Season 50 Episode 11 Dave Chappelle

It’s rare that a real towering figure in sketch comedy unrelated to Saturday Night Live to actually host Saturday Night Livebecause there isn’t a hell of a lot of high-profile sketch comedy on the airwaves these days outside of the extremely mainstream institution SNL itself. I imagine that’s why it’s hard for SNL — or at least certain people behind the scenes — to let go of the idea of ​​Dave Chappelle as a frequent host, even when Chappelle himself has at times seemed rather uncommitted to the idea of ​​actually appearing, either at all or in sketches. He’s in the extremely delicate position of having done some of the most beloved sketch comedy of all time and walked away from it early enough to create some genuine British comedy scarcity – so just imagine luring Chappelle onto your show and getting a few more sketches out of him! The only catch is that you have to let him do a very long, uneven stand-up set. Oh, and he might not do the sketches.

Obviously, I’m a little facetious. Chappelle is also known for his stand-up, and he can still sidewind his way to a surprising or blistering punchline between drags on his cigarette. (Cigarettes?! On live television? Now we get dangerous!) In this episode’s 16-minute monologue, he mentioned that he’s trying to stay out of trouble, alluding to the controversy he’s courted, sometimes seemingly out of spite, by making anti-trans jokes on his series of Netflix specials that I’m sure some poor soul in the comments will inform me that this is actually groundbreaking stuff. (This excellent, searching but absolutely clear-eyed piece on his last convinced me that it could be a frustrating experience, so most of my experience with his recent stand-up comes from these SNL mini-sets and YouTube clips.) He then went on to sample some deliberately premature material about the Los Angeles fires; went into a half-baked idea of ​​the fires proving his hatred of the poor; dipped into some conspiracy-minded thinking (arsonists were responsible for the Los Angeles disaster; treated Diddy’s legal troubles as some kind of annulment) before quickly retracting (including a very funny, funnier for his casual delivery, of how Diddy on a somehow got a RICO case going over just one guy); riffed on Diddy some more, including some of his best and dumbest jokes; riffed on Trump a bit; offered a heartfelt tribute to Jimmy Carter and a free Palestine, along with a heartfelt plea to Trump much like the one he ended with eight years ago and amended; and, you know, generally favored us with the greatest of all wisdom, that of the rich stand-up comic. Oh, and he also had his version of Kristen Wiig’s “don’t make me sing!” character, explaining that Lorne Michaels once again asked him to host the episode after the election, and backed out of committing to a January episode closer to January 6 and the impending Trump inauguration. Dave, thanks! Please begrudgingly accept the hosting gig and continue to sit out a bunch of the show! We need you now more than ever!

See, Chappelle still has something. Even the fact that he treats SNL with a kind of smug indifference can be exciting. You can be pretty sure when you go into a Chappelle episode that you’re going to get a monologue that doesn’t just take up more of that space than usual (as most stand-ups do), but an essential part of the episode overall . . That in itself has a nicely destabilizing influence on the show’s sometimes boring patterns, and on top of that, you never know how many sketches he’s going to do. The first time he hosted, back in 2016, he was there all night and brought it back Chappelle’s show bits and mocking white shock at Trump’s first win with glee. He has dipped in and out of other episodes, especially the 2020 part. (Honestly, monologue the episode where he inexplicably appeared at Goodnight and you can claim he hosted it too.)

It’s kind of hard for me not to imagine what it might actually be like to work with Chappelle in the week leading up to these episodes, especially when he directly brings it up, smoking through his monologue and sometimes, as was the case in evening, at least one sketch. But in the sense that he’s bringing some unpredictability back to the show, he’s doing what Michaels is apparently on the phone asking him to do. Hell, even the quality of his monologue will be unpredictable! No doubt he considers his potential for truly off-putting (or just not-so-well-formed) jokes part of the whole act, though recent years have made it seem like he’s taking it much more self-seriously than necessary. It doesn’t help that Michaels, by orienting his performances around various political divisions, positions him less as a sketch comedy legend than a soothsayer for our troubled times or whatever. But the idea of ​​Chappelle’s episode feels very much like a throwback to the first five seasons, which is always welcome, especially in an anniversary year.

