The 'Elvis' star tugged on some heartstrings in his first time on the Studio 8H stage.
Saturday Night Live monologues don't often leave people choked up, but leave it to Austin Butler to bring laughs and tears in his hosting debut.
The Elvis star hit the stage looking handsome and a bit nervous, but was effortlessly charming as he poked fun at his southern accent (despite growing up in Anaheim, California) and his surprisingly deep voice.
Looking back at his career, which began when he was a child, Butler admitted that despite being on screen, he was "a really shy kid."
"Like, really shy. But luckily, my mom decided to home school me and my sister, so I was also weird," Butler joked. "Since we home schooled, sometimes my mom would say, 'We're taking the day off, and we're going to Disneyland!' And we'd be so excited. But then by like the ninth time that she did that, I was like, 'I don't think mom knows how to teach.'"
"Some of my favorite memories from growing up are watching SNL with her. And we'd watch every week," he recalled. "And even though I had this crippling shyness, when I was with her, I'd just do anything to make my mom laugh.
"I do ridiculous faces and voices, I did this ridiculous Gollum impression," he continued. "Being silly with her is what broke me out of my shell and the core of what started me in acting."
Butler got emotional as he explained how his mom -- who died after a battle with cancer in 2014, when Butler was 23 -- had been motivating him throughout his week preparing for SNL.
"My mom is no longer with us. But I've been thinking about her a lot this week," he said, as his voice cracked slightly, "just imagining how proud she'd be of her son who used to not be able to order food for myself at a restaurant is now standing on this stage."
"And tonight, just know that anytime you see me doing a silly voice or making a funny face, that's for you, mom," Butler concluded with a smile.
SNL airs live, coast-to-coast, at 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.
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