“Saturday Night Live” returned with legendary comedian Dave Chappelle and musical guest Black Star. It was Chapelle’s third time hosting and second time headlining following contentious elections.
NBC
Here are some notable moments from the sixth episode of Season 48 of “Saturday Night Live.”
Cold Open
As Rupert Murdoch-owned outlets have blamed the failure of the predicted “Red Wave” and Republicans’ midterm losses on Donald Trump, SNL spoofed “Fox & Friends” as the hosts tried to tell Trump that the former president was longer their favorite guest.
“Mr. President, I don’t know how to tell you this. But we have moved on. We can’t have you on the show anymore,” “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt (Heidi Gardner) told Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson).
“What? What did I do?” Trump asked them. “Was it the insurrection?”
Brian Kilmeade (Bowen Yang) gets a call from the ex-president, before Kari Lake (Cecily Strong), the Arizona gubernatorial candidate and Trump protege, suddenly made an appearance on the “Fox & Friends.”
Trump then attempts to prolong the interview, “Hey don’t push me off!” Trump said. “I have a big announcement and it is not what you think. I am running for president again.”
Monologue
Chappelle delivered an almost 15-minute monologue addressing everything from anti-semitism, Kanye West, the war in Ukraine, and Trump.
When addressing Kanye West’s big month losing $1.5 billion in design deals with Adidas, Balenciaga, and Gap, Chappelle began by denouncing anti-semitism in a prepared statement, “That’s how you buy yourself some time [Kanye].”
The last time Chappelle appeared on SNL was following the 2016 presidential election, when he opened to smashing reviews addressing Trump’s win. Chappelle continued in that same tradition by discussing the recent midterm elections and ex-president Trump’s fall from grace in the Republican community.
He reminded the live audience why “poor whites” in his home state of Ohio love Trump: “The reason he is loved is that they have never seen anybody like him. I call him an honest liar.”
Chappelle then poked fun at Herschel Walker, “The most ominous thing [about the midterms] would be Herschel Walker, “He is observably stupid. The kind of guy who thinks before making a move on tic-tac-toe.”
Finally, Chappelle ended his monologue by addressing the war in Ukraine, “The Ukrainians are better fighters than we thought they would be.” Chappelle continued, “That would be like America losing a war to Colorado.”
“House of Dragon” Digital Short
Chappelle returned to the monologue stage to introduce a new version of House of Dragons secured by SNL producer Lorne Michaels.
Chappelle reprised three of his most beloved characters, such as Rick James, Tyrone Biggums, and the pimp from “Playa Haters’ Ball” from Comedy Central’s “Chappelle Show.”
Donnell Rawlings and Ice-T also appeared beside Chappelle to reprise their characters from “Play Haters’ Ball,” which, if anyone was ever a fan of “Chappelle Show,” will get a nostalgic kick out of the throwback sketch.
Weekend Update
Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost, and Michael Che return to summarize the most outrageous headlines this past week. Jost began by addressing the midterm elections, particularly the Arizona Senate election, where Democrat Mark Kelly beat Republican Blake Masters. Jost made fun of Masters’ appearance, “Masters can now return to his true passion, which I guess is strangling hitchhikers.”
Jost also addressed Herschel Walker, saying Georgia is the “greatest country in the United States.” Jost said, “Well, at least Walker has a general idea about where he is.”
Che commented, “After this year’s election, a record-setting 12 states will have female governors, while the other 38 states will have dinner ready on time.”
Jost also referred to Rupert Murdoch who has seemingly turned on Donald Trump, “First, the New York Post ran a cover calling Ron DeSantis, Ron DeFuture even though Ron De-Future sounds more like a drag queen from outer space.
Jost continued, “Then on Thursday, The Post showed Donald Trump as an egg sitting on a wall with the headline, “Trumpty Dumpty,” which has to be the easiest Photoshop in history.”
Keke Palmer will serve as host, and SZA will be the musical guest on the next episode of “Saturday Night Live,” which will air on Dec. 3 on NBC.
