Dave Chappelle Shares The Last-Minute ‘SNL’ Advice Louis C.K. Gave Him After The Election

If you didn’t already know, comedian Dave Chappelle has two brand new stand-up specials debuting exclusively on Netflix. He isn’t doing much press for them, though between his Chappelle’s Show stardom, a short teaser and a slightly longer trailer, not that much more is needed to promote Deep in the Heart of Texas and The Age of Spin before March 21st. Yet none of this stopped Chappelle from chatting with the New York Times about the ins and outs of his monstrous Netflix deal. That, and the last-minute advice he got from fellow Netflix up-and-comer Louis C.K. about hosting Saturday Night Live.

Reporter Dave Itzkoff was especially curious about Chappelle’s well-received SNL episode as it came right after the November election. Once the electoral votes came in for Trump, the comic recalled seeing writers “tear up sketches they were writing” since “they’d assumed Hillary was going to win.” Even so, the NYT reminded Chappelle he’d “delivered a humorous, poignant monologue” about the matter. That’s when Louis C.K. came up:

The best advice I got was from Louis C.K. I went to a comedy club Friday night [before the show] and saw him. And Louis told me: “[Forget] the rest of the show. The monologue is all that matters.” I was stressed out all that day. But right before I went onstage, this calm just washed over me. Everything just felt right.

C.K., who’s currently slated to host the long-running variety show on April 4th, delivered what many thought was an equally hilarious and controversial monologue during his previous visit to the program. (Even Lorne Michaels wasn’t too fond of it, though moreso because of its length.) Yet it made the episode stand-out. And considering the level of importance Louis gave it, Chappelle must have internalized Louis’ advice because his post-election monologue was one of the show’s most profound moments.