Thank god. It’s Sunday morning, and we have a new president-elect that isn’t Donald Trump. There are thousands reasons to be happy about this, but the biggest one is that we don’t have to deal with Alec Baldwin’s terrible Trump impression every week during Saturday Night Live. As a matter of fact, Baldwin held up a sign at the end of the show this week that read, “You’re welcome.” Despite the stupidity and smugness of Baldwin in that moment, we may finally see a SNL in the future that isn’t this poorly written and Trump-centric. During last night’s cold open, we saw Baldwin as Trump sit down at a piano and play The Village People’s “Macho Man,” and Jim Carrey and Maya Rudolph dancing in celebration to “Lose Yo Job” as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. On second thought, we might have to wait a while before SNL expunges their most embarrassing aspects.
Thankfully, things picked up easily with Dave Chappelle’s monologue. It was a perfect example of the man’s strengths and weaknesses as a performer. He’s an incredible storyteller, and that much was clear when he started the evening by talking about his great-grandfather who was born a slave in South Carolina, before expanding the score of his monologue outward. He combined that thread with ideas and themes about his legacy, the current state of the world (“[If white people can] wear a mask at a klan rally, they can wear it at Walmart too!”), our new president-elect, and living in the middle of Ohio as white votes grow angrier and more involved in the false-populism that the Republican Party is offering up now. Laced with a few groan-worth lines and cheap shots that emphasized both Chappelle’s best and worst tendencies, it felt like an honest depiction of that man. His empathy for Trump supporters is admirable, but his habit of punching down women, transgender people, and overweight people is frustrating. The dude even dropped a “triggering” joke. By the time Chappelle brought up Herman Cain’s death, one could audibly hear someone in the audience moan the words “oh no.”
Chappelle was strong in his sketch appearances, particularly the first sketch of the episode where Aunt Jemima (Maya Rudolph) and Uncle Ben (Kenan Thompson) attempt to retain their jobs after their characters are deemed offensive. Chappelle pops up as the Allstate guy, but immediately breaks character. It was a great moment, followed by Pete Davidson appearing as Count Chocula, and Chappelle quickly turning to the camera and going, “Seriously, America, look at Pete Davidson’s lips.” Later in the evening, Chappelle played a news anchor who was breaking the story of Trump running away from cops in the same fashion that O.J. Simpson did. “You hate to see it, but more than that, you love to see it,” retorted Chappelle’s character before the end of the sketch. The funniest part of the evening had to be the Hailstorm sketch, where a small down was struck by bad weather. The joke of the sketch is that two characters (Keenan Thompson and Kate McKinnon) kissed in a passionate moment after getting inside and away from the hail. While news anchors try to ask the friends about what the storm was like, they keep focusing on how “[they] kissed…on the lips,” as Thompson abashedly told the anchors. The funniest part was how the breaking news caption read “Friends but Kissed During Storm.”
This episode’s Weekend Update was slow and steady, which solid punchlines about Trump and the election. Michael Che’s line about having to kidnap Colin Jost in the event of a race war was funny, but the greatest part was when Che turned to Jost and asked, “Hey Colin, did you know my tie is a clip on?” after one of his punchlines failed. Considering the amount of news that has involved Rudy Giuliani as of late, from Borat to the Four Seasons Garden Center, it only made sense for Kate McKinnon to return to her terrifying, scrunched-up impersonation of Giuliani. “We have no idea if they’re really ballots. They might be tortillas. We’re going to see them and see if they’re tortillas,” said McKinnon when discussing Trump’s plan to discredit thousands of votes across the country. It’s always fun when Che and Jost crack up, but McKinnon’s Giuliani did a great job of getting them to crack. Foo Fighters were this week’s musical guest, being dependably boring, and of course, playing their classic song “Times Like These.” The other song, “Shame Shame,” the lead single for their new album Medicine at Midnight, was worse live than it is on the recorded version.
All things considered, this was one of the strongest episodes of SNL yet this year. Chappelle, while occasionally obnoxious and out of line, was consistently great in the sketches he was in. His opening monologue was a masterclass in intervening themes and stray thoughts, which all built up to a solid punchline and message. The Foo Fighters were the Foo Fighters, consistent and average.
Next week features a repeat of the season 46 premiere with Chris Rock and Megan Thee Stallion so see you soon.
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