SNL: Dave Chappelle, Foo Fighters (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

The last time Saturday Night Live aired a new episode on NBC the Saturday immediately after an American presidential election, the host was Dave Chappelle. And the exact same thing happened this year! Was that booking intentional? I would guess “yes.”

Back in 2016, the musical guest paired with Dave was A Tribe Called Quest in their first ever SNL appearance. But this time, the musical guest is Foo Fighters, in their 8th ever SNL appearance. Like the host, the lead singer of the Foos is also named Dave. How often have the host and musical guest on the same episode had the same first name?! I can’t think of any other time, so let’s take a beat to honor this moment.

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If you’re wondering where I was at while watching this episode (and I bet you are, because I usually let you know), I got up and had a fine Sunday breakfast of scrambled eggs and buttered English muffin. It was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit outside when I got out of bed, but it was forecasted to go up by 30 degrees by the middle of the day. In November!

The presidential election was called for Joe Biden earlier on Saturday, which paved the way for the cold opening to be some CNN Election Coverage featuring the victory speeches of Biden and Kamala Harris (played of course by Jim Carrey and Maya Rudolph, respectively) and a disturbing performance of the Village People’s “Macho Man.” The studio audience was resoundingly pro-Biden, so this was more of an impromptu celebration than a comedy sketch, so I’ll acknowledge that by giving it a Grade of Positive Energy That Set the Tone.

Chappelle parked himself onstage for a whole SET of a Monologue (Grade: 3 Random Acts of Kindness to a Black Person). The bit about how he’s not getting paid for any of the Chappelle’s Show streaming rights probably hit hardest, and now I’m thinking that I go out and deliver an ice cream cone to a black person who doesn’t deserve it.

Oh damn, the Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben sketch (Grade: 5 Count Chocula Lips). This has been a long time coming. Aunt Jemima uses her own breast milk? The secret’s out! And what a Dennis Haysbert impression from Chappelle! The hair and makeup team didn’t bother at all to make him look like the Allstate pitchman , but the Accuracy was there nonetheless.

It can be tricky to build an entire sketch around a testicular injury, but Mario Memories (Grade: 3 and a Half Demolishings) pulled it off, particularly thanks to Kenan Thompson’s preternatural knack for reaction zingers. I mean, when he says, “Please change the order so that I don’t directly follow those two,” it’s just game over!

Take Me Back? Obviously not! This is one of those sketches where it becomes increasingly obvious that the title is ironic and you’re better off NOT doing what it tells you to do. (Beck Bennett has proven himself to be an ideal actor for such a situation.) I give it a Grade of Putting That Thing Away!

I enjoy the Foo Fighters quite a bit, so I was happy to hear a new song from them on this here episode of Saturday Night Live. It’s called “Shame Shame” (Grade: Not a Shame). I wrote in my notes, “doo doo DOO DOO DOO,” which is supposed to represent the song’s rhythm.

I believe it was about an hour into the show when Weekend Update commenced. That’s a little longer than usual! Not to mention the entire show started late because the Clemson-Notre Dame football game went into overtime. Michael and Colin offered their reactions to the election results, but most of Update (and most of my laughs at Update) was dedicated to Kate McKinnon reprising her impression of Rudy Giuliani (Grade: 4 Pole-sters). She (as he) has got plenty to offer: Ballots from Mars! Tortilla ballots! Hot nuts on Colin Jost’s back!

Who would’ve guessed that the first sketch after Update would be about two coworkers in a town outside Albany (played by Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson) finding each other romantically during a hailstorm? Well, that is what it was, and it was awfully wholesome, so I give News 5 Center Albany a Grade of 9 Kisses.

The DC Morning sketch (Grade: 2 Hamburgers) is a rather short bit about how Donald Trump is supposedly escaping the White House in a white Ford Bronco a la O.J. Simpson in 1994. But the most notable element of this sketch was of course that Ego Nwodim played a news anchor on the exact same side of the desk two sketches in a row.

The night was wrapped up with a Foo Fighters rendition of their Very Good Song “Times Like These” (Grade: 4 One-Way Motorways), with mostly organ accompaniment for the singing to start off with, and then the rest of the Foos really came a-rockin’ to drive it home. Interestingly enough, they performed this song on the SNL stage once previously back in 2003, and during that time Jim Carrey joined them to jam out on some air guitar. But he didn’t do that this time as well, even though he was in the studio once again!

The guest lineup for the next new episode wasn’t announced, nor was the date. I’m guessing it will be November 21, assuming at least one week off after this first batch of episodes and no new show the Saturday after Thanksgiving (i.e., the 28th). Until next time, my dear reader friends!