We’ve hit that point in the summer when news starts trickling out about which Saturday Night Live cast members will or won’t be back for the upcoming season. But if Devon Walker knows whether he’s returning, he’s not spilling just yet.
“We’ll see,” he told LateNighter in an interview late last week. (More on how he addressed the $64,000 question later.)
Right now, Walker is juggling three other projects: his “Smiling Thru It All!” stand-up tour, which has kept him on the road much of the summer; My Favorite Lyrics, the music-centric podcast he launched earlier this year; and the reason we’re talking—his new stand-up special, LOL Live with Devon Walker, debuting this Friday on Hulu.
Walker’s special is one of ten LOL Live titles from Kevin Hart’s production company Hartbeat. The series began rolling out on Hulu last month and continues through October 3.
He recorded the set last summer at Resorts World’s Zouk Nightclub in Las Vegas, with Marcus Russell Price directing. In the half-hour, Walker covers family, exes, life at SNL, and the phenomenon of people expecting him to be funny on command. (In one such story, he closes the show with a mic-drop-worthy comeback that’s not to be missed.)
With a decade of stand-up under his belt, Walker didn’t sweat putting together the 30-minute set, workshopping the show’s material over just a few months leading up to the taping.
“There’s one joke in there specifically that was brand new, which is something that I like to do sometimes when I do tapings,” he says. (Rather than reveal what that joke is, Walker prefers to “leave it a mystery.”)
“For people watching, maybe you’ll be able to tell what the new one is,” he jokes.
Asked how much he chooses to share or withhold onstage, Walker points to another bit in the special.
“There’s a joke in this special that is a risky one to do,” he says, admitting it might “ruffle a couple feathers in the industry.”
The joke takes aim at a certain comedy star and SNL alum, as part of an entertaining run about not caring for famous people. He never says the name, but the context leaves little doubt.
“Sometimes you get to have lunch with your hero… really kind of feel their whole vibe,” he says in the special. “At the end of that, you just get to be like, ‘Man, I see why Will Smith hit you.’”
“People have asked me if I was hesitant [to include it],” Walker says. “I feel like we’re in a time where people feel really comfortable saying negative things about groups that already have it hard. There’s so many people punching down to marginalized groups and people who are having a f*cked-up existence right now… Why can’t we get back to our roots, which is making fun of rich and famous people? The people who are doing fine ultimately.”
“That joke in particular is one that will probably have a couple of people looking at me a little weird at certain parties,” he acknowledges. “But to me, stand-up is the best when you’re being as close to the truth as possible. Stand-up is always going to have some embellishments, some half-truths to accentuate the story.”
“To me, the closer you can get to who you really are and how you really feel, the better the work will be,” he adds. “So I try to stay as honest as possible.”
The bit lands early in Walker’s set, and the fact that he burns such an attention-grabbing line up top might be a sign of his confidence in the rest of the material—which doesn’t disappoint.
“I’m gonna wait for the next white celebrity to get embroiled in a racial controversy,” Walker riffs in another memorable line. “They’re going to need to make it seem like they’ve got a black friend, and for the right price, that could be me.”
Among the standout memories from his time at SNL, Walker recalls nearly peeing alongside Mick Jagger—a dream dashed when the Rolling Stones legend shut the door on him. (He confirms he has yet to share a bathroom with Jagger.)
Though the SNL50 special put him in a room with just about every famous person imaginable, one celebrity on his personal Mount Rushmore remains unmet.
“People don’t know this, but Whoopi Goldberg has been my phone background for eight years,” says Walker. “I have a photo of her winning her Oscar.”
“I think she’s incredible,” he explains. “I think she, if you really think about it, is one of the very few straight-up leading Black female comedians that we’ve ever had in America… I don’t think that people talk about her enough.”
Walker spotted her from afar at the 50th but didn’t get to meet her. “Whoopi, if you’re out there, let me come talk about stuff on The View,” he says.
Aside from that goal, Walker plans to develop a new hour by next year—he already has about 25 minutes of material. “I’m always working on new stuff constantly, because that’s what really feeds me as a comedian,” he says.
He’s also working with friends and former SNL writers Alex English and Gary Richardson on developing a screen project from Dad, the trio’s long-running monthly stand-up show. “That’s really one of my next big goals. We’re in conversation with some folks around that,” Walker tells LateNighter. “I’m putting that into the universe: Me, Gary and Alex—in a TV show or movie. It’s coming.”
Circling back to whether he’ll be part of SNL’s 51st season—returning cast contracts typically go out in late July—Walker says only, “Talks are ongoing. Talks are ongoing… TBD.”
LOL Live with Devon Walker premieres Friday, August 15, on Hulu.
He should work on trying to get some laughs on SNL.
He’s been on the show 3 seasons and has slightly more screen time than I do.