One reason I was never an SNL watcher even in its 1980s glory days was that much of the audience laughter seemed less programmed than automatic — signalling their enjoyment of material without actually listening to its performers. But Mr. Chappelle’s monologue is quite as thoughtful as the internet reviewers agreed, in my opinion.
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Adam L Silverman
Didn’t mean to bigfoot you. When I started drafting, you hadn’t started yet.
Bailey
SNL isn’t consistently great because consistently great–particularly in sketch comedy–isn’t possible. But there’s been authentically good comedy on the show whether in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, to current day. Each generation has cycled through some prodigious talent. Seems fairly smug to suggest that viewers in earlier incarnations of the show weren’t capable of actually listening to the performances rather than just automatically responding. (Though should also note that a true stand-up monologue like Chappelle delivered is a rarity on SNL since most hosts are not stand-up comedians. But that still doesn’t mean audiences are engaging less authentically.)
GrandJury
It was a very good monologue except for that one part. Where he half joked about how he is gonna get a tax cut now because he’s rich and then right after saying that he’s willing to give the Shitstain a chance. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
Shitstain is still a shitstain for all those horrible things he has said and done and will continue to do. He’s still tweeting out shit. I refuse to allow people to trying normalize that behaviour. I will not listening to anyone saying “I’m willing to give him a chance”. Not me.
Duane
Dave Chappelle was an excellent choice for host. Well done,SNL.
Applejinx
@GrandJury: How about ‘anything he does to fuck over and piss off the Republicans, I’m happy to applaud and support’?
Lest we forget he has an enemies list that are mostly Republicans who tried to oppose him, and he was once a Democrat and likely has no coherent policy at all. Literally both political parties want him to turn around and screw the daylights out of the Rust Belt and WWC at this point, because that’s what a free-market Republican would do, for ideological reasons.
I would like to see him methodically kneecap the Republican globalists. I have had it with their shit. Democrats are busily kneecapping themselves and don’t need his help. If they weren’t, he’d have lost in a landslide, as was expected.
Spike
NBC blocks all SNL on the internet outside of the United States. I understand its been good this year, but I’ve been able to see almost nothing.
debbie
I watched the show all the way through for the first time in years. It was as strong as anything back in the days of Belushi and cohorts.
debbie
@GrandJury:
Satire.
Starfish
@Spike: Try sticking the URL in this and setting your location in the US.
FlipYrWhig
@Applejinx: Let it be known that Applejinx currently supports Donald Trump because of “globalists” in his fool head.
manyakitty
I thought the monologue had echoes of Richard Pryor in parts, and while I’m nowhere near ready to “give the guy a chance” yet, if ever, I understood why he said it.
maurinsky
My husband and I went to the movies on Saturday night, and we got there a little early, so we sat in the cafe area. The table next to us was a black man and two black women, and the guy was going on about Trump, and how he didn’t vote for him, but we had to give him a chance. I couldn’t stop myself from joining in on the conversation, and I thought it was a good one. He didn’t really know that much about Trump, I realized, which is probably true for a lot of people who are not news/political junkies. He was surprised by some of the information I shared – such as Trump not paying contractors for work they did. And then we got the sexual assault stuff and the three of us women got a little relentless. The man said it was just the way men talk, and I said “do you understand how frightening that is for women? That men think it’s okay to talk casually about assaulting them?” He agreed with me (maybe just to shut me up) on that subject and we parted on good terms, saying that whatever happens, we hope for the best. But one of the women came up to me before they went in and thanked me for speaking up, she said she and I were of the same mind about Trump.
We don’t have TV channels (streaming only) so no SNL for us, but I watched Kate McKinnon’s homage to Cohen and Clinton and wept on Sunday morning, and then watched Chappelle’s monologue and laughed a little through my tears.
RoonieRoo
Thank you for posting that. Right now, I’m still only going to BJ when I can handle getting on the tubes. Chappelle’s monologue was exactly what I needed this morning.
moops
I think he is sounding a bit tired and defeated. To go from a Whitehouse guest, to President Trump…. He knows he has lost a lot.