After months of speculation over whether Dave Chappelle would return to host Saturday Night Live’s post-election episode, after doing so in both 2016 and 2020, we finally have an answer: Nope.
On Thursday morning, NBC announced that comedian/actor (and, perhaps just coincidentally, Chappelle’s Show regular) Bill Burr will step in as host for the second time on November 9, with musical guest Mk.gee making his SNL debut.
The show will be all new again the following week, November 16, when Charli XCX pulls double duty as both host and musical guest. While it will mark the Brat rebrander’s first time helming the legendary sketch comedy show, she’s certainly no stranger to Studio 8H. She made her musical debut on the show on December 13, 2014 then came back a second time on March 5, 2022. Just a few weeks ago, on the Season 50 premiere, she was also there—at least in spirit—when Bowen Yang portrayed her.
Burr took the SNL stage for the first time on October 10, 2020, hosting the second episode of Season 46 with Jack White as his musical guest. Being asked to host any episode of SNL’s monumental 50th season is a huge deal, but the post-election episode is an honor all its own.
When Chappelle hosted in 2016, he turned his opening monologue into more of a stand-up routine in which he talked about Donald Trump’s triumph over Hillary Clinton (he also performed in an “Election Night” sketch). He took a similar approach to his 2020 monologue, where he tackled Joe Biden’s victory and the past four years under Trump.
Whether Chappelle would be asked back to continue the tradition of serving as SNL’s voice post-election came under scrutiny due to the increasing criticism the comedian has faced for his refusal to stop making jokes about trans people and other marginalized groups.
But just because Chappelle isn’t hosting doesn’t mean that SNL went with the “safe bet.” Burr, too, has been known to court controversy. Even his first SNL hosting gig in 2020 was met with a fair amount of criticism, with some viewers declaring his monologue “misogynistic” and “obnoxious.” No doubt there will be plenty to talk about following his second at-bat as host next week.
As SNL tries to sputter through this not-so-good period, I’m sure the writer’s will be energized by the idea of writing sketches around Charli XCX. She’s just what the show needs.
Maybe they have some unused the host sings sketches leftover from Ariana Grande.
Re: your comment about sketches leftover from the Grande episode, there is indeed one that could crop up – the Cinema Classics/Reese D’What sketch that had to be canned in the middle of the set being erected because of the technical issues that episode had.
Now I’m concerned that my entire comment isn’t being interpreted as sarcastic.