Anthony Michael Hall Says Watching His Controversial “SNL” Season for the First Time Recently Was 'Healing' (Exclusive)

Thanks to Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary, which was commemorated over the weekend with two SNL50 specials on Feb. 14 and Feb. 16, Anthony Michael Hall is having a moment of reflection when it comes to his short time on NBC's long-running sketch comedy series.

Hall, 56, joined SNL in 1985, during season 11. At the time, he was just 17 years old and known for acting in a string of John Hughes movies: 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation; 1984's Sixteen Candles; as well as the back-to-back 1985 hits The Breakfast Club and Weird Science. (The Breakfast Club, which also starred Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy, also celebrated its 40th anniversary on Feb. 15 with the cast reuniting earlier this month at MegaCon.)

Often dubbed the "weird year," the season — which ran for 18 episodes from November 1985 to May 1986 and also starred Dennis Miller, Joan Cusack, Jon Lovitz, Randy Quaid and Robert Downey Jr., among others — has been said to have nearly derailed the entire show.

"The press slammed it from the beginning," Lovitz, 67, told PEOPLE ahead of Sunday's live special.

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However, for Hall, it was a dream come true being brought onto the show by creator Lorne Michaels, who had also returned as showrunner after a five-year hiatus. "It was just surreal when I got the call from Lorne because I was a huge Eddie Murphy fan as a kid," the actor tells PEOPLE of the comedian who appeared on four seasons of SNL from 1980 to 1984.

Recalling how he watched the series in high school, he says he "loved the Eddie skits and just looking forward to everything he did and just looking up to him … And, as fate would have it, a couple of years later I got the call."

While Hall — currently promoting season 3 of Reacher, which returns to Prime starting Feb. 20 — ended up participating in an episode of the four-part Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, opening up about his experiences on the show at the time, he tells PEOPLE it almost didn't happen. "I hesitated doing the doc thing. I was like, 'Oh, no. I think I'll pass because we got so beat up at the time with the reviews and in conjunction with the fact that I never watched the episodes,' " he says.

He explains he didn't initially want to look back on his season. "I kind of tried to bury it, I think, in my mind. 'Cause like, 'Oh yeah, I was a part of that show, but it was the worst season ever.' "

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However, after reconnecting with Laila Nabulsi, an associate producer from that season who he says "was instrumental in getting me hired," Hall realized that "I just had all these memories about it." He adds, "We had a three-and-a-half-hour call, Laila and I, and it was just like reconnecting with an old friend, and it was wonderful and we laughed and we made fun of, you know, ourselves and the season and we reflected on how crazy it was."

For him, that phone call alone "was kind of cathartic," Hall says. "I was like, 'You know what? I need to do this.' "

Then, after hanging up with Nabulsi, the actor decided to revisit his season. "I kind of pulled an all-nighter. I watched all of the episodes," he says, before revealing that the whole viewing experience "was like the last 10 minutes of It's a Wonderful Life because suddenly — and I'm getting chills telling you this — it was cathartic. It was healing."

Hall adds, "It kind of lifted all the bulls--- and the ego and all the negative feelings that I had in my head the whole time. It kind of allowed me to let go of all that s---. It was like an out-of-body experience."

"So, I had that kind of moment and I was like, 'I'm an idiot, man, if I don't do this. Of course, I'm gonna do this now,' " he says of recounting his memories for the SNL documentary.

Related: All the SNL Cast Members Who Weren’t at the 50th Special and Why

In the episode about season 11, Hall said, "I'm proud to be a part of it." Later on, he even acknowledged the complications that came with being so young. "When I look back I have some memories of it being difficult, I think, for a lot of the writers to figure out how to write for this kid," he recalled. "I think it was a big challenge."

He tells PEOPLE now, "It was just amazing to me. And I couldn't believe I was asked by Lorne."

While participating in the documentary was a huge moment for Hall, returning to Rockefeller Center in New York City where SNL is filmed for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert and for SNL50: The Anniversary Special was also a fulfilling experience.

"To take part in what is now the 50th season — I mean the anniversary and the concert — it was just amazing. It was really kind of dreamlike in a way," Hall says, noting that returning to Studio 8H for the taping marked "my first time back in 40 years. It was really delightful."

"It was a full circle night, particularly on Sunday," Hall, who is married Lucia Oskerova, with whom he shares one child, continues. He explains, "I saw the difference in me now that I'm happily married. I could enjoy it more and I could enjoy it through my wife's eyes in some regard. It was just really cool, man."

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