It’s been years since Chappelle’s Show was on the air, but the characters remain popular with multiple generations of fans. The Walking Dead aired it’s big “Negan murder” episode only a few weeks ago, and while that was a less popular television moment the cultural pervasiveness still remains.
So inspired by The Walking Dead, Dave Chappelle brought a bunch of classic Chappelle’s Show characters to Saturday Night Live in a Negan-inspired skit. As could be expected, he pulled the combination of the two shows off beautifully. In the sketch, Chappelle gives his best Jeffrey Dean Morgan impression as Negan (complete with bubble gum rhyme), deciding on which of the people kneeling in front of him will be killed by a weaponized baseball bat. The first potential victim is none other than Tyrone Biggums, who argues his case by saying “With all due respect Mr. Negan, in my line of work when you’re on your knees they don’t give you bubblegum. They give you penis.”
Back too was the crew from “Playa Haters’ Ball,” as outspoken and abusive as ever and mocking Negan with lines like “Your face looks like Fonzie made the Negro Leagues” and a “What are thooose?” joke thrown in as well. This was exactly the kind of sketch that makes the necessity of pre-taped sketch breaks so worth it. Without editing magic what amounts to a one-man skit wouldn’t be possible at all, and it was a highlight of the night. The black white supremacist Clayton Bigsby popping in wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat is so close to being too easy of a joke, and yet it fits so perfectly how could anyone hold it against Chappelle for going that route?
Chappelle getting to please fans by bringing back all of these characters in one fell swoop and tying it into a relevant pop culture development that made the bit even funnier? Almost too good to be true. Even if fans didn’t love the results of Negan’s bat swing on TWD, this sketch existing because of that episode makes it completely worth it. With bonus “Tyrone Biggums floating head” included at no extra cost.
(Via Saturday Night Live)