So please don’t take it as a slur on Chappelle in general when I say that maybe these episodes would just be a little funnier if he put some effort back into the sketches? If he felt there was a way for him to communicate through comedy that isn’t entirely and exclusively his way or the highway? Considering there were three live sketches and a pre-tape included Chappelle’s show characters tonight, it might have been fun to see Chappelle really throw himself into all three of them, instead of, uh, one.

What was on

Here was one: a vaguely sloppy but undeniably entertaining sketch in which Chappelle played a man making a few last arrangements before he and his family evacuate during the Los Angeles fires. This sketch had it all: multiple secret storage rooms, heavy blood splatter, an ass-kept treasure map like in Three kingsdog murder, and Chloe Fineman speaks French. Did the setup go all the way through before the sketch started? I’m not sure. Did Chappelle seem deeply engaged in the whole thing, including the dog murder? Absolutely. “Eat the heart” was a big shock laugh.

What was off

There wasn’t really anything wrong with the “Immigrant Dad Talk Show” coming back; it’s a format built to repeat itself, but on the other hand, there’s something quite insulting about just redoing the sketch with same character as the guest. (You know, the touchy-feely dad played by, well, the one who plays anyone who affectionately calls a kid “buddy”.) It really felt like the show was telling Chappelle, no worries, we’re just starting over with you! Whatever you want!

Most Valuable Player (who may or may not be ready for prime-time)

Is it weird to say Kenan? What skit did Chappelle not deserve to appear in, even though he could have played any of the four parts? The sketch with Devon Walker describing his missing girlfriend to the police, urged in a less honest direction by Kenan’s lurking janitor, had a predictably sour punchline, but it’s nice to get one of those periodic reminders that Kenan’s perfect timing and Incomparable Assault Skills is a fascinating experiment in getting someone to do sketch comedy regularly for two whole decades, something that, like sketch comedy as beloved as Chappelle’s, simply doesn’t happen very often. This is all to say that when his janitor character fake answered the phone in the background, I laughed out loud.

Next time

Bowen Yang’s extremely online reference to Club Chalamet must have been preparation for Timothée Chalamet’s third hosting gig next weekend, and first time as (official) musical guest. Expect Bob Dylan covers rather than “Tiny Horse”, but you can bet I’ll be spending the week thinking about Dylan songs far beyond Completely unknown zone that I would love to see him try. Come on, “Pay in Blood”!

Stray Observations

• • GloRilla! Punchy, especially the first song! Just what the show needed, given its out-of-wack timing that made the update start around the time it would normally end. Good stuff.
• • Trying not to dwell too much on Chappelle offering some behind the scenes info, but off course Lorne actually asked him to host the show after the election, with many fans relieved to see him not host. Maybe the next edition of Live from New York the book will have some insight into what Chappelle’s week is like in terms of pitching sketches to him. Is he prickly, or charmingly soft-spoken, or something else entirely? Why does he ultimately agree to a show where he seems to find the idea of ​​doing 20 minutes of sketch comedy a little corny? Or is he just nostalgic for the pre-2000 episodes where sometimes the host would sit out a sketch or two without recappers fussing over it?
• • Apparently the balloon popping YouTube show is real. A dating show where you can hear super terse rejections has a lot of potential for comedic rhythm, even if the sketch didn’t quite capitalize on it.
• • Once Chappelle saw through the suggestion that Diddy might have been targeted in some way, it became a perfect subject for his famous outsider, and the baby oil bit was particularly amusing.
• • It is not in my nature to criticize Sarah Sherman, not least because she is clearly a practitioner of the horror lifestyle. However: Looks like there’s probably a funnier idea involving her in full Count Orlock makeup than just ribbing Jost some more.