Kieran Culkin isn’t even 40 yet, but he’s been around forever. He made his screen debut, when he was still single digits, in Home Alone, alongside his older brother Macaulay. Not long after, he made his SNL debut, joining Macaulay when he hosted the show. That was just a couple weeks shy of exactly 30 years ago, on the episode that aired on November 23, 1991. Three decades later, Kieran finally got to host the show himself. And during his opening monologue (following an epic, Trumpy cold open), he made sure to point that out.
Kieran — who for the last few years has been receiving raves for his turn as arguably the slimiest (and probably least good at basketball) sibling on HBO’s hit Succession — took the stage at 30 Rock Saturday night, and when he did he set a few records straight. One, he’s a lot nicer than Roman Roy, the character to which he returned for the show’s ongoing third season. Two, he has fond memories of appearing on SNL with his brother “Mac.”
Eventually he started narrating over footage of that episode’s final bows, which saw cast members lifting Macaulay, then only 11, on the shoulders, all while young Kieran watched. Kieran then turns to longtime cast member Kevin Nealon, who winds up doing the same for him. (Speaking of, on Friday Kieran told Jimmy Fallon about how he wasn’t quite as nice to Nealon earlier that week.)
Kieran’s appearance on SNL prompted a lot of people to post then-and-now pics.
Kieran Culkin em 1991 x Kieran Culkin em 2021. pic.twitter.com/J9vUqZKAdY
— Succession Brasil (@successionbra) November 7, 2021
thinking about how kieran culkin was on the snl stage as a tiny 9-year-old when his older brother macaulay was hosting and now he’s back exactly 30 years later as a host pic.twitter.com/wzVaf1AArP
— ・゚✧* (@cottgewhorfairy) November 6, 2021
How it started How it’s going pic.twitter.com/4F4if9tQeM
— nina♡ (@NINAFEELZ) November 7, 2021
Others shared clips from the show 30 years ago, which saw Kieran appearing in three sketches (“two of which are non-problematic,” Kieran himself joked during his monologue).
30 years ago! Here’s Kieran and Macaulay Culkin on SNL back in 1991 pic.twitter.com/tLvcsWcyry
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 6, 2021
little kieran culkin on snl when macaulay hosted omg pic.twitter.com/F4wjz1Vefl
— krisna (@thlonelyisland) November 6, 2021
And sure enough, at the end of the show, Kieran got picked up, just like he did during the Bush I years.
Uppies (1991) pic.twitter.com/FLYdHlsUxZ
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 7, 2021
You can watch Kieran Culkin’s SNL monologue in the video above.