Comedian Chris Rock hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend and delivered a monologue that was well-balanced, poking fun at President-elect Donald Trump, anti-Trump liberals, and included one brutal joke directed at former President Bill Clinton.
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And you could tell the crowd dragged in off the streets of midtown Manhattan weren’t quite sure what to make of it. They’re not, after all, used to courageous comedians daring to dip into un-woke waters by roasting both sides of the political spectrum.
There were some groans. Some uncomfortable moments. But overall, Rock delivered because, as any good comic does, he torched everybody. Something unheard of in the Trump era.
Now, SNL has had a tough time delivering laughs in recent years due to their penchant for constantly mocking only one side and doing so in a rather mean-spirited way. Rock alludes to that with his opening joke, congratulating creator and producer Lorne Michaels on the 50th anniversary of the sketch comedy show by saying they had “25 great years.”
The “Grown Ups” star almost immediately waded into politics, noting it’s been “a bad year for my people … the blacks,” as he pointed to Kamala’s loss in the election, the Diddy news, and Jake Paul beating a nearly 60-year-old Mike Tyson.
And then he pivoted to Trump.
“Trump had a good year, man,” Rock said. “Trump survived an assassination attempt. Won the presidency again by winning the popular vote. Was just named Time ‘Man of the Year.’ You know?”
“It could happen to a nicer guy.”
That may have been the worst of it, as Rock immediately ripped anti-Trump liberals for saying the president-elect’s return to the White House would shatter norms and etiquette.
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“A lot of people are scared. Like, ‘Oh, my God, he’s going to be so undignified,'” he mocked. “When I say a lot of people, I’m talking about the nine New Yorkers that didn’t vote for him, okay?”
He then eviscerated Clinton.
“Come on, man, this is not the most dignified job in the world,” Rock said of the presidency. “We’ve had presidents show up to the inauguration with pregnant slaves, okay? And I’m just talking about Bill Clinton.”
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Rock continued with some jokes about the Menendez brothers getting out of prison just in time to get deported by the 47th President and teaming up with the world’s “richest African-American,” Elon Musk.
“Trump is not playing. He’s got Elon. They’re going to put them in a rocket ship — call it SpaceMex,” he quipped.
At one point, the former SNL regular addressed Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden, joking that the president might not have all of his mental faculties, but he can still stick it to people.
“I gotta hand it to Joe. He don’t move as fast as he used to, he don’t talk as fast as he used to,” Rock laughed. “But that middle finger still works.”
The comment elicited some good laughs. Not laughing, however, were leftists on X who suggested Rock needed to be slapped by Will Smith again for daring to make jokes across the political aisle.
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“Normalizing the felon will never be funny,” one BlueSky woman wrote. “Love Chris Rock but oof.”
Another emotionally stunted lib chimed in with this poignant analysis of Chris Rock’s monologue: “Chris Rock can suck my butt with his t Rump ain’t that bad and his botox face.”
If you’re over the age of 5, the words “suck my butt” should never — EVER — come out of your mouth. They shouldn’t even enter your little head to begin with.
An X user asked, “Did Will Smith slap the funny out of him?” And others posted a GIF of the slap heard around the world.
I know I’m so wrong for this but Chris Rock’s SNL monologue has me wishing Will Smith had hit him harder. Does anyone know where Will Smith is? It might be time for an encore.
If this joke offended you, that’s a you problem but I know a guy who can make it so you never saw it… pic.twitter.com/C4CyQNYjio
— Mellanie (@ThatBrashBlonde) December 15, 2024
Imagine if SNL had actually tapped into the wealth of comedy that was coming out of the Biden administration over the past four years. Had they roasted Biden, whose lack of mental fitness could have easily been harnessed into comedy the way Chevy Chase used to poke fun at Gerald Ford or Dana Carvey used to parody George H.W. Bush, they might still be the gold standard in comedy.
Instead, we got years of a bitter Alec Baldwin viciously mocking Trump as if he was talking to his daughter.
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Maybe we’re finally getting a glimpse into them loosening up a little. Carvey has been playing Biden quite a bit in recent months and even did a “Church Lady” skit alongside Hunter Biden (David Spade).
They even delivered an opening skit shortly after the election that took some jabs at both Trump and Biden, though Baldwin returned as a terrible, mean-spirited imitation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Hey, you win some, you lose some. That’s the way comedy is supposed to be. Only those brave enough to take jabs at all sides can truly be appreciated.
What did you think of Chris Rock’s monologue? Let us know in the comments below.
