'SNL': Dave Chappelle to Host Post-Election Episode

On Saturday Night Live's most recent episode, they announced that Dave Chappelle would serve as [...]

By Stephanie Downs

On Saturday Night Live's most recent episode, they announced that Dave Chappelle would serve as the next host for the season's first post-election episode. They have not yet announced who will be the musical guest. This role is familiar territory for Chappelle, as he also hosted the program in 2016 shortly after President Donald Trump won the election.

The most recent SNL episode featured comedian John Mulaney as the host with The Strokes serving as the musical guest. Towards the top of the show, SNL announced that Chappelle would be the next to take on hosting duties on the series. The next episode of SNL will be the first of the season to occur after the Nov. 3 election, which will feature Americans deciding between incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Given this major occasion in the nation's history, the election and its aftermath will undoubtedly play out on the sketch comedy series. Chappelle is the perfect choice to host the next episode of SNL, as he previously had the tall order of hosting the show shortly after Trump won the presidency back in 2016 against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Chappelle's appearance on SNL in November 2016 marked his first time hosting the series. It also came days after Trump was elected, news of which came as a shock to many Americans. At the time, Chappelle delivered a hopeful monologue that, of course, also included his trademark humor. "I didn't know that Donald Trump was going to win the election. I did suspect it," his monologue began. "Seemed like Hillary [Clinton] was doing well at the polls and yet, I know the whites. You guys aren't as full of surprises as you used to be." Following Trump's win, national protests broke out, something that the comedian said that he's "never seen before." He continued to joke, "We actually elected an internet troll as our president. The whites are furious. Never seen anything like it. Haven't seen white people this mad since the O.J. [Simpson] verdict."

Elsewhere in his monologue, Chappelle recalled when he went to the White House for an event held by BET. He then expressed that there have been many times throughout American history when Black individuals who visited the White House were looked down upon. "I thought about that and I looked at that room and saw all those black faces and I saw how happy everyone was, these people who have been historically disenfranchised," he said. "And it made me feel hopeful, and it made me feel proud to be an American, and it made me very happy about the prospects of our country." He ended his monologue by saying that he was going to give Trump a chance and that he hoped that the president would, in turn, give the "historically disenfranchised" a chance, too.

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