SNL Brought In Chappelle’s Show Characters For A House Of The Dragon Spoof

Two unexpected TV worlds collided on Saturday Night Live on Nov. 12. With Dave Chappelle as host, SNL took the opportunity to revive characters from his early 2000s sketch comedy and drop them into the Game of Thrones universe. Billed as a “sneak peek” of House of the Dragon Season 2, it brought Chappelle’s Show fan favorites like Silky Johnson and Tyrone Biggums to Dragonstone as potential Targaryen allies, similar to 2016’s Walking Dead parody.

Chappelle introduced the sketch by first calling himself “the biggest Game of Thrones fan” and then noting that he loves the spinoff and the inclusion of Black characters. After quickly wondering where they are from, he told the audience that SNL creator Lorne Michaels somehow managed to get an early look at Season 2, and then it was off to Dragonstone, where the pre-recorded sketch was set.

The House of the Dragon spoof picked up with Chloe Fineman and Michael Longfellow as Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen, preparing to go to war with King’s Landing. Identifying their true allies was a top priority, so Daemon whipped out a handy family tree to help them sort out everyone’s “insane” names, plus the confusing ties between them. He separately made a “chart of who’s having sex with whom,” but quickly realized it was redundant. “Weirdly enough, it’s the same as the family tree,” he deadpanned.

The planning party soon grew with the arrival of Corlys Velaryon (Kenan Thompson) and his granddaughters Baela and Rhaena (Ego Nwodim and Punkie Johnson). They had more family to introduce, too: distant cousins who Chappelle’s Show fans know as Silky Johnson (Chappelle) and Beautiful (Donnell Rawlings). As they made a bold entrance, Rawlings’ character announced, “This whole family looks like the sun took a look and said, ‘No thank you.’”

Next up was a cameo from Light-Skin Larry (Ice-T), who it turns out is a Targaryen. Then Tyrone Biggums (Chappelle) showed up, ready for his next hit of dragon rocks. He even got a dragon to light his pipe. By then, Rhaenyra was already ready for them to leave, but they didn’t go without Rick James (Chappelle) making an appearance as “one of the baddest mother*ckers Westeros has ever seen.” In the end, their future as allies looked bleak, but the Chappelle’s Show characters did get to set off on dragons — at least until the police found them.

The mashup won the night for many Chappelle’s Show fans. “Dave Chappelle really brought back Silky Johnson, Tyrone Biggums, and unbelievably Rick James last night in his HOD SNL skit last night ... I died laughing,” one viewer tweeted. Another wanted everyone to watch it and described it as “so on point,” before adding, “I cried I lmao so hard.”

Despite the many positive reactions to the sketch, and to Chappelle’s episode as a whole, there was also criticism and controversy surrounding his involvement. Page Six reported on Nov. 9 that some staff writers planned to sit out the episode in protest. (After his Netflix special Dave Chappelle: The Closer debuted in 2021, he faced public backlash to jokes many perceived as transphobic.) The comedian’s rep told CNN they’d seen “nothing to suggest media reports of a writer’s boycott” as Chappelle prepared to host SNL for the third time.