THROW IT DOWN, BIG MAN. THROW IT DOWN.
SNL’s James Austin Johnson, a cast member who also impersonates President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on the sketch comedy show, joined Michael Che for a segment impersonating Bill Walton.
From the moment that he came on the screen, Johnson captured so many of the idiosyncratic specificities of what it’s like to listen to the Basketball Hall of Famer whenever he is providing color commentary for a game.
Johnson, as Walton, called SNL “perhaps the premiere comedy show in the history of Western civilization” and he then quickly rattled off a handful of new nicknames for Che.
NBA Analyst Bill Walton talks playoffs at the Update desk pic.twitter.com/89PlVuX7wj
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 26, 2023
The comedian completely nailed Walton’s voice, smile, teeth, rhythm, cadence, wardrobe, expressive hand gestures, metaphors, tendencies to relate everything to the Grateful Dead, and signature catchphrases.
He calls himself a “spiritual nomad” and provides live commentary for a game that will happen in the future, and he discusses how basketball moves him to tears. It felt just like a conversation with Walton.
Just as perfect, though, was how the 1977 NBA Finals MVP reacted when he saw the performance. Here was how Walton responded on Twitter:
“there I was, alone in my hotel room, in glorious Oregon,
trying to come down, from the veritable quandaries of yet another scintillating buzzer beating ending to a Conference of Champions BB game,
I had the TV on,
suddenly, I was watching and listening to myself,
and it all came into focus, and everything was crystal clear,
as I drifted and dreamed my way into another perfect night of being comfortably numb
on a series of white puffy cumulus clouds,
floating my way once again to The Promised Land,
in wondrous anticipation of Throw It Down”
Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly how you would expect Walton to feel about unexpectedly seeing an impression of himself on live television.
Walton hosts “Throw it Down with Bill Walton” as an alternative game telecast streamed exclusively on select Mondays on NBA League Pass via the new NBA App.
The commentator also spoke to For The Win to share the true story of why you see tie-dyed Lithuanian basketball shirts at Grateful Dead shows,
