Chappelle on ‘SNL’: Easing Us a Transition Like No One Else Can

When Dave Chappelle hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2016, four days after the presidential election, he ended his monologue with a reflection on President-elect Donald J. Trump. “I wish Donald Trump good luck,” Chappelle said at the time. “And I will give him a chance, and we, the historically excluded, demand that he give us one too.”

Chappelle returned to host “SNL” the weekends after the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm vote, but despite being invited to the same slot in 2024, he declined. In a long, lively monologue broadcast this weekend, he explained why.

Recounting a conversation with Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of “SNL,” Chappelle said, “I was like, ‘No, man, I’m cool,'” adding, “Things are good. I finished my Netflix contract. I have all this money and stuff. But Michaels persisted, so to hang up, Chappelle said, he offered a compromise: “I said, ‘Just save the date closest to January 6.’ »

Dressed in a suit and tie and occasionally taking a drag on a cigarette, Chappelle commented on a wide range of current events, including the Los Angeles wildfires. “It’s far too early to joke about such a catastrophe,” he said, a mischievous smile on his face.

He explained how the fires affected his friends and colleagues like actors Cary Elwes and Dennis Quaid and rapper Madlib. He said reading insensitive comments online from people wishing celebrities’ homes would burn had upset him. “Do you see this?” Chappelle said. “Is it right there?” That’s why I hate poor people. Because they can’t see beyond their own pain.

He called the wildfires “the costliest natural disaster ever in U.S. history,” probably because “people in Los Angeles have nice things.”