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'We Elected An Internet Troll President': Dave Chappelle Hosts SNL, With A Tribe Called Quest (And Chris Rock)

Jen Chung

Published Nov 13, 2016

Modified Nov 13, 2016

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Jen Chung

Published Nov 13, 2016

Modified Nov 13, 2016

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Dave Chappelle hosted his first Saturday Night Live last night and it was the post-election episode that we needed. During his excellent monologue, he said, "You know, I didn't know Donald Trump was going to win the election. I did suspect it. It seemed like Hillary was doing well in the polls, and yet I know the whites, you guys aren't as full of surprises as you used to be... America's done it, we've actually elected an internet troll as President.

During his 11-minute stand-up, Chappelle said, "The whites are furious... I haven't seen white people this furious since the O.J. verdict." He explained, "I'm not saying I'm enjoying it. I'm just saying I've never seen this before. I watched a white riot in Portland, Oregon on television the other night. The news said they did a million dollars of damage. Black people watching it are like, 'Amateurs.'"

He also pointed out there were huge problems in the country before the elections, like mass shootings. "There's more shootings than I can literally count. You can't even go to the goddamn zoo without seeing them shoot at things. They shot a gorilla at my local zoo!" Chappelle exlaimed. "And the Cincinnati police said shooting that gorilla was the toughest decision this department ever had to make. I said, 'Well, you about to see a lot of n----s in gorilla costumes in Cincinnati.'"

After sharing that his rich black friends want to leave the coutry, Chappelle admitted he was fine with hanging out and enjoying a Republican tax break. But he did say that President Obama did do a good job and recounted a BET musical event and party that he attended at the White House last month.

The last couple minutes of Dave Chappelle's #ChappelleOnSNL monologue. pic.twitter.com/PHyc2bbtay

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) November 13, 2016

Chappelle mentioned how it was all black people ("and Bradley Cooper for some reason"), "I saw how happy everybody was, these people who had been historically disenfranchised. 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."

"So, in that spirit, I’m wishing Donald Trump luck. And I’m going to give him a chance. And we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one, too," he said.

The next sketch was an election night returns watch party, which features (mostly) smug Hillary supporters slowly descending horror and reaching for Xanax. Chris Rock also showed up:

A theory on why voter turnout was not as expected. @chrisrock pic.twitter.com/9ln6e5zLcM

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) November 13, 2016

Some classic characters from Chappelle's Show—crackhead Tyrone Biggums; playa-haters Silky Johnston and Beautiful; Lil Jon; Chuck Taylor; and black and blind white supremacist Clayton Bigsby—appeared in a spoof of The Walking Dead. Leslie Jones headed a great digital short about her romantic life (and how she's going to deflower Kyle Mooney); Kate McKinnon played barfly Shelia Sauvage (she and Chappelle did make out, if you can call it that); the post-mortem of a bad SNL sketch got the post-sports game press conference; Vanessa Bayer spoke to kids about politics; and there was a gross-out sketch at ten-to-one.

A Tribe Called Quest performed "We the People and, with Busta Rhymes and Consequence, "The Space Program." There was also a banner of Phife Dawg onstage.

During his farewell, Chappelle thanked Lorne Michaels for helping him check something off his bucket list.

Tagged

a tribe called quest

chris rock

dave chappelle

saturday night live

snl

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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