The country crooner was set to make his 'SNL' debut earlier in the year but was nixed after violating COVID-19 protocols.
Better late than never! It might have taken a few months longer than he'd hoped, but Morgan Wallen made his Saturday Night Live debut over the weekend -- and before he played his set, he appeared in a sketch making fun of himself.
Wallen was originally scheduled to appear as the musical guest for the second episode of season 46 back in October, but was pulled after he was spotted on camera partying without a mask at a sizable party in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, days before he was supposed to be on the show.
In the sketch -- set at said party in Alabama -- Wallen plays himself and is about to start making out with a random woman at the party (played by Chloe Fineman). Suddenly, a future version of himself (played by host Jason Bateman) appears in a cloud of "time travel smoke" to warn him to avoid partying or he'll lose his chance to be on the show.
"Once people hear about this party, you're in big trouble, man. You're going to get kicked off Saturday Night Live," Future Wallen warns.
"Lorne would never do that," Wallen replies, referring to SNL producer Lorne Michaels.
"But the execs at NBC, they're going to force his hand," Future Wallen explains.
However, the allure of attractive women and alcohol soon affect Future Wallen as well, and they are suddenly joined by a Wallen from even farther in the future (played by Bowen Yang).
Eventually, it's explained that Wallen shouldn't worry too much about getting bumped from his episode.
"They're going to have you on two months later, I promise," Bateman's Future-Wallen explains. "There aren't many people willing to fly to New York right now."
Wallen closes the sketch out by singing a few bars from a new song inspired by his experience called "Focus on the Future."
Shortly after the sketch, Wallen took the stage to make his musical debut with a light and fun-loving performance of "7 Summers."
He took the stage once again later in the episode for a low-key and effortless performance of "Still Goin' Down"
Wallen -- who was replaced by Jack White in the episode he was removed from -- made a heartfelt apology to his fans, and to the show, days before the episode aired.
During an appearance on Bobby Bones' podcast, Wallen said getting pulled form SNL was "almost a good thing" for him.
"I took a while, like almost two weeks, and just turned my phone off and didn't even look at it. Drove on the tractor, things like that, and just cleared my head. It was really, really good to me," he said. "... I know that I got young kids that look up to me. I need to be mindful of things -- I'm not gonna let people control the way I live my life, [but] I do also want to be mindful."
In an interview with ET, Wallen said he's "just gotta be aware that most of my actions... will be brought to light... I don't think I really, truly understood the reach that I have. It's all hit me over quarantine."
Saturday Night Live airs live, coast-to-coast at 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.
RELATED CONTENT:
