“It’s been a long time, so please be patient,” Dave Chappelle said to the audience at the top of his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live” Yes, it has been awhile since Chappelle blessed our TV screens with his witty, politically charged jokes, but upon his return, he didn’t miss a beat.
We could see that in an opening monologue that tried to find humor in a trying week that saw the election of divisive candidate Donald Trump to the presidency.
But it was the revival of some of his best characters from his now defunct Comedy Central hit, The Chappelle Show, in the form a The Walking Dead skit that we saw Chappelle at his best.
Playing on the dual deaths of characters Glenn and Abraham earlier this year on The Walking Dead’s shocking season premiere, he played crack-addict Tyrone Biggums, the time-traveling Time Haters, the always loud Lil John and the Black White supremacist Clayton Bigsby. (You know, all your faves!)
Another spot-on skit was “Election Night” where Chappelle’s character and surprise guest Chris Rock play Black men at an Election Night watch party with their White friends. As the results begin rolling in, all hell breaks loose.
“Oh my god! I think America is racist,” one of the White friends says.
“Oh my God!” Chappelle deadpans.
Though it took Chapelle a second to find his sea legs, he eventually did, and gave an insightful and funny show that has us wishing he were back on TV full-time. We’ll see where he goes next.