Bill Hader had his own strange encounter with Cobra Kai star Martin Kove — more than a decade before the martial artist bit co-star Alicia Hannah-Kim at a recent fan convention.
The Barry star, 47, recounted the “weird” interaction during a 2013 episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, which has since resurfaced amid Kove’s biting incident.
Before his big break in Hollywood, Hader worked as a driver for Kove, now 78, taking him to and from movie sets in the Nineties.
“I’m driving him around in my s***ty car, and he got me lost on purpose,” the Saturday Night Live alum claimed, explaining that because the actor hadn’t yet read the script, he intentionally gave him the wrong directions.
After they arrived late to set, Hader said he was “screamed at” by his boss, leading him to have a “terrible day.”
“On the way back, we’re driving,” the three-time Emmy-winner recalled. “It’s at night, and we’re driving down the freeway. He was like, ‘Bill, are you mad at me?’”
Hader remembered insisting that he wasn’t upset, but still Kove hounded him, asking Hader multiple times if he wanted a cookie or a milkshake.
“This is the guy from Karate Kid. This is my first Hollywood experience,” Hader explained. “He goes, ‘There’s a McDonald’s right up here. Pull over, and we’ll get you a cookie. We’ll get a milkshake.’”
However, Kove returned to the car, “eating the chocolate cookie and the milkshake. And he just sits in the back and goes, ‘Come on, let’s go,’” Hader said. “It was the biggest f*** you.
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“It was a weird mind f*** of, like, ‘I’m gonna get you this thing,’ and then he ate it in front of me,” the Trainwreck actor continued. “And then I just drove home in silence.”
Hader said that he continued driving Kove to work “every day,” but “didn’t talk to him after that.” “I just kind of stared straight ahead,” he said.
The comedian added that he gave Kove the benefit of the doubt, saying: “He might be a really nice guy, but I just, for some reason, I rubbed him the wrong way. I don’t know what was going on.”
The Independent has contacted Kove’s representative for comment.
Kove, who rose to fame playing antagonist John Kreese in The Karate Kid and its sequels, reprised his role in Netflix’s ongoing spinoff series, Cobra Kai.
Over the weekend, he and Hannah-Kim attended a fan meet-and-greet at Summer Con in Puyallup, Washington. During the event, he allegedly grabbed Hannah-Kim’s arm and bit her so hard he “nearly drew blood,” according to a police report.
Hannah-Kim didn’t end up pressing charges; however, she told the police she wanted the incident on record “so that he cannot ever do this to me again.”
Kove has since issued an apology, admitting that he “went too far.”
“I deeply regret and apologize for my actions regarding the incident with Alicia [Hannah-Kim], a genuinely kind and wonderful person who didn’t deserve to be put in this position,” Kove said in a statement.
“I’ve always respected her and considered her a highly professional and talented co-worker on Cobra Kai,” he added of his Australian co-star, who plays antagonist-turned-anti-hero Kim Da-Eun.
“I was being playful in the moment but went too far and there is absolutely no excuse for my behavior. I regret my actions for which I take full responsibility for what I did, and again I apologize to her and her husband. I’m committed to learning from this and it will never happen again.”
