A&O Productions hosted comedian and actor Devon Walker as its spring speaker in Lutkin Hall Wednesday night. In a stand-up set and Q&A, Walker discussed his career journey, comedy inspiration and life in the public spotlight.

Walker is best known for his role as a repertory cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” which he joined in 2022. Walker recently went viral for his appearance as an interviewee on SNL’s Weekend Update, where he shared a morning routine mocking the elaborate and expensive daily regime of the “Saratoga Spring Water guy.” In addition to SNL, Walker has written for shows like “Big Mouth” and “Everything’s Trash.”

​​Walker’s appearance was preceded by a screening of the SNL-based film “Saturday Night,” a comedy-drama documenting SNL’s first episode in 1975. A&O’s Head of Speakers and Medill senior Elizabeth Casolo said A&O’s speaker committee tries to partner with the club’s film committee every year for the spring speaker event.

“We were thinking of people who would be in our budget and would really speak to the Northwestern audience, but also have some sort of film or TV tie-in,” Casolo said. “We decided to look into options (around SNL) because the movie ‘Saturday Night’ recently came out and we thought it would be a really good tie-in.”

A&O has previously hosted SNL cast members for its speaker events, including Sarah Sherman, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman.

After the “Saturday Night” screening, Walker took to the stage to perform a stand-up comedy set. He began with an explanation that he’s never seen “Saturday Night” because he himself had auditioned for the movie and was not cast. 

“I couldn’t watch it. I can’t re-enter that stress,” Walker said.

Walker went on to recount his experiences since he joined the SNL cast. He joked his father suddenly began visiting him in New York despite living there for five years before and Mick Jagger locked him out of a 30 Rock bathroom — much to Walker’s dismay, he said, as he thought it would be cool to use the restroom at the same time as the Rolling Stones icon. Walker also joked about the sexual tension in NBA fights and watching them thinking, “they should kiss.”

Walker’s jokes were met with palpable laughs. He noted toward the end of his performance that this was his “college set,” and some jokes — specifically the NBA kissing one — didn’t sit well with more conservative audiences.

Walker’s 30-minute set was followed by a Q&A moderated by Communication junior Leela Malladi.

Malladi’s questions focused on Walker’s experience auditioning for and being on SNL. Walker said he auditioned for the show with two stand-up comedy sets, unlike most cast members, who do impressions. He debunked the myth that the judges at SNL’s second private audition aren’t allowed to laugh — because he got laughs, himself. 

“Doing stand-up is really cool because it’s whatever you want,” Walker said. “And then when you’re working with the show, you have to kind of find that balance between what you like and what the show likes.”

Walker said since being on SNL, his favorite sketch characters he’s played are Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and lactose intolerant British rapper Shirty, from Milly Pounds and Shirty.

As for his goals for the future, Walker said he hopes to get to a place where he can help his friends make connections in the industry, creating opportunities so that his friends can hopefully get to where he is now.

Weinberg sophomore Shreya Rallabandi, who sat front and center in the audience, said she has been a fan of SNL for a while and Walker is one of her favorite rising stars.

“I honestly really liked the Q&A, because that was all new,” Rallabandi. “It was really nice to hear how he’s just naturally funny.”

Casolo said she hoped attendees left the speaker event with not only laughs, but a bit of life advice.

Walker’s two cents?

“Always try to find the thing that feels really specific to you. Always try to find the thing that feels like it couldn’t have come from anyone else,” Walker said. “Also try to watch for what you don’t like in the industry and really try to make sure you’re not doing that.”

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