The season’s finale, “Saturday Night Live,” began on a sweet note, as host Austin Butler fondly recalled watching the late-night comedy show with his late mother.
“I love my mom, some of my favorite memories from growing up was watching SNL every week,” and even though he had this “destructive shyness,” he would do anything to make her laugh — including imitating Gollum from “Lord of the Rings.”
Being silly with her, he said, was “what broke me out of my shell” and inspired his drive to be an actor. Butler, who got his start as a child actor on both Nickelodeon and Disney Channel shows, played Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s critically acclaimed biopic, “Elvis”.
“Now, my mom is no longer with us, but I’ve been thinking about her a lot this week, just imagining how proud she would be that her son is now standing on this podium,” Butler said, choking.
He said, “Anytime you see me making a funny voice or making a funny face, it’s for you, Mom.”
Butler also joked that he grew up in Anaheim, California, hence the “southern accent” and said he always sounded like Elvis Presley.
“I want to talk about something. There are people who say that since I played Elvis, my voice has changed — it’s deeper, it’s more Elvis-y,” he said. “But it’s not true, I’ve always looked like this and I can prove it. This is a clip from an interview I gave 10 years ago.”
Butler said that even though last year’s holiday show is on the verge of being canceled due to COVID, the show has developed a foolproof plan to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
“We stopped testing,” he said.
Butler also spoke about being “an outsider” growing up at home with his sister, Ashley, who was present to celebrate her birthday.
He said, “Many people don’t know that I’ve been acting since I was young, studying ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘Taxi Driver’.”
“Put the knife down, you’re freaking out, Carly,” Butler stiffened.
“Saturday Night Live” stars Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, Mickey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nodem, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Bunkie Johnson, Andrew Desmoux, Michael Che and Colin Jost as hosts of Weekend Update. The cast also includes James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Marcelo Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker as featured players. Kent Sublett, Alison Gates, and Streeter Seidel served as head writers on the show, while Liz Patrick directed.
Earlier in the night, NBC announced that the December 17th episode would be Strong’s last.
[ad_2]
