Austin Butler has gone from playing Elvis to playing Jewish Elvis' over-the-top fangirl.
Butler hosted “Saturday Night Live” Dec. 17 and is going viral on TikTok for one sketch in particular in which he played Lois, a Jewish woman at a retirement home who is watching "Jewish Elvis" perform on the first night of Hanukkah in front of her and the other residents. A clip of the sketch already has 4 million views on TikTok.
In the sketch, Butler's costume is a classic old lady starting pack: a curly gray wig, a shirt-sweater matching set, black slacks and nude flats. Butler adopts a thick accent that makes all his lines a little funnier.
"Oh my gawd, he's here," Lois says while fanning herself and breathing heavily. "He's in the building. Oh my frickin' gawd. It's really happening."
Jewish Elvis gets on stage and sings his first song, a Christmas carol in which every line sang is a statement he follows up with a short line questioning what he just sang.
"Wise men once sang," he began and then interrupted himself, "Who are these wise men? Why are they so wise?"
The retirement home laughs, all except one, a Gen Z granddaughter who's there visiting her grandmother.
"I mean it's a little bit of singing. But it's mostly complaining," the youngster criticized.
Her grandmother, Lois and their friend basically say that's the point.
Jewish Elvis keeps his parody of carols up to the point that Lois is "like Niagara Falls over here."
"My chair is going to freakin' drown," Lois says while dramatically removing her underwear. "Ruin me, Jewish Elvis! Ruin me!" she belts out before throwing her underwear at him.
Jewish Elvis catches them and says, "Oh gross, no thank you. I think your everything bagel's got a little too much cream cheese on it," and tosses them back.
The sketch closes with Lois inviting herself onstage and singing a song with Jewish Elvis. Then her friends join for an ensemble number.
Butler, in particular, is being heralded on TikTok as the ultimate fan girl.
"Now THATS method acting," one person commented under a clip posted to TikTok. Another said, "the accent is spot on." A third person is still finding it hard to believe that was Butler behind all the costuming and fake accents: "For some reason I can't comprehend that's Austin Butler."
A fourth person said the lines and themes of the sketch were very relatable.
"This was literally me while watching the 'Elvis' movie. I turned into my Grams (who eerily enough I think inspired this character. Same hair."
