Less than 12 hours ago, Saturday Night Live showed one of it’s most on point episodes of all time. Somehow they managed to do so after just a year ago broadcasting one of its most tone-deaf episodes with now President-Elect Donald Trump. When Trump hosted, it wasn’t too far removed after the news that Univision had severed ties with Trump over the Miss USA pageant.

Many of us wondered that in the face of events this week, how SNL would address the election considering the fact that the last few months they spent lampooning both candidates but leaned more left with Hillary.

SNL seemed like they took all of the f**ks they had left to give and threw them out of the window, so let’s take a look at some of the most high points of the show.

But before we do, let’s address the elephant in the room. I am near confident right now, there may be a few angry white people who are furiously pumping away at their keyboards who demand to know why SNL and censors allowed the word “nigger” to be used so many times on their show.

Also depending on where you live, it was actually censored as it was being broadcast .

Still mad at SNL?  Two words: Richard Pryor.

This isn’t the hill you should die on. It’s hard to be angry at a word that you gave life to is  being used by the same people it was meant to denigrate.

If what I just said insulted you, then pay very close attention where I am about to go. If you are angry aboutDave Chappelle who used the word gratuitously in his monologue but not mad at this:

I will need to you step from the keyboard.

If you are mad at how many times A Tribe Called Quest used it in their song but not mad at this:

I am going to need you to pump the brakes.

 

Now to be clear, I am not an advocate of the word and prefer to not have it used around me. It’s disingenuous for someone to get angry about its usage on a comedy show for satire regardless of how uncomfortable it makes any of us, when they are making zero efforts to curb its usage in the hate speech that has occurred for centuries and really got a good revival this week. It’s a hateful word and it has always been a hateful word and sorry to say, if you are a non-person of color, you can’t selectively choose when to get upset over that word being used.

Are there any questions about this? Great, let’s move on.

Kate McKinnon’s rendition of Hallelujah was brilliant.   It was poignant in how it was a tribute to the passing of Leonard Cohen but also a testament to the end of one of the ugliest US Elections ever. It was a reflection of the mood of a nation and in its own way wants us to ask the question of how do we heal. At the end, McKinnon as Clinton nearly in tears said, ““I’m not giving up, and neither should you.”

Next up was Dave Chappelle’s monologue itself. It was vintage Chapplle and I am so glad that network censors did not step in and allowed Chappelle to say what many of us were thinking regarding the election results. He showed all of America why we miss having his show so much which even now, some of his clips are still so relevant today. His monologue covered so many areas including American reactions, Black Lives Matter vs Blue Lives Matter, ISIS and so much more. Three things he said that really stood out:

‘But America’s done it, we’ve finally elected an internet troll as President.’

‘And white people were furious, Never seen anything like it. Haven’t seen whites this mad since the OJ verdict.’

‘Why do we have to say that black lives matter? Now I admit that is not the best slogan. But McDonald’s already took, “You deserve a break today”. And I guess it’s kind of catchy because everyone else is biting it. Even the police bite it. “Blue lives matter”. What, was you born a police? That is not a blue life, it’s a blue suit. You don’t like it? Take that blue suit off, find a new job.’

The opening sketch which further expands on reactions from America was funny and there was a surprise appearance from Chris Rock. Yes, America, most of us already knew what time it was and some of us are still not so surprised that this happened.

 

The highlight was Dave Chappelle’s Negan of The Walking Dead.   Chappelle revived several of his most popular characters and just went all in. This will be one for the ages. (Update: NBC took down the original and posted one that was cut down by 10 secs…wonders what was edited.)

SNL’s Weekend Update had zero chill in recapping this week’s news, oddly enough there is no YouTube clip from it as SNL has always had a weird policy of cherry picking what they will and won’t allow to stream post broadcast.  You can however catch it here. Don’t be surprised that down the road it disappears.

If you have this on DVR and you were lucky enough to get it uncensored, don’t delete it. I am willing to guess by the time it makes it to Hulu or the NBC app it will be pared down. Otherwise you may have to search high and low to get this rare gem of an episode.

Let’s exit with A Tribe Called Quest’s performance which by all means was fire.