Dave Chappelle Reveals the Shocking Truth About His ‘Saturday Night Live’ Monologues: Nobody knows what’s going to come out of his mouth

Dave Chappelle Reveals the Shocking Truth About His ‘Saturday Night Live’ Monologues

WASHINGTON, D.C. - JUNE 20: Comedian Dave Chappelle speaks at the dedication of the theater at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. on June 20, 2022. The auditorium was set to be renamed for alum Dave Chappelle but, in a surprise move, he asked the theater to be named Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Dave Chappelle is a true comedy pro.

The legendary comedian, 51, sat down in the new Variety Actors on Actors interview and explained that when he takes the stage at Studio 8H to perform his monologue as host of Saturday Night Live, nobody knows what’s going to come out of his mouth… including him.

In conversation with Mo Amer, Chappelle shared that even Lorne Michaels doesn’t know what he’s going to say during the monologue because he’s generally just “winging it.” Of course, Chappelle is such a seasoned comic that the studio is always in stitches anyway.

“Even if I don’t have jokes, I got experience enough,” Chappelle explained.

Despite his ability to be funny, that can be a little dicey due to the nature of the program.

“On live television, it’s dangerous,” Chappelle continued. “You got to navigate standards and practices and all the rest of it. But to Lorne Michaels’ credit, he never knows what I’m going to say. As a tradition, I never do my actual monologue in rehearsal.”

“For me, rehearsal is just ‘How’s the sound?’” Chappelle laughed.

However, the monologues can receive significant blowback. That was the case with Chappelle’s 2016 one, where he suggested giving newly elected President Donald Trump a chance. Recalling that moment, Chappelle said he thought of it “fondly.”

“I remember that part. But you know what? I look at it like a photograph. That’s what it felt like in that moment. Now, if it ages well or not, I don’t get mad if I look at a picture because it’s not today. That’s what it was at that time. You might look at an old set and cringe, but you could just cringe because of how you were at that time,” he explained.

Even though he doesn’t prep much, Chappelle finds tremendous satisfaction in getting out there and laying it out all out there for the viewers.

 

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“It’s so much pressure on live television,” he shared in the Variety conversation. “But the joy of doing that show for me is the monologue. What a gift for a stand-up to be able to do what he does on live television on such a revered platform like SNL is. It’s always exhilarating. It’s a little terrifying, but just a little. You never do as good as you think you’re going to do, but it’s never that bad. The hardest one was maybe the one when Biden got elected, because we didn’t know he was going to be president until Saturday morning. So I had a set for if Trump won, and I had a set for if Biden won.”