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Louis C.K. Pokes Fun At His Staggering White Privilege On SNL
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 9, 2017
Modified Apr 9, 2017
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 9, 2017
Modified Apr 9, 2017
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There are just five more new Saturday Night Live shows left for the season, and Louis C.K. kicked off the final stretch with his fourth time as host. For his monologue, he didn't discuss pedophiles. No, he covered racist animals—as in, the animal is the racist— as well as a topic near and dear to his heart: White guy privilege.
C.K. noted that he's had a lot of success, but it's only been four out of his 32 years doing stand-up. And now he's staying in five-star hotels, where he's miserable and he's becoming the kind of guy who calls housekeeping to complain that his laundry wasn't delivered within 24 hours "like it's in the Constitution that you get your laundry." And when someone in housekeeping seemed unconcerned about his plight, he recalled thinking, "Listen, ma’am, first of all, you can hear in my voice that I’m white... And by the way, I'll defend that right now... Because look, it's wrong that white people get preferential treatment. It's wrong. But as long as they do, what's going on at this hotel? I'm supposed to get the best because I'm white, which is awful and wrong, but where is it right now?"
The politics of the day were addressed by the cold open, with Alec Baldwin as President Trump in coal mining country, as well as in the O'Reilly Factor bit with Baldwin as O'Reilly and Trump. Weekend Update also hit at on current events; when remarking how Steve Bannon was removed from the National Security Council, Colin Jost then showed images of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and said, "This time he probably can blame the Jews."
One particularly lively sketch was set in The Tenement Museum, with a group of high schoolers visiting—Kate McKinnon and C.K. were the actors playing vintage racist Eastern European immigrants but C.K. kept breaking because his accent was so terrible.
The pre-taped segments were great: One imagined Beck Bennett as the writer who created the tone-deaf Pepsi ad with Kendall Jenner, while the other was a wonderful short film about a clown performing for a grown man. A third sketch was a tribute to "Scott," whose social media posts about social issues really made all the difference.
The musical guest was The Chainsmokers, about as far away from C.K. as one can get. Next week, Jimmy Fallon hosts with a solo Harry Styles as the musical act.
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alec baldwin
louis c.k.
saturday night live
the chainsmokers
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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