Dave Chappelle's SNL Monologue is Awesome
Biden’s victory speech last weekend was great. That is what the President of the United States should sound like. I’m really looking forward to that being the norm again. I don’t think Biden’s was the best televised address from last weekend, though. For me, that award goes to Dave Chappelle, and his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live.
Chappelle is, 100%, still hilarious - just not in an “I’m Rick James, bitch! “ kind of way. That’s not to say he’s completely in good taste. My mom would have squirmed to hear some of his jokes. (I, however, laughed at all of them.) Uncomfortable or not, he’s still got that keen observational sense and ace timing that made him famous in the first place. Chappelle’s getting older, and he’s applying that lived experience to the lens of his comedy. (He’s also smoking a lot more, if his extra gravelly delivery is any indication.) Nowhere does that shine through more clearly than the wrapup of his monologue. He talks about living with pain, and unfairness, and how transmuting that feeling to anger will tear us apart - individually, or as a nation - if we let it.
Reprinting that bit here, because I absolutely loved what he had to say. I highly encourage you to watch the whole thing.
I would implore everybody who’s celebrating today to remember, it’s good to be a humble winner. Remember when I was here four years ago? Remember how bad that felt? Remember that half the country right now still feels that way. Please remember that. Remember that for the first time in the history of America, the life expectancy of white people is dropping. Because of heroin, because of suicide. All these white people out there that feel that anguish, that pain, that man, they think nobody cares. Maybe they don’t. Let me tell you something. I know how that feels. I promise you, I know how that feels. You’re a police officer. Every time you put your uniform on, you feel like you’ve got a target on your back. You’re appalled by the ingratitude that people have when you would risk your life to save them. Oh, man. Believe me. Believe me, I know how that feels. Everyone knows how that feels. But here’s the difference between me and you. You guys hate each other for that. And I don’t hate anybody. I just hate that feeling. That’s what I fight through. That’s what I suggest you fight through. You got to find a way to live your life. Got to find a way to forgive each other. Got to find a way to find joy in your existence in spite of that feeling.