First-time host Walton Goggins has been steadily working for the past three decades, but his roles this year in The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones have taken him from “character actor” to “Walton Goggins.” He’s reached the level of fame where even if you haven’t seen White Lotus, you still know him from the memes — which made me wonder if there would be another White Potus sketch this week (thankfully, no) or if any of the Aimee Lou Wood non-drama would be acknowledged (also thankfully no).
Goggins’ monologue was short and sweet, kicking off with him talking about how being a newly anointed sex symbol means headlines that came in the form of backhanded compliments. (“Hollywood’s Newest Heartthrob Is a Greasy, Depressing Little Man Whom No One Saw Coming.”) It’s true, he is at a point in his career where people are interested enough in his life to enable clickbait like, “Walton Goggins’ Net Worth Feels Perfect For His Quirky Career.” (And yeah, I clicked on it as “research” for this intro. Savor that ad revenue, Men’s Journal….) And it works because he’s funny, charming, and the right amount of self-deprecating. His mom came up onstage and they danced. Cute!
It felt like his episode, which was a relief considering a few episodes this season have barely utilized the host. Goggins played to his strengths as a horny server at a Mother’s Day brunch, a grimy-suave guy named simply “Matt” goading the founding fathers to create the second amendment, and a Squatty Potty user, to name a few. Things also veered into weird quite a bit, which is, to me, when the show feels the most exciting. Add in cameos from Cecily Strong (and Colin Jost!) in the cold open, as well as Sam Rockwell in the Jane Wickline-led “Tiny Baby Shoe” song, and this made for one of my favorite episodes of the season. Here are the highlights:
Mother’s Day Brunch
Goggins leans into his new sex-symbol status as a grimy and seductive server delighting two moms (Sarah Sherman and Heidi Gardner) and upsetting their respective sons (Mikey Day and Andrew Dismukes). Goggins’ attentiveness to the moms is a fun contrast with his complete disinterest in the sons (“How’s your sangria?” “No idea.”), and his increasingly obvious overtures, like blowing on a window and drawing a heart in the condensation, then tapping on the glass, escalate things nicely.
Service Dogs
This may be an all-timer for me: My favorite genre of comedy is animals doing things they shouldn’t, so a sketch about service dogs having to behave in the audience of a Tennessee Williams-esque play, and not doing it? Put it in the IV drip. A dog rolling his eyes, a dog checking his watch, a dog holding peanut M&Ms, a dog scanning the Playbill to see who the producers are, dogs straight up leaving… all things dogs do not do, except maybe that last one. Goggins plays the lead actor in the play alongside Gardner, who can’t focus because the dogs are clearly not into it. “I’m so sorry,” explains a dog trainer (Michael Longfellow). “Please don’t be offended. This is their first time at a bad play.”
Weekend Update
I could’ve skipped the Chicago pope jokes (the Catholic joke felt like enough) and the R-word joke (…), but other sharp bits made up for it, like the ones about Rosa Parks underwear and F-18s falling into the ocean. As for this week’s Update characters, I loved “Dianne, The Mom Who’s Only Read About New York on Facebook, Gives Tourist Tips,” featuring Heidi Gardner as a wide-eyed suburban mom clutching her bag and telling us “true” cautionary tales about New York from Facebook (and yes, she’s gotta be bringing up someone’s race when it’s not relevant). Gardner going “white” as an aside (and later, “What was Moana?”) made me cackle. Same goes for Mikey Day’s “A Guy Who Just Walked Into a Spiderweb on Trump’s Tariffs,” which was so physical and frantic, and such a silly idea for a character. I mean, Day is committed: He’s on the ground, he’s ripping his shirt off, his eyes are searching for Jesus. After watching him spend the entire segment panicking about whether there’s a spider on him, I forgot the setup for why he was there, which made “Should I still talk about tariffs?” really hit as an ending beat.
The Deathly Diner
Parents Walton Goggins and Ashley Padilla take their kids to a horror-themed restaurant at an amusement park that’s sort of like Medieval Times, but for Halloween — maybe? I haven’t been to Medieval Times, but I think about her as a concept pretty regularly. They want to hear the backstory of the restaurant so their kids can really get in on the experience, but their servers, Bowen Yang and Ego Nwodim, have really not thought about it past ominously repeating, “It might be your last.” Yang and Nwodim are so funny in this together, especially when they’re trying to come up with backstory on the spot.
Boss’s Bathroom
The show started out weird with “Tiny Baby Shoe” (also a contender for this highlight spot) and ended weird with Dan Bulla short “Boss’s Bathroom,” about a newly promoted employee (Andrew Dismukes) visiting the home of his boss (Goggins) and his boss’s wife (Sarah Sherman). When Dismukes excuses himself to go to the bathroom, he’s thrown off by the sight of a Squatty Potty in the couple’s bathroom, and spends the rest of the evening spiraling over the idea of his boss’ primal need to poop. No, I’ve never seen comedy about that, and yes, I am in favor of more toilet humor on SNL; I liked visual jokes like the bidet stream and the talking slug.
Cut for time
• Thank god for Strong reprising her role as Jeanine Pirro spitting wine on Jost in the cold open, and Jost’s Pete Hegseth going mouth-open for it. He’s really having fun with these final episodes.
• Not to get my news from Weekend Update, but… Joe Biden was on The View? Why??
• Sending love to Dick Splinter, North Dakota.
• The musical guest this week was Arcade Fire, still headed by Win Butler, in an amazing reminder that sexual misconduct allegations will eventually just evaporate if you let them!
Related
The newly anointed sex symbol brings just the right amount of self-deprecation to his debut hosting gig.
