How ‘SNL’ paid tribute to Val Kilmer after the former host’s death at age 65
R.I.P. Val Kilmer.
“Saturday Night Live” honored the “Batman Forever” actor who died of pneumonia at age 65 on April 1.
The comedy show flashed a photo of Kilmer on the screen before host Jack Black led the goodnights at the end of Saturday’s episode.
Kilmer previously hosted “SNL” on Dec. 9, 2000 alongside musical guest U2.
During the episode, Kilmer spoofed his movies “Top Gun” and “The Doors” in separate sketches.
In the first sketch, called “Iceman: The Later Years,” Kilmer plays an aging pilot who dreams of the days he was flying at record speeds. After an uneventful landing in Arizona, he asks his co-pilots (played by Chris Parnell and Will Ferrell), “Why don’t we go to the hotel room and shower and dry off and play some volleyball?”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Ferrell replies, as he runs out of the cockpit with Parnell.
Kilmer also starred in a sketch called “Behind the Music” where he made fun of his role as Jim Morrison in “The Doors.” In the skit, Kilmer plays the dead musician again and forms a rock band in heaven called the Great Frog Society, with Jimi Hendrix (Jerry Minor), Janis Joplin (Molly Shannon), Keith Moon (Horatio Sanz), Buddy Holly (Jimmy Fallon), and Louis Armstrong (Tracy Morgan).
Over ten years later, Kilmer returned to “SNL” for a cameo in a skit starring Andy Samberg and Katy Perry.
Kilmer battled throat cancer before he succumbed to pneumonia. His daughter, Mercedes, 33, confirmed to the New York Times that he passed away in Los Angeles.
Several stars have spoke out about Kilmer’s death including Tom Cruise, who honored his “Top Gun” co-star by leading a moment of silence at CinemaCon on Thursday.
“I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer, for a moment,” Cruise, 62, said at the event. “I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honored I was when he joined ‘Top Gun’ and came back later for ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’”
“I think it would be really nice if we could just have a moment together, because he loved movies, and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him,” Cruise added.
Will Forte, who starred with Kilmer in the 2010 comedy “MacGruber,” wrote an essay for Vulture where he looked back on their friendship when they were roomates and revealed the “biggest regret” of his professional life.
“I used to watch ‘The Amazing Race, and he came back home at some point when I was watching it and was like, ‘What are you watching that garbage for? Come on, that stuff’s going to rot your mind.’ I said, ‘It’s pretty good. You should sit down and watch it. Give it a try before you s— on it.’ So he sat down and he started watching it, and he got really into it,’” Forte recalled.
“At a certain point, he said, ‘Will, you and I have to go do ‘The Amazing Race.’ We have to. Let’s do ‘The Amazing Race.” I’m like, ‘I am so fully in,’” the comedian remembered. “We got really excited about it, and then we called our respective agents and managers, and they were like, ‘There’s no way you guys are doing that.’”
“That is, maybe to this day, the biggest regret of my whole career — that I never did ‘The Amazing Race’ with Val,” Forte admitted. “I think we would’ve gotten out very quickly, but it just would’ve been the experience of a lifetime.”
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