Even though Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie was nearly three hours long, there’s no way it could contain every iconic song from The King’s catalog. Fortunately, Austin Butler’s Saturday Night Live debut featured a performance that didn’t make the movie lineup — and it’s a festive one.
Throughout Butler’s Dec. 17 hosting gig, he made several nods to his turn as Elvis — from addressing his voice change in the monologue, to appearing as a horny audience member in an Elvis tribute sketch. However, it wasn’t until the final sketch of the evening that Butler brought out his smooth, low Elvis vocals for an actual performance of the singer’s 1957 holiday track, “Blue Christmas.”
The song was featured in a goodbye sketch to longtime SNL player Cecily Strong, whose exit was announced ahead of the Dec. 17 show. In the sketch, Strong played a RadioShack employee (also named Cecily!) whose boss hired an Elvis impersonator, Butler, to send her off in musical style.
“Cecily, I know we only met this week, but I feel like I’ve known you for two weeks,” Butler said, before breaking into song.
More to come…
