Josh O’Connor kicked off his Saturday Night Live debut last night with a tight three-minute monologue that began with an allusion to an animated character.
“And for those of you who know my face but maybe can’t quite place me, no, I am not the mouse from Flushed Away.”
But the cartoon comparisons didn’t stop there, as the 35-year-old British actor went on to spend most of his monologue discussing how he unknowingly got pulled into discussions of a live-action Ratatouille remake.
“One time I said that one of my favorite movies was Ratatouille,” O’Connor began as he cautioned about the importance of minding what you tell the press. Fans then started pitching him to play Chef Linguini in a live-action Ratatouille remake, while the actor himself was blissfully unaware, until he wasn’t.
“I’m not very online, so I didn’t know that this was a thing until the president of Disney Pixar publicly declared that there will never be a live-action Ratatouille remake, no matter how much Josh O’Connor wants it.” As the audience laughed, the first-time host good-naturedly asked, “Do you know how it feels to be publicly rejected from a job I didn’t even want?”
Although O’Connor then claimed he doesn’t even want a live-action Ratatouille because he doesn’t have the time for it, he couldn’t help but make a few pitches and grow impassioned about this hypothetical movie.
“For what it’s worth, I would kill as Linguini,” O’Connor said. With a picture of the fictional chef onscreen, the actor added, “His ears are huge, and Ratatouille is basically a queer love story, but I agree, I agree, let’s not do it.”
O’Connor got things back on track, only to again interrupt his own monologue with more thoughts on the potential live-action remake. “And guys, you can’t make Ratatouille unless you have the perfect cast. There’s just no point. I mean, who would play the food critic Anton Ego? Perhaps Jeff Goldblum?” The audience erupted in laughter at a side-by-side photo comparison of the fictional character and actor Jeff Goldblum, before O’Connor closed out his set with a hint that he’s not quite ready to let this idea die. “No, no, no, no. I mean, yes. But later.”
O’Connor visited SNL to promote his star turn in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third installment of Rian Johnson‘s successful Knives Out film franchise. O’Connor was joined last night by Lily Allen as the musical guest.
Next week, on December 20, we’ll see the last Saturday Night Live of 2025 in an episode hosted by Ariana Grande, and with musical guest Cher.
Watch Josh O’Connor’s full opening monologue above.