The Moms are here! The Moms are here! There’s no more sentimental show of Saturday Night Live‘s season than the Mother’s Day episode. The cold open kicked off with Bowen Yang, Kenan Thompson, and Marcello Hernandez standing proudly alongside their actual Moms. It was all good fun, until Donald Trump had to ruin everything. James Austin Johnson made a couple easy cracks about our newly elected Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance and tariffs, but really he was just a vehicle to get to the heart of the open. Trump’s recent selection of Fox news host Jeanine Pirro for Washington, DC’s top prosecutor teed up the return of Cecily Strong, who clutched her bottle of merlot like it was a Mother’s Day bouquet. Her appearance was extra sweet as Strong welcomed her first baby last month. For old time’s sake, she spluttered booze all over the face of Colin Jost‘s Pete Hegseth. On her third spit take she shot it straight into his mouth.
On to the main course. Walton Goggins took the stage in a black outfit that somehow draped and clung to his now famously sinewy body at the same time. On the subject of suddenly finding himself a sex symbol at 53 years old, he took a closer look at some of the headlines: “His hair is greasy. His eyes are bulging. I think I’m in love.” Sounds about right. Artfully, Goggins swung his monologue towards the sentimental. He shouted out his Atlanta upbringing, where he was raised by a single mother with the help of three aunts and his grandma. He invited his white-haired mother, who took him to honky tonks as a child, up on stage for an early Mother’s Day dance. If the sight of them two-stepping and clogging didn’t touch your heart, then you may be as dead inside as The White Lotus‘ Rick Hatchett.
The best and weirdest sketch of the night featured Jane Wickline stumbling upon a baby’s Converse sneaker outside the zoo. “Somewhere there is a tiny baby Cinderella,” she sang, as she searched for the baby of her dreams. “If you’ve got a Mom, well, now you’ve got two.” It was a great visual jump to see Goggins sitting in bow tie and suit, one naked baby foot sticking out of his pants leg. “I’m a fully grown ass man with tiny baby feet,” he sang. Goggins’ buddy Sam Rockwell, who walked away with The White Lotus in one unforgettable monologue, brought great theatrical oomph to his role of balloon man navigating the world on his own baby feet.
Mothers, may your obligatory brunch today bring you your own personal Albie. Goggins’ waiter went full skank for moms Sarah Sherman and Heidi Gardner. “You’re getting a big tip, mister,” they promised as he drip-flirted all over their Talbots ensembles. “No need, I already have one,” he promised. Down and down went the buttons of his shirt. If occasionally he bungled his lines, the sheer physicality of him—his alpha chuck of of ice back in Sherman’s glass after he raked it over his bare chest, the way he tossed the menus so perfectly on the table—made up for it.
Any sketch that stars animals is a win as far as I’m concerned. So happy Mother’s day to me, because Service Dogs featured 20 inordinately handsome dogs forced to sit through Goggins and Gardner’s awful play. Michael Longfellow and Wickline were winningly dry foils to their friendly retriever seat mates. “Please don’t be offended,” Longfellow told Goggins’ peckish actor when the dogs started leaving. “This is their first time at a bad play.” Dogs in glasses, dogs wearing watches, dogs unperturbed by puppet dog legs holding programs. In a perfect world, those dogs stayed up until sunrise at their own afterparty.
As cheeky and fun as Goggins was as a host, it was Mikey Day who delivered the best physical comedy of the evening. On Weekend Update, he ostensibly appeared to comment on recent tarriff developments. Instead, he delivered a note perfect, sublimely ridiculous ode to the vulnerable, hysterical response to the fear of a rogue spider clinging to one’s back. He flung himself out of his chair and onto the floor. He tore off his clothes, making peace with the one stubborn wrist cuff that just wouldn’t tear. “I felt it on my skinnnn!” he cried to Jost. Sublime.
Perhaps Goggins’ mother would’ve preferred that her son’s final sketch of the evening not entail him grimacing and sweating on the toilet, his pants pooled around his ankles while his feet bore down on his Squatty Potty. But she was beaming with pride on stage during the cast goodnights. Get that woman a mimosa.
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
-
How an Orgasmic Meditation Group Sparked a Troubled Federal Case
-
Deconstructing Trump’s Elaborate Oval Office Makeover
-
Molly Jong-Fast Reflects on Her Mother’s Dementia and the Fleeting Nature of Fame
-
Rita Hayworth’s Heartbreaking Vanishing Act
-
Meet Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the First American Pope
-
Revisit All the Fashion, Outfits, and Looks From the 2025 Met Gala Red Carpet
-
The Dystopian Coming-of-Age Story Stephen King Considered Too “Merciless” to Film
-
Wes Anderson’s Next Breakout Star Just So Happens to Be Kate Winslet’s Daughter
-
All of Quentin Tarantino’s Movies Ranked
-
Elon Musk’s 14 Children and Their Mothers (That We Know Of)
-
From the Archive: Princess Margaret’s Not So Happily-Ever-After
The post It’s Saturday Night Live’s Mother’s Day Episode with Walton Goggins and the Return of Cecily Strong appeared first on Vanity Fair.
