SNL Scorecard: Dave Chappelle / GloRilla

Saturday Night Live is back from the holidays, kicking things off earlier in the new year than they often tend to return, at least by a week or two, which is especially noteworthy considering they went just about right up to Christmas this year. It's possible that the early return might have been in part to sneak in one more episode prior to the re-inauguration of Donald Trump today, but more than likely it has more to do with wanting to fit a few episodes in before the 50th anniversary special that's coming up just a month from now.

And it's important to remember, as we near that landmark celebration, that much of what has made the show great and timeless is the very thing that also occasionally holds it back and earns criticism: the stubbornness of the man behind it all, Lorne Michaels. Stubborn loyalty to and insistence on "his guys," even amidst criticism, has become one of his calling cards in later years, and that's how we get Dave Chappelle as host in January 2025, a choice hardly anyone was asking for.

Chappelle, once one of the most beloved comedians, has undone a lot of goodwill in recent years with transphobic comments, antisemitic jokes on this very show in previous hosting stints, and generally palling around with the Elon Musks and Joe Rogans of the world. What's more, as it pertains to SNL, with every appearance the comedian logs on the show, he appears increasingly checked out as host and aware that the show brass is probably more excited to have him there than he is to be there. So naturally, his announcement as host did not thrill the online masses. Yet, it must be said, each of his last few hosting stints have been controversial, and on each occasion, not only has viewership been high, the episode itself has tended to be very good. That trend held once again- it was an abnormal night, with an abnormally long cold open and a very abnormally long monologue meaning we only got a total of 5 sketches. But of those small assortment of sketches and the usual fixtures, we got a strong show, with only one real clunker and a cast and studio audience that seemed ready to start the new year of the historic season on a strong foot.

One note in case you forgot- I know my rankings can seem a little arbitrary, and truthfully there have been times where even I will look back at scorecards and think "Now, why did I rate (x) an 8.5, if (x) from this other episode was only a 7...?". So, both to hopefully clear up my scoring system for any curious readers, but also really to help keep myself consistent, here is the rubric to reference:

10/10: Perfect, no notes

8-9.5/10: Very funny-to-hilarious, definite rewatch

6-7.5/10: Pretty funny-to-funny, but won't necessarily be a rewatch

4-5.5/10: Not BAD, but not particularly funny or memorable

1-3.5/10: Terrible/poor taste, to simply bad/unfunny

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the first episode of 2025, and 11th episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

"MSNBC Special Coverage Cold Open": 8/10

Two things beleaguered SNL in the first Trump administration: fairly toothless and unoriginal writing, and a weak impression of the man himself. If this is to be considered the first political cold open of the 2nd Trump admin, then, it bodes very well. This was the exact kind of clever writing that was missing from most of 2017-2020, a biting critique of the president but also of the media establishment that enables him to thrive. And where Alec Baldwin’s impression quickly grew very tiresome, I truly never tire of James Austin Johnson’s hilarious caricature, even if I could do without seeing Trump himself ever again. Very solid start to the first episode of 2025.

The Good

“Weekend Update": 9/10

Weekend Update’s form dipped somewhat in the last few episodes before the holidays, before ending 2024 on the ultimate high of one of the best “joke swap” segments ever. Fortunately, Jost and Che clearly kicked off 2025 with the momentum of that last bit, because this was one of their strongest performances in a very long time. The jokes, almost every last one of them, were very clever, and the co-anchors themselves were very sharp. It had been a while since we’d seen Michael Longfellow with some extended air time, and boy, did he make the most of his Update appearance. His rant about the TikTok ban was hilarious, and also the perfect summation of both the arguments for and against the ban of the social media app. Sarah Sherman’s appearance as Nosferatu wasn’t quite as funny throughout, but was still highly enjoyable, as are most of her appearances that involve healthy doses of both prosthetics and ribbing Colin Jost.

“Pop The Balloon": 7.5/10

I have never seen a full episode of whatever this cursed show is, but clips from it pop (ha) up on my Instagram reels and Twitter feed every single day, so I appreciated this parody of how absurd it is. Fun cameos by GloRilla and Donnell Rawlings, too. This was the only sketch of the night I wanted to go on longer than it did. 

“Immigrant Dad Talk Show 2": 7.5/10

I’m glad they brought this sketch back. even though I didn’t love the first installment, because it felt like it had the potential to be great. I don’t know that this necessarily reached ‘instant classic’ level, but it was terrifically executed this time, with Marcello’s character playing off Dave Chappelle’s “black neighbor,” and both of them off Mikey Day’s uber-white guidance counselor character, tremendously well. 

"Monologue": 7.5/10

I mentioned at the outset the divisive choice this host was, and full disclosure, you can count me in the group that was not thrilled to see Chappelle hosting yet again. That said, one thing I will say is that he’s typically been pretty terrific at his monologues, at least, so I was curious to see how this went. When he opened by saying he was “really trying to be less controversial,” I was skeptical, but he backed that statement up over the course of his marathon 15-minute-plus set, reserving the only ‘edgy’ barbs for P Diddy, who I think nobody will shed tears for. I’m not sure all 17 minutes were instant classic material, but few comedians could pull that length of a monologue off while being consistently funny throughout, and his interplay with the audience was in vintage form. And his closing stanza on Jimmy Carter and Trump was an abnormally emotional plea from him, and one that will hold a lot of replay value for me and I’m sure many others. 

"Evacuation Alert": 7/10

This was SO funny, and then just went on a little too long. The momentum also wasn’t helped by a few timing errors and minor technical mishaps, but it feels like the initial joke was so good, and the crowd so bought in, that if this could have just been a tight 2 minutes, it had instant classic status written all over it. 

The... Less-Good

“Police Station": 5/10

It was nice to see Devon get more airtime this episode, and it’s always nice to see Kenan get some extended air time, but this one was just okay. The central joke was clever, but not built for a full sketch. Also, it’s a bit weird to see a full live sketch without the host (the second consecutive episode that’s done this, btw).

Musical Performances

GloRilla: 7.5/10

In my ever-persisting fight against the inevitable march of time, I try to remain up to date and hip to all pop culture. As it pertains to GloRilla, I’m in an interesting place where I am cool and hip enough to know who she is, understand her appeal and know her basic style, but not enough to actually be able to name a single one of her songs. Still, I was eager to see a first appearance on the show by a buzzy up-and-coming star.

I was familiar with the refrain at least of Glo’s first song, “Yeah Glo!” And I gotta say, she had me chanting it along with her by the end of it. “Yeah, Glo!” It was a pretty simple performance, with more of a band and backup dancers only coming in at the end of the track, but her mic was ON, and her breath control was very impressive.

The second performance, a mashup of other hit single, “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME” + “LET HER COOK,” featured much more production value, with extensive choreography by the rapper and backup dancers. She seemed to run out of energy a little bit by the end of the latter track, but before that once again kept her vocals very well, while providing a good amount of hype energy. She’s an impressive rapper and performer both, and with how many first-time performers AND rappers both struggle to adapt to the acoustically unforgiving 8H stage, color me very impressed by this appearance.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.38 ('Comedy Only' score: 7.36)