‘SNL’ host Dave Chappelle weighs in on L.A. wildfires, Palestine and Trump

At one time, comedian Dave Chappelle’s appearances as host on “Saturday Night Live” were events to be celebrated, most memorably when he hosted the first “SNL” after Donald Trump’s election to the presidency in 2016.

In recent years, there’s been more reason to be wary, as the comic’s jokes about transgender communities have tarnished his legacy and as he gets further and further in years from his legendary sketch comedy series “Chappelle Show.” For this fourth appearance, there wasn’t much performance-wise to judge or critique. The comedian did a lengthy monologue (more on that below) and appeared in only three sketches, one of which included the brief return of Silky Johnson, his pimp character, which he originated on his eponymous Comedy Central show.

That appearance, part of a parody of the online dating show “Pop the Balloon or Find Love,” also featured musical guest GloRilla and frequent Chappelle collaborator Donnell Rawlings as his characters Beautiful and Ashy Larry.

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Chappelle also appeared in another edition of “Immigrant Dad Talk” with Marcello Hernández, and a sketch themed to the Los Angeles wildfires where he plays a father revealing secrets as his family prepares to evacuate. Another sketch, about a man (Devon Walker) describing his missing girlfriend to police, didn’t feature Chappelle at all.

There could be lots of reasons why the episode ended up so light on sketches and characters for Chappelle, but the most likely culprit was the length of the monologue.

Musical guest GloRilla performed “Yeah Glo!” and a medley that included “Wanna Be” and “Let Her Cook.” A title card after “Weekend Update” promoted the SoCal Fire Fund, and one at the end of the show honored filmmaker David Lynch, who died this week.

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The cold open featured an MSNBC panel led by Rachel Maddow (Sarah Sherman) covering issues around Monday’s inauguration. While Ari Melber (Marcello Hernández) quoted rappers, including DMX, and “Woke Sheldon” Chris Hayes (Andrew Dismukes) kept getting confused for Maddow, coverage kept getting interrupted by breaking news headlines about President-elect Trump, something Maddow promised wouldn’t happen during his new term. Some of the headlines included Trump offering to trade Connecticut for Italy, offering to fill the house from “Up” with water balloons to fight the L.A. fires, and sending Donald Trump Jr. to explore a purchase of the Emerald City after seeing “Wicked.” James Austin Johnson returned for a brief Trump impression, in which he extolled the virtues of the just shut-down video app TikTok and praised Mark Zuckerberg’s perm and chain. The biggest surprise may have been George Santos (Bowen Yang) appearing as the new secretary of fact checking and ambassador to Sephora. Santos claimed to be late for a date with his boyfriend Luigi Mangione.

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For fans of Chappelle’s stand-up who were hoping for topical material, the monologue was a big buffet. At nearly 17 minutes, the set may have been one of the longest in the show’s history. (Two of his previous monologues as host were nearly as lengthy.) Chappelle sat on a stool while smoking a cigarette and explained that he begged off from hosting the first show after the November election (that honor went to Bill Burr). Then, he said, he offered to host in January, close to the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection to get rid of Trump material. “The moment I said yes, L.A. burst into flames,” Chappelle said. “I’m tired of being controversial. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. It is way too soon to be doing jokes about a catastrophe like that.” Then he winked to the audience.

The jokes were a mix of satire, with Chappelle mocking poor people for not sympathizing with celebrities who lost homes in the fires and joking that God didn’t strike down parts of Los Angeles due to sin. “That’s not true because West Hollywood was unscathed. Because how can you burn what is already flaming?” The comedian shifted to dated jokes about Trump’s comments on Haitians in Ohio during the election cycle and slightly less-dated jokes about Sean “Puffy” Combs and baby oil. “Thank God they caught him before the fires … there would have been a mushroom cloud over his house,” Chappelle said.

Chappelle ended the monologue more seriously, praising Jimmy Carter for his book about Palestine and his visits to the region. He addressed Trump directly: “The presidency is no place for petty people… whether people voted for you or not, they’re all counting on you. Good luck. Please do better next time.” He asked for empathy for everyone “from Palestine to the Palisades.”

Best sketch of the night: Don’t forget the cellphone inside the dog

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In a frantic sketch that often felt like it was about to go off the rails, Chappelle played a panicked father preparing a go-bag of things that his family would need as they were evacuating from the L.A. wildfires. Along the way, he reveals $500,000 in cash, a secret French family hiding in the walls, and a cellphone that he has to surgically remove from the family dog as blood sprays everywhere. Is it an all-timer sketch? No, but it was the one that stood out from the slim pickings this week.

‘Weekend Update’ winner: Why vampires typically don’t have great abs

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Michael Longfellow weighed in on the late-breaking news that TikTok had already gone dark in the U.S., but it was Sarah Sherman’s supremely silly appearance as The Original Nosferatu that scored best on “Update.” Appearing in full vampire makeup and lengthy fingers, Sherman teased Colin Jost’s penis (like the vampire, “Weird, white and pointy”) and commented on Bill Skarsgård, the star of the new movie version. With his jacked body and mustache, Original Nosferatu said, “He looks like Shirtless Ned Flanders!” The bit cut to dramatic black and white on punchlines, which was effective, but the funniest bit was Sherman-as-Nosferatu demonstrating how vampires only do one push up a day: when they rise from their coffins.