Dave Chappelle returned to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, just hours after Joe Biden was declared winner of the 2020 presidential election.
The comedian opened his monologue by noting that it was a “pretty incredible day” — after President Trump was voted out of the White House.
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Chappelle paid homage to his great-grandfather, who was born a slave in South Carolina, yet learned to read after he was freed, and dedicated his life to education.
“It was a pretty amazing story my great-grandfather had, and I thought about him all day because I wish I could see him now,” Chappelle said. “And I wish he could see me, because I wonder what he would say.”
The comedian smoked throughout the monologue, and said people around the globe were happy America had fired Trump. He mentioned a friend who texted him earlier in the day from London. She told him the world feels like a “safer place now that America has a new president.”
Chappelle wasn’t convinced. “Do you guys remember what life was like before COVID?” he asked, noting that the deadly pandemic continues to rage. On the bright side, he said there was a mass shooting every week before the outbreak began.
“Anyone remember that? Thank God for COVID,” he joked. “Something had to lock these murderous whites up and keep them in the house.”
[Watch the video below]
That opened the door for him to take a shot at anti-maskers and the Ku Klux Klan.
“I don’t know why poor White people don’t like wearing masks. What is the problem? You wear masks at the clan rally, wear them to Wal-Mart, too,” he quipped.
Chappelle joked about the people in Ohio, where he lives, saying some of them make more money from stimulus checks than they did in their pre-pandemic paychecks.
“You know what that reminded me of … Remember what Ronald Reagan used to say about Black people, how we were welfare people and drug addicts? Who does that sound like now?” he asked. “Stimulus checks. The heroin. The rest of the country is trying to move forward and these White ni–ers keep holding us back.”
He offered White people advice on how to survive tough times.
“Whites, come, hurry quick. Come get your n—er lessons. You need us. You need our eyes to save you from yourselves,” he deadpanned.
Then he took a moment to let it sink in that Trump had lost the election. “Now Trump is gone,” Chappelle said to applause from the studio audience.
He jokingly praised Trump’s optimism, and said there are bad people on both sides, referring to Trump’s infamous comment about very fine people on both sides after the deadly “Unite the Right” alt-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
After the joke fell flat, Chappelle mentioned that Trump had called coronavirus the “kung flu,” and said about POTUS, “you racist, hilarious son of a bitch.”
Four years ago Chappelle hosted the SNL post-election episode right after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Back then, Chappelle said he was going to give Trump a chance. This time, he seemed to enjoy the fact that The Donald’s time is up.
Watch Chappelle’s SNL monologue below.
