‘Saturday Night Live’: Dave Chappelle jokes about L.A. wildfires, addresses Trump’s return
Donald Trump is returning to the White House, so you know what that means: Dave Chappelle is hosting Saturday Night Live. Chappelle famously made his SNL debut on the 42nd season episode which aired on Nov. 12, 2016, four days after Trump won the presidency for the first time. While that appearance, which won Chappelle the first of five Emmy awards (he also won for hosting the series in 2021) took place immediately after the election, this one aired right before the inauguration, making this a once-in-every-four-year tradition. Here are the best moments from Chappelle’s third hosting gig, from his opening monologue to the funniest sketches.
COLD OPEN
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There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and SNL opening with a sketch commenting on the week in politics (watch above). This week kicked off with a spoof of MSNBC’s famous roundtables, with hosts Rachel Maddow (Sarah Sherman), Joy Reid (Ego Nwodo), Ari Melber (Marcello Hernández), Stephanie Ruhle (Chloe Fineman), and Chris Hayes (Andrew Dismukes) discussing Trump’s upcoming inauguration. While the moderators promise not to obsess over every crazy thing Trump says this time around, they are besieged by breaking news alerts about him wanting to trade Connecticut for Italy, declaring war on sharks, and sending Don Jr. to explore the possibility of buying the Emerald City, which commentator Claire McCaskill (Heidi Gardner) believes he’s mistaken for Greenland.
They then go to a live press conference with the incoming President (James Austin Johnson) as he comments on the TikTok ban: “We used to hate TikTok, but then it helped me get elected, so now we love it.” Trump then introduces former congressman George Santos (Bowen Yang), who’s been appointed secretary of fact-checking and ambassador to Sephora. Santos doesn’t have time to talk, however, because his father, Jimmy Carter, has just died, and his boyfriend, Luigi Mangione, is waiting for him.
CHAPPELLE’S MONOLOGUE
Chapelle came on stage smoking a cigarette and immediately tried to convince the audience that he wasn’t going to stir controversy yet again. “I’m trying to turn over a new leaf,” Chappelle said. But it wasn’t long before he was cracking jokes about the Los Angeles fires (“West Hollywood was left standing, because how can you burn what’s already flaming?”), lies about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio (the Ohio resident said he ate at Haitian restaurants to assure everyone it would be safe, even though he wasn’t sure what he ate), and P. Diddy‘s arrest (“If you’re 55 and you’ve got a thousand bottles of baby oil in the closet, you can’t stop, won’t stop”).
But the most memorable part of his monologue was also the most humane. Chappelle recalled when he was in the Middle East at the same time former President Carter was in Israel to promote his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Carter walked with Palestinians even when the Israeli government couldn’t guarantee his safety, and Chappelle recalled seeing that moment and saying, “I don’t know if that’s a good president, but that right there is a good man.” He then made an address directly to Trump (whom he knew was watching), and said, “The presidency is no place for petty people … so remember, whether people voted for you or not, they’re counting on you. Good luck. Please, do better next time.” He then made a plea to the audience to “have compassion for displaced people, whether they’re in the Palisades or Palestine.”
LOS ANGELES FIRES SKETCH
The best of Chappelle’s sketches commented on the wildfires in Los Angeles, with the comedian playing a seemingly ordinary father whose secret double life comes to light during an evacuation notice. While his wife (Ego Nwodo) and son (Devon Walker) have gathered the essentials, Chappelle races around the house gathering things he’s previously kept hidden: thousands of dollars of cash behind the wall, guns in a safe, a thumb drive containing sensitive information, and a map he’s kept stashed in that stinkiest of hiding places. He also has to fight a Bosnian gangster who’s come to murder him, and even has to kill the family dog because there’s something valuable in his stomach. The blood-soaked Chappelle has a lot of explaining to do when the evacuation notice turns out to be a mistake.
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WEEKEND UPDATE
In between breaking down the week’s headlines, Weekend Update host Michael Che spoke with Michael Longfellow about the recent TikTok ban. Longfellow, one of SNL’s Gen Z cast members, defended the now unusable app’s right to exist, saying that lots of great things come from China, including Jesus. “I thought he was middle eastern,” he said, “but I saw it on TikTok” so who knows? He also brushed off concerns about TikTok collecting data (“Oh no, China knows I like thick Latinas. Who doesn’t?”) and thanked the app for diagnosing him with ADHD after taking a TikTok quiz three times. Colin Jost also commented on the box office success of A24’s gothic horror flick Nosferatu with none other than the original Nosferatu (Sarah Sherman), who told Jost that if he ever had a nosebleed she wouldn’t indulge because she’d be up all night from all the cocaine (can’t blame a vamp for being picky).
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