Last night may have been Kieran Culkin’s first time hosting "Saturday Night Live," but it certainly wasn’t his first time onstage at Studio 8H.
During his monologue, the 39-year-old reminisced on the last time he was on that stage three decades prior. He recalled the moment in his monologue, explaining that he made his "SNL" debut the night his older brother, Macaulay Culkin, hosted the show in November 1991.
"This isn’t the first time being here," Culkin explained. "I have been on this very stage. I was on an episode of ‘SNL' back when my brother Mac hosted 30 years ago, almost to the day."
Culkin set the scene for that night, explaining, "I was 9 years old, I got to be in three sketches, two of which are non-problematic. And at the end of the show, I got to be on the stage for the goodnights."
The screen cut to a clip from the end credits of his brother's episode of "SNL," showing a clip of the "My Girl" star being held up in the air by members of the cast. Meanwhile, the "Succession" star was standing in the corner looking up at the adults around him.
"So there’s my brother and the cast is lifting him up on their shoulders and there, boom, there I am," he said, as the photo highlighted him standing by himself. "Clearly jealous. My brother is up there, he’s got his arms up all victorious and I’m down there on the ground like, ‘Me, I want uppies.’ Check out what I do next."
The clip resumed, showing the younger Culkin looking up to former cast member Kevin Nealon to ask him to lift him up. Nealon complies, hoisting the young actor into the air while he appears to do some muscle man poses.
Culkin couldn’t recall what he was doing, but chalked it up to "hamming it up for the cameras."
"Anyway, I want to show that clip for two reasons," he said. "One, in the hopes that someone from the cast will pick me up again at the end of the show, and two because I have waited 30 years to be back on this stage and say we’ve got a great show for you tonight!"
Culkin had his wish granted at the end of the show.
Thirty years after he was lifted into the air by Nealon during the goodnights, Culkin was hoisted onto the shoulders of cast members Chris Redd and Kenan Thompson to end the show with a nostalgic moment.
Culkin wasn’t the only one that night who remembered his antics during the credits. Nealon, 67, shared the clip from the monologue on his Instagram, confirming that he also remembered the moment.
"From SNL last night with host Kieran McCaulkin #successionhbo I remember lifting him 30 years ago during the good nights," Nealon wrote, adding, "My back is still out!"
That wasn’t the only moment that happened between Nealon and Culkin during the week of that 1991 episode. During an interview with Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show" last week, he remembered a conversation that he and his mother had with the "Weeds" star during rehearsals that week.
"I remember, during rehearsal day, being on the stage, and I was with my mom. Kevin Nealon walks by and she grabs him and she goes, 'Oh, hey, you're great. By the way, you're my son's favorite,'" he told the host.
Rather than let it be, the young Culkin chimed in, adding, "And I went, ‘Mom, I told you he's my second favorite. Dana Carvey is my favorite!’"