\n<\/p>\n
When Dave Chappelle hosted \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d in 2016, four days after the presidential election, he ended his monologue<\/a> with a thought about President-elect Donald J. Trump. \u201cI\u2019m wishing Donald Trump luck,\u201d Chappelle said at the time. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to give him a chance, and we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one too.\u201d<\/p>\n Chappelle came back to host \u201cS.N.L.\u201d the weekend after the 2020 presidential election and midterm vote of 2022, but although he was invited to the same slot in 2024, he declined. In a long and lively monologue on this weekend\u2019s broadcast, he explained why.<\/p>\n Recounting a conversation with Lorne Michaels, the \u201cS.N.L.\u201d creator and executive producer, Chappelle said, \u201cI was like, \u2018Nah, man, I\u2019m cool,\u2019\u201d adding: \u201cThings are going good. I finished my Netflix deal. I got all this money and stuff.\u201d But Michaels persisted, so to get off the phone, Chappelle said, he offered a compromise: \u201cI said, \u2018Just save the date closest to Jan. 6.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Dressed in a suit and tie and taking occasional drags from a cigarette, Chappelle commented on a wide range of news events, including the Los Angeles wildfires. \u201cIt is way too soon to do jokes about a catastrophe like that,\u201d he said, a mischievous grin crossing his face.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He talked about how the fires had affected his friends and colleagues like the actors Cary Elwes and Dennis Quaid and the rapper Madlib. He said that reading callous online comments from people wishing that celebrities\u2019 houses would burn down upset him. \u201cYou see that?\u201d Chappelle said. \u201cThat right there? That\u2019s why I hate poor people. Because they can\u2019t see past their own pain.\u201d<\/p>\n He called the wildfires \u201cthe most expensive natural disaster that\u2019s ever happened in United States history,\u201d probably because \u201cpeople in L.A. have nice stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI could burn 40,000 acres in Mississippi for like six or seven hundred dollars,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Chappelle said that Luigi Mangione, who was charged with murder in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare\u2019s chief executive in Manhattan, \u201cdid almost plan like the perfect crime\u201d and that his only mistake was forgetting \u201cto shave his eyebrows.\u201d<\/p>\n The comedian noted that other countries were helping the United States to put out the Southern California fires. \u201cCanada sent planes that helped us out,\u201d Chappelle said. \u201cMexico sent firefighters. And Trump was like, \u2018make sure they leave when they finish.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Chappelle revisited a false claim the president-elect made<\/a> during the campaign, that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating their neighbors\u2019 pets. Chappelle, who lives in Ohio, explained that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield had arrived in this country legally and \u201csaved a lot of companies because they did jobs that the whites weren\u2019t doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey were busy doing other things,\u201d he added. \u201cHeroin, sleeping on streets, you know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After a riff about Sean Combs and Chappelle\u2019s observation that he had never been invited to one of his \u201cfreak-off\u201d parties (\u201cI said, \u2018Oh my God, I\u2019m ugly. Boy, that was a tough way to find that out.\u201d), he returned to the topic of U.S. presidents \u2014 specifically Trump and Jimmy Carter<\/a>, who died in December.<\/p>\n Chappelle recounted how he had traveled to the Middle East after walking off his Comedy Central series \u201cChappelle\u2019s Show\u201d at the same time Carter was there to promote his book \u201cPalestine: Peace Not Apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n When Carter was told the Israeli government could not protect him if he visited the Palestinian territories, Chappelle said he was moved by photographs of \u201ca former American president walking with little to no security while thousands of Palestinians were cheering him on.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s a good president, but that right there, I am sure, is a great man. It made me feel very proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Chappelle concluded his monologue with these thoughts:<\/p>\n The presidency is no place for petty people. Donald Trump, I know you watch the show. Man, remember, whether people voted for you or not, they\u2019re all counting on you. Whether they like you or not, they\u2019re all counting on you. The whole world is counting on you. I mean this when I say this: Good luck. Please, do better next time. Please, all of us, do better next time. Do not forget your humanity and please have empathy for displaced people, whether they\u2019re in the Palisades or Palestine.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Yes, there were sketches on \u201cS.N.L.\u201d this week, too, beginning with a parody of an MSNBC roundtable that featured Sarah Sherman as Rachel Maddow being repeatedly interrupted by breaking news stories about the incoming Trump administration. (Among the satirical headlines: Trump would like to \u201cTrade Connecticut for Italy\u201d; and he is sending Donald Trump Jr. to \u201cExplore the Possibility of Purchasing the Emerald City.)<\/p>\n James Austin Johnson appeared in his recurring role as Trump, explaining that his inauguration would be held indoors because there would be \u201ctoo many people to fit outside\u201d and introducing Bowen Yang (playing the disgraced former Representative George Santos) as his new Secretary of Fact Checking. (Yang mourned Jimmy Carter as \u201ca great influence on me, since he was my dad.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Over at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on Trump\u2019s return to the presidency and Joe Biden\u2019s imminent departure from the office.<\/p>\n Jost began:<\/p>\n Well, guys, it is the dawn of a new era. Donald Trump released his official inaugural portrait, and the photo is lit, I assume, by hell opening up. Trump is trying to look so hard-core in this photo, I\u2019m surprised he didn\u2019t add a parental advisory sticker and a do-rag. [His screen showed a mock-up of what that photo might look like.] And then Trump also released the official portrait of JD Vance. [His screen showed a generic image of a blank profile.]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Che continued:<\/p>\n Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration ceremony has been moved inside the Capitol building. Hey, just like last time! [His screen showed an image of rioters breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.] President Biden delivered a farewell address to the nation on Wednesday and then triumphantly rode off into the pavement. [His screen showed a video of Biden falling over on a bicycle.]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Michael Longfellow, appearing on Weekend Update as himself, delivered a particularly timely lament on TikTok, which went dark<\/a> only hours before this broadcast. His support for TikTok, Longfellow said, was \u201cthe first political opinion I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re just banning things because they\u2019re from China now?\u201d Longfellow asked incredulously. \u201cWell you know who else was from China? That\u2019s right: Jesus Christ.\u201d When Che informed him that Jesus was not from China, Longfellow replied, \u201cI thought he was Middle Eastern, but I saw it on a TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
Cold open of the week<\/h2>\n
Weekend Update jokes of the week<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Weekend Update desk guest of the week<\/h2>\n