Saturday Night Live gave fans a wonderful holiday kick-off with a Christmas special episode which was hosted by Austin Butler with Lizzo as the musical guest. The episode was also bittersweet because it was Cecily Strong‘s last episode on the series, making her the longest serving Saturday Night Live female cast member. So with that in mind, the episode started off with a fun cold-open into what is one of the more heartfelt monologues we’ve seen in a while. Which is staying something for the show that is known for guests sharing how excited they are to finally be on the sketch comedy juggernaut.
For Butler, his heartfelt tribute came when he talked about his mother and how she homeschooled him and his sister growing up, and was always at his side. He was very open about a lot of his life. Poking fun at how his voice is changed because of his role as Elvis in the Baz Luhrmann film Elvis, as well as his life as a child actor. Butler was on a lot of television shows as a child and talked about how he was an incredibly shy kid when he wasn’t in front of the camera, And again, in poking fun at himself, shared how he started to outgrow his shyness to get him to the Saturday Night Live stage.
Butler then pulled on heartstrings when he shared a sweet and emotional tribute to his late mother. Lori Anne Butler passed away in 2014 and the actor has been vocal about how her death is what connected him to Elvis and helped him bring the role to life. The incredibly sweet moment of the monologue came through when he discussed his shyness and revealed how his mother helped bring him out of it, leading to his eventual arrival on the Saturday Night Live stage.
“Some of my favorite memories growing up are she and I watching SNL together,” he said. “We’d watch every week and even though I had this crippling shyness, when I was with her I’d do anything to make my mom laugh.” He goes on to talk about how he’d do faces and voices for her, and at the end of the monologue, he says that if he does a weird voice or face, it is in tribute to his mother because she’d be so proud to see her shy boy on the stage of Saturday Night Live.
The monologue was emotional, sweet, and kicked off a great episode for Butler. Check out the monologue below:
