Dave Chappelle Named First ‘SNL’ Host of 2025
comedian Dave Chappelle was named the first host of “Saturday Night Live” in 2025.
NBC shared the news on Friday while also announcing the actor Timothée Chalamet will host and feature as musical guest the following week. The channel also announced a February anniversary special.
Dave Chappelle and “Saturday Night Live” return to NBC on January 18th.
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Dave Chappelle is returning to “SNL” in 2025
NBC announced with a statement on Jan. 10 that Dave Chappelle would be the first host of “Saturday Night Live.”
“Live from New York, ‘Saturday Night Live’ kicks off 2025 with two superstar hosts and musical guests you won’t want to miss,” the NBC announcement said. “As the series celebrates its 50th anniversary on NBC, Season 50 has already hosted 10 outstanding hosts – and two returning hosts have been hired to kick off the second half of this cycle.”
“Dave Chappelle will host the first episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’ of 2025 on January 18. The Emmy-winning stand-up comedian and actor who has hosted post-election episodes in recent years (most recently in November 2022). , will return to Studio 8H on January 18th. This is his fourth turn as host.”
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GloRilla will appear as a musical guest
The rapper was also named in the NBC announcement GloRilla as musical guest for Chappelle’s episode. The first episode of 2025 will be the recording artist’s “SNL” debut.
“GloRilla will do them SNL Debut as the episode’s musical guest,” the announcement reads. “The multi-platinum selling rapper is also a Grammy nominee and received two awards for her hit single “Yeah Glo!”
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Timothée Chalamet will host and perform as a musical guest on “SNL.”
“Dune” star Timothée Chalamet will host “SNL” as musical guest in 2025. The 29-year-old actor is currently playing the role of musician Bob Dylan in the film “A Complete Unknown.”
“On January 25, ‘A Complete Unknownstar’ Timothée Chalamet returns as SNL host for the third time,” the statement read. “The actor plays singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in the film, although there’s no word yet on what Chalamet will sing – or rap – in Studio 8H? – will be.”
The statement continued: “The dune Star will also make his debut as the episode’s musical guest, joining the impressive list of “dual” celebrities who have hosted and musical guest in the same episode.”
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Other celebrities who have hosted “SNL” while also appearing as musical guests include Paul Simon, Lily Tomlin, Ray Charles and Dolly Parton, Sting, Janet Jackson, the Rolling Stones and more.
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Dave Chappelle was nominated for a Grammy
NBC also pointed this out in the announcement Chappelle was nominated for a Grammy Award for his Netflix special “Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer.” The 51-year-old is nominated for Best Comedy Album at the 67th Grammy Awards for his comedy special
“His latest special, ‘Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer,’ is nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album,” the announcement reads.
Chappelle won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album last year for his special “Dave Chappelle: What’s In A Name?” The comedian also won Best Comedy Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards last year for “Dave Chappelle: The Closer.”
The comedian’s jokes about transgender people landed him in hot water
“The Dreamer” made headlines after making many condemned jokes about transgender people during the special. The comedian told a trans joke while telling the story about meeting fellow comedian Jim Carrey on the set of Man in the Moon.
Carrey played the biopic of the late comedian Andy Kaufman, the Method actor remained in character throughout the meeting. Chappelle said he was grateful to have witnessed Carrey’s creative transformation, but was disappointed.
“How lucky am I in hindsight?” Chappelle said. “That I was able to experience one of the greatest artists of my time in one of his most demanding processes? It was very fortunate to have seen it, but when it happened it was very disappointing.”
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He continued: “I wanted to meet Jim Carrey and I had to pretend that this n—a was Andy Kaufman. He was clearly Jim Carrey all afternoon. I could look at him and see that he was Jim Carrey. Anyway, I say all this to say that trans people make me feel this way.”
In Chappelle’s 2021 special, “The Closer,” the comedian claimed that he would no longer tell trans jokes, citing the backlash he received from jokes he made in another special, “Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones,” said.
“I won’t be friends with these people anymore. It wasn’t worth the effort. I don’t say anything about her. Maybe three or four times tonight, but that’s it,” he joked. “I’m tired of talking about her.”
“To be honest, I’ve been trying to improve my relationship with the transgender community because I don’t want them to think that I don’t like them,” he continued. “You know how I did it, did you fix it? I wrote a play. I did that. “Because I know gays love plays,” he joked. “It’s a very sad piece, but it’s moving.” It’s about a black transgender woman, whose pronoun is unfortunately n—-a. It’s a tearjerker. At the end of the play, she dies of loneliness because white liberals don’t know how to talk to her. It’s sad.
