Dave Chappelle Will Host The First Post-Election ‘SNL’ And It Got People Talking About 2016

Saturday Night Live has made 2020 the year they attempt several unprecedented things at once, starting by turning the show into a remote sketch comedy program during the early weeks of the pandemic. Its foray into Season 46 has also started with a bang, scheduling five straight weeks of new live shows for the first time in its history, then adding a post-election show to make it an unprecedented six weeks in a row.

Saturday’s episode did bring a bit of routine to the proceedings, as John Mulaney hosted for the second time in 2020 and the third time in about a year, and during the episode NBC revealed the host for its final live episode of the record-setting run would be a familiar face as well: Dave Chappelle.

Curiously, the announcement didn’t come with the traditional musical guest reveal as well. It’s likely that comes later in the week, as Chappelle is mostly known for playing musicians on Chappelle’s Show, not actually performing. Still, many couldn’t help but note the similarities between the announcement and 2016, when Chappelle hosted the show after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the last presidential election.

Chappelle’s post-election monologue was widely praised in 2016, but for many the announcement was one that brought on more anxiety and made them wonder if the same result would happen in the election as well.

It will certainly be interesting to see what Chappelle comes up with for Saturday, and he has a long history of turning recent events into poignant commentary. If anything, he’ll have a very obvious starting point if things on Tuesday work out the same way they did four years ago.