An SNL classic, even without the Kanye jokes

Chappelle's record-breaking monologue evolved markedly at the literal eleventh hour.

By Peter A. McKay | About | Follow: Email: peter[at]pmckay[dot]com


A fun personal update to share this Monday:

My wife Rochelle and I managed to snag tickets to the dress rehearsal for this weekend's historic Saturday Night Live, hosted by Dave Chappelle. Since the U.S. election in 2016, he's become SNL's go-to host whenever major political events happen here. So this year's pre-inauguration slot was just his cup of tea.

On SNL's live broadcast, Chappelle delivered a 17-minute opening monologue, breaking his own previous record for longest monologue in the show's 50-year history. That's also more than triple the typical monologue length and almost double the length of Chappelle's dress rehearsal, according to the TV-industry news site LateNighter.

As a firsthand witness to the rehearsal, I would add that about 80% of Chappelle's jokes in the live broadcast were different. In the early version, delivered around 8 p.m. ahead of the live broadcast at 11:30 in New York, there was no mention of Puffy Combs, Luigi Mangione, or Jimmy Carter -- topics he riffed about on-air at some length. And there were mentions you didn't see on TV regarding Kanye West and (more briefly) Chappelle's previous conflicts with the trans community.

To me, the big changes just underscore Chappelle's comedic genius all the more. As I see it, he either did a near-total re-working of his set at the literal eleventh hour, or he purposefully kept two versions in his head all along to avoid the broadcast material leaking.

Either way, a truly amazing creative effort to watch unfold. Wow.