Legendary comedian Dave Chappelle made his return to television Saturday (November 13), hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time in his career after a week that saw the United States determine that its next president would be Donald Trump — a previous SNL host and regular target of satire on the show during the election campaign.
Chappelle’s opening monologue addressed the current political situation and many of 2016’s major trending topics, including riffs on police shootings, mass shootings, Harambe, the Black Lives Matter movement, and of course the election.
So far Chappelle’s appearance on SNL, which came 10 years after the end of his much-beloved Chappelle’s Show, has been met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who tuned in looking for catharsis from the comedian in light of the country’s new political reality.
Dave Chappelle, we're all like: pic.twitter.com/LhRbOECi4u
— Jayson Rodriguez (@jaysonrodriguez) November 13, 2016
Dave Chappelle ????
— lil boat kot* (@lilyachty) November 13, 2016
Yo Dave Chappelle about to save America yo ???
— Chill Moody (@ChillMoody) November 13, 2016
Several of the sketches from the episode dominated the internet on Sunday, with surprise guest (and SNL graduate) Chris Rock helping out along the way.
In one sketch, Chappelle reprised some of his most popular Chappelle’s Show characters in a parody of the already-infamous Walking Dead scene, here with Negan eventually cracking the head of iconic crack head Tyrone Biggums.
Watch his opening monologue above, and one more sketch below. Also if you missed it, A Tribe Called Quest was the musical guest on the show. Watch their poignant and political performances here.
