Just trying to put myself in the shoes of an SNL host right before their monologue scares me. So, I can’t imagine what it’s like to actually walk through that Studio 8H door. However, Dave Chappelle just made it a bit easier to picture as he explained why it’s always “a little terrifying.” And I have to say, after learning how he prepares for that moment, I totally get why.
Earlier on the 2025 TV schedule, Dave Chappelle was one of SNL’s Season 50 hosts, which marked his fourth time doing the gig. So, at this point, he knows what to expect. However, while chatting with Mo Amer during Variety's Actors on Actors, he got real about what it’s like to prepare for the job and then walk onto the stage. He started by explaining that live television is a different sort of beast for a stand-up, saying:
The first one especially was winging it. But I’ve been doing it long enough that you’re never really winging it. Even if I don’t have jokes, I got experience enough. But on live television, it’s dangerous. 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.
Well, hearing that he’s kind of “winging it” and he won’t do his monologue in rehearsal partially explains why it’s “a little terrifying.” However, it also speaks to the trust Lorne Michaels has in Chappelle to deliver when he walks through that door to kick off the show.
After explaining that he’ll simply use his rehearsal time to check the sound and get used to the space, the stand-up went on to discuss why hosting SNL is both “exhilarating” and a bit scary. Noting the pressure and boundaries that come with live TV, he said:
It’s so much pressure on live television. 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.
Now, considering Chappelle’s stand-up specials (you can watch them with a Netflix subscription) almost always cause debate among viewers, I assumed he picked his jokes carefully for SNL. So, I was shocked to learn that he doesn’t rehearse it in front of others before the taping. However, as he said, he’s been doing this job long enough that his “experience” has prepared him for these moments.
Overall, he reiterated that while it’s a sort of terrifying experience, it never goes as bad or as good as he thinks it will:
You never do as good as you think you’re going to do, but it’s never that bad.
He’s right, I find that when a stand-up hosts SNL, their monologue is almost always one of the strongest points of the episode, because it’s the time where they’re truly in their element. However, even though they’re doing what they’re great at, they still have to face new challenges.
For example, when Chappelle hosted right after the 2020 election, he had to prepare two sets because the race wasn’t called on election day. He said:
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.
Yeah, that sounds scary too! However, it went well, and clearly SNL thought so too, because the comedian has returned to host the show four times between 2016 and 2025.
Overall, I totally get why Dave Chappelle said doing SNL is always sort of scary. Hearing about how he preps and the circumstances he’s hosted under, it makes perfect sense. Now, I’ll 100% be thinking about all of this as I re-watch the show with my Peacock subscription and wait for Season 51.
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