Dave Chappelle Says Lorne Michaels Makes An Exception for This Huge ‘SNL’ Rule When He Hosts
he made Lorne Michaels livid when he went rogue doing a comedy monologue. During the live show, Carlin swapped out a stand-up bit from his new album for the one he’d performed during rehearsals. “That fucker,” growled Michaels from the control room. It wasn’t that Michaels preferred the original set of jokes — he was worried that Carlin’s unrehearsed routine could go long (or short), screwing up the show’s timing.
So it was mind-boggling to learn that Dave Chappelle when he hosts SNL — at least when it comes to the comedian’s monologue. “As a tradition, I never do my actual monologue in rehearsal,” Chappelle told fellow comic Mo Amer during a conversation for Variety. “To Lorne Michaels’ credit, he never knows what I’m going to say.”
For proof, look no further than Chappelle’s monologue from the past season when he set a record by talking for 17 minutes. Check out other Season 50 stand-up hosts for context: Nate Bargatze went seven-and-a-half minutes, Shane Gillis got eight and John Mulaney talked for seven. Backstage during Chappelle’s set, some SNL cast were likely crying into their cue cards, knowing their sketch was about to get cut for time.
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“The joy of doing that show for me is the monologue,” Chappelle told Amer. “What a gift for a stand-up to be able to do what he does on live television on such a revered platform like SNL is. It’s always exhilarating. It’s a little terrifying, but just a little. You never do as good as you think you’re going to do, but it’s never that bad.”
Because Michaels likes to bring in Chappelle for big political moments, the spotlight gets extra-hot as the nation waits for the comic’s hot takes. “The hardest one was maybe the one when Biden got elected, because we didn’t know he was going to be president until Saturday morning,” Chappelle said. “So I had a set for if Trump won, and I had a set for if Biden won.”
Amer asked Chappelle how he felt today about his monologue after the 2016 election, the one in which he implored America to give Trump a chance.
“I haven’t watched it in a while, but I it fondly,” Chappelle said. “I look at it like a photograph. That’s what it felt like in that moment. Now, if it ages well or not, I don’t get mad if I look at a picture because it’s not today. That’s what it was at that time. You might look at an old set and cringe, but you could just cringe because of how you were at that time.”
If Michaels cringes? No worries — Chappelle gets to say whatever he wants anyway.
