DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

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GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
November 7, 2020  | By David Bianculli

NBC, 11:30 p.m. ET

 
Four years ago, Dave Chappelle hosted the first SNL after the 2016 presidential election, which was held Tuesday, Nov. 8, and awarded the White House to Donald Trump. Tonight, four years later, Chappelle is back to host the first live SNLafter the Election night of Tuesday, Nov. 3. And four days later, as I type this Saturday morning, the election still has not been called – though it’s quite possible that, by the time Dave Chappelle steps on stage at 30 Rock’s Studio 8-H, Joe Biden will have been officially declared President-Elect of the United States. It's a Saturday Night Live not to miss. Imagine how closely to air the writers and cast members will have to scramble and adapt. And imagine the possibilities if, as he almost must be, Alec Baldwin shows up to play Trump. I think back to 1976, when the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein book The Final Days on the last days of the Nixon presidency had come out, and SNL did a devastating sketch based on reporting from the book, in which Dan Aykroyd, as Nixon, roamed the White House talking to a portrait of Abe Lincoln, with Henry Kissinger, played by John Belushi, trying to soothe him. That’s the bar the current SNL company should be aiming to match. Musical guest, by the way? The Foo Fighters. Oh, and this just in: At 11:30 a.m. ET today, as I was writing another Best Bet entry, CNN and MSNBC called Pennsylvania for Joe Biden, and declared him the new President-Elect of the United States. Fox News did not, and went to a long block of commercials. SNL, start rewriting…

 

 
 
 
 
 
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