14th and final season on the show -- “I had the brilliant idea I should try crack." He ended up spending time in a crack house in Harlem. He went to rehab that same year.

In 2010, he announced he was addicted to vicodin and coming down from a high while performing at comedy club Caroline's in New York City. He entered treatment again.

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“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 the work. At least too much," he writes.

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He hasn't heard what his former co-workers think about the book yet.

“I don’t have anything bad to say about anyone there,” he tells the New York Post. “They all really went above and beyond the call for me.”

After beating his drug addiction, Hammond starred this summer in Sag Harbor as Truman Capote in one-man play Tru. He's also involved in Will Ferrell's Funny or Die website.