Weirdest SNL Monologue Moments That Caught Us Totally Off Guard

"Saturday Night Live" has been serving up not-ready-for-primetime realness almost every Saturday since its debut in October 1975. The sketch comedy show is living history, and sometimes it's even funny! We kid, but only one thing is guaranteed when it comes to live late-night comedy television, and it isn't laughs — just that things are bound to get weird. Especially when it comes to the show's opening monologue.

Though "SNL" monologues are (usually) scripted, and (usually) performed by a celebrity who knows their way around a camera, they're also (usually) live performances. Hosting can be terrifying, and anything can go wrong. Plus, any number of unplanned moments can take a scripted speech or sketch into uncharted territory, be it emotional, awkward, or something that will forever haunt network television censors' dreams.

"SNL" monologues can be weirdly sweet, like when Oscar Isaac monologues about his childhood action movie and shows a clip where he played a ninja assassin and his own nemesis, complete with a shot of his 10-year-old self licking "blood" off of his sword. On the opposite end of the scale, monologues can also get weirdly ugly, like when Martin Lawrence got X-rated about personal hygiene, Louis C.K. got creepy about childhood, and Dave Chapelle got into it about Kanye. However, the Looper comedy club likes our "weird" more wacky than wack. With that being said, read on for the 16 weirdest and most surprising "SNL" monologue moments. 

It isn't every Saturday that an impression of Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" makes you get a little something in your eye — but when Austin Butler is hosting "Saturday Night Live?" It's a whole different story.

Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" star kicks his monologue off by acknowledging his "Elvis-y" voice, then does a run of jokes and accents about roles he tried out in between scenes of his Disney Channel shows. It gets emotional when Butler recounts how he and his mom would watch "SNL" every week back when he was a painfully shy kid and acting wasn't even a glimmer in his eye (or curl of his lip.)

Butler describes how making faces, doing voices, and being silly with his mom to make her laugh are at the heart of both his overcoming his shyness and his discovering acting. Of course, his mom loves his spot-on Gollum impression. Butler's monologue takes on new meaning as a tribute to his late mother, and a sweet reminder of the everlasting power of being silly.

Whether you know Christopher Walken from his memorable roles dancing with death in "The Deer Hunter" or with a hotel luggage cart in the "Weapon of Choice" music video, we hope you know by now that Walken's a song and dance man. In fact, director Spike Jonze ("Her") told Nine Club Clips that Walken's dancing skills inspired him to call Walken up to ask him to dance in his Fatboy Slim video.

A 7-time host of "Saturday Night Live," Walken brings his ol' soft shoe to every monologue of his except one: His most "recent" hosting gig in Season 33, Episode 9, is the nonmusical anomaly. Instead, Walken has the audience ask him some questions. Normal, right? Not so much, because Walken has written the questions himself.

This does nothing to hold Walken back from chastising an audience member for her "stinky" question about his favorite color — burnt umber. When an audience member played by "30 Rock's" John Lutz asks which superpower is best, invisibility or flight, Walken ponders the question with dead seriousness. Finally, he chooses flight, and insists he would "get a ton of laughs if I was a gigantic invisible bird." We tend to agree.

"Saturday Night Live" is usually about as subtle and gentle as some fingers stuck in a pair of shears. But when "The Banshees of Inisherin" star (and Irish acting legend) Brendan Gleeson hosts "SNL," all usual bets are off.

Gleeson, whom you may also recognize from his roles in "Mr. Mercedes" and the "Harry Potter" franchise, opens his monologue in a hushed tone. He tunes a mandolin, then launches into a traditional Irish tune and some low-key jokes with a vibe that feels more like a storytelling night in some back-room pub than the typical "SNL" opener.

Brendan Gleeson just may go on tuning and strumming forever, but Colin Farrell crashes the party wearing a mustache straight from, he admits, "the mustache shop." Seriously, this thing is bigger than his character's ego in "Horrible Bosses." While the Irish Times was not a fan of the monologue, we have to borrow Gleeson's own words to describe it as "weird and wonderful."

Some performers know how to work a room, but Keke Palmer knows how to work the studio audience and everyone watching at home when she hosts "Saturday Night Live." It's rare that a host takes the Studio 8H stage with such sunshine and style, but Palmer does all that and flashes the audience. Just not in the way you might think.

The charming star of "Nope," "Hustlers," and "Akeelah and the Bee" (Yes, that was her!) hosts Season 48, Episode 7. Palmer playfully sizes the "SNL" audience up during her monologue, informing them there are rumors going around about her. Palmer seemingly wants to dispel them.

