Remember when I said that Walton Goggins seems to be very comfortable in his celebrity skin? Look at the way he showed up at the Met Gala, fully embracing the fashion moment, and bringing all his Baby Billy chaos to that carpet. The Thom Browne jacket and skirt looked great on him, but it wasn’t just the clothing, it was his performance in the clothing. He treated every moment in front of the camera like he was filming a music video.
I know you all saw but a refresher never hurts.
Walton Goggins has been acting, pretty steadily, for 25 years. But he’s never been famous, like really famous, until this year, at the age of 53. Another example of how fame is better suited to those who are more prepared for it – and preparation comes with age. I go back to what George Clooney said all those years ago, an idea that’s a cornerstone of gossip study, which is that fame arrests you at the age it arrives. For George, he had experienced failure before he became known; he had time to f-ck up and get back up in obscurity, so that by the time he became famous, super famous, he was already a fully formed person and of course this was before social media.
Walton Goggins’s fame came later than George’s but the same theory applies. That doesn’t mean fame doesn’t come with a down and dark side but he’s better equipped to handle it, having been adjacent to it for so long, he doesn’t have to be debilitated by it. And he can still have a great f-cking time with it. He can do the most with it. Which… I mean…Walton Goggins is doing the most.
He’s doing Saturday Night Live this weekend and the first promo dropped yesterday. It’s one of the best and most extensive promos SNL has released in a long time, like it could be an actual sketch, not just because of the length but also because there’s a real idea that they’re playing with here: fan theories, fan obsession to borderline silliness with trying to predict what will happen – ie who will die – on a hit show.
And there’s an added layer of meta to the promo/sketch too. Because while they’re mocking The White Lotus discourse, you could also apply it to the season finale of SNL next week and all the speculation about who’s leaving. Is this an Easter egg about Colin Jost and Michael Che and the rumours that they’ll be signing off for good? The fact that Michael Longfellow shows up at the end, will we look back on this moment in six months if he takes over the Update desk as some have suggested? If this is what they’re bringing to Saturday’s episode in the promo, what are we about to get in the actual sketches? Do we need to be cautiously optimistic or can we just throw caution to the wind and trust that Baby Billy will bring it home? (With a cameo from Aimee Lou Wood…? You KNOW Lorne will be pushing for it!)
