More than a decade ago, Dave Chappelle embodied legendary characters on his hilarious hit TV show Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central. And they have endured, even as the comedian hosted Saturday Night Live on Nov. 12. The Comedy Central series may be gone and live on in reruns, but the characters were still very much alive as Dave Chappelle parodied the Walking Dead on SNL and brought back Chappelle's Show characters. Before the filmed sketch aired, Chappelle spoke to the audience, saying people kept asking if he was going to do any characters from his former comedy series, and it was Glen's death on The Walking Dead that inspired him to do so.
"It was devastating," Chappelle says of the Walking Dead episode as he introduces the sketch. "I love that show and Glen is one of my favorite characters. I was crushed." In the parody, the comedian plays Negan, whistling as he paces and tries to determined who he will kill. Chappelle's Negan comes across Chappelle Show's Tyrone Biggums (the scheming and constantly-scratching crack addict), Clayton Bigsby (a blind white supremacist who has no idea he is black), Lil' Jon ("What? OK!"), among others. Bigsby even sports a "Make America Great Again" hat, indicating that he is a Donald Trump supporter. "It's Trump's America now, boy," he tells Negan.
Each of the characters gets a classic line (or two) in before Negan makes his fatal decision. Ultimately, Negan uses his bat to decapitate Tyrone, who doesn't even realize his head has been hacked off his body and now lies on the pebble-filled ground. Tyrone rolls his head all over the floor as Negan chases him with the bat. At one point, Tyrone summons his body to help him out — and it obeys his command.
His body holds his head in his hands as Tryone talks to the audience, using his situation as a metaphor for last week's presidential election. "This is how we as a nation begin to heal, through laughing together," he says. "Even though our country seems irrevocably severed like a man from his head, let my example prove that we should move forward." Tyrone continues, as his head is superimposed in different locations, like the Statue of Liberty and on Trump's body, as well as Hillary Clinton's torso. "Let us see ourselves in one other, for only empathy can conquer hate," he says.
Tyrone ends his speech with a reference to Trump's campaign promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act: "Let's break out, y'all. I only got two months until they take away my healthcare."
As a big fan of Chappelle's Show, it was so fun to see Chappelle take on his hilarious characters once again — and even offer commentary on the 2016 Presidential election.
Watch the hilarious sketch below.
Images: NBC; Giphy