She says people are saying she's pregnant, then confirms that she is by flashing the audience her happy baby bump. The crowd goes wild, and Palmer delights in the big reveal. Of course, it isn't just the bundle of joy that makes her monologue so vibrant. Palmer's jokes all hit their targets, especially when she proclaims she was nominated for an Academy Award for "Nope," then quickly backtracks, saying, "That part's not true. That's just one of the things you learn to do in this business. Manifest, honey!"

Chance the Rapper, the "3"-crowned prince of Chicago, philanthropy, and mixtapes, takes the "Saturday Night Live" stage in Season 45, Episode 4. Chance hosts like a pro, whether he's introducing himself as a musical guest on "SNL" or presiding over the reboot of "Punk'd" or Season 23 of "The Voice." Chance's comfort onstage makes his goofy "SNL" monologue possible and positively odd in the most delightful way.

Chicago is famously known as the "Second City" (and is even home to what is essentially an "SNL" farm team, "The Second City" comedy club), so Chance uses his monologue as an opportunity to rap about all of his favorite "second best" things, including the search engine Bing (not just for TV show characters anymore), Luigi from Mario and Luigi, and DMC from Run DMC.

The list is long, visually represented on cards flipped through by snazzy backup dancers, and ultimately enhanced by Kyle Mooney — who, we gotta say, is definitely the second-best rapper in this duo. The goofy rap is made twice as nice when you remember that it marks Chance's second time on "SNL."

Kim Kardashian is funny, and not just when she's being parodied by the hilarious Yuri Lamasbella on TikTok. Whether Kim is tweeting about her love of apple strudel, selling phone cases of her crying face, or having a whirlwind romance with "Saturday Night Live's" own Pete Davidson, she definitely has a sense of humor. She sets that humor heat to roast in Season 47, Episode 2 of "SNL."

Kim is the first to admit she isn't sure why she's been asked to host "SNL," and kicks things off with some cheeky jokes about how long ago her last "movie premiere" was. Kim's roasting is more focused on the rest of the Kardashian family than herself, and she implies that she serves as her sisters' "plastic surgery reference photo."

The studio audience can't stop cracking up at Kim's pitch-perfect delivery. According to People.com, Kim ran a draft of the monologue by comedian Amy Schumer. On an episode of their podcast "Fly on the Wall," "SNL" alums David Spade and Dana Carvey both expressed how impressed they were with Kim's "out of nowhere" hit monologue. While we'll never know how impressed the other Kardashian sisters were, we can imagine there was some very awkward post-show salad talk.

Louise Lasser was the star of the 1970s sitcom "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," a satirical soap opera about a woman almost always on the verge of a breakdown. While you may recognize her more for her guest role on Lena Dunham's "Girls," Lasser was incredibly famous at the time, and infamous for the "Saturday Night Live" monologue she did. 

According to "SNL" lore, Lasser was "banned" from "SNL" after she had a breakdown in Season 1, Episode 23's opening monologue, refused to do certain sketches, and talked about a recent arrest she had experienced. In reality, Lasser tells The Toast, she was never banned from the show, and the "breakdown' in her monologue was a scripted bit.

Watching the episode, it's clear Lasser is doing a version of her "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" character in the monologue, acting believably overwhelmed by the show and being coaxed out of her dressing room by Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and, finally, Chevy Chase dressed up as the shark from "Jaws."

Paul Simon is famous for his partnership with Art Garfunkel and his own solo career. He helped contribute the iconic soundtrack to "The Graduate," provided the soundtrack for a key moment between Tenenbaums in "The Royal Tenenbaums," and made "The Only Living Boy in New York" synonymous with Zach Braff in "Garden State." In addition to his iconic musical contributions to movies, Simon is also linked to the small screen and "Saturday Night Live."

Simon has hosted and performed many times on "SNL" over the years, and even borrowed comedian Chevy Chase for his "You Can Cal Me Al" music video. A longtime friend of Lorne Michaels, Simon notes in Robert Hilburn's "Paul Simon: The Life" that Michaels "allowed me to be comedic." Michaels would visit Simon while he recorded albums, and Simon would visit Michaels on the set of "SNL" both as a friend and part of the show. We all know how this all ends up, of course: with Paul Simon in a turkey suit.

In the Season 2, Episode 8 Thanksgiving special, Simon steps out on stage dressed as a giant turkey. Naturally, he sings a moving version of "Still Crazy After All These Years" until he can't take it any longer. In what feels strongly like Paul Simon doing a Charlie Brown monologue of despair, Simon admits he looks foolish and storms offstage to his dressing room. Michaels doesn't seem to see the problem Simon has with the giant suit, and to that we say don't deny the obvious, child.