‘Saturday Night Live’ books Dave Chappelle to host November 12 show; A Tribe Called Quest to perform

Consider this maybe the most surprising “Saturday Night Live” news of the entire year, and we say that knowing that we lost Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah as cast members and that we had Alec Baldwin beautifully portraying Donald Trump for multiple episodes.

Today, NBC confirmed that none other than legendary comedian / frequent recluse-from-all-things-mainstream Dave Chappelle will be hosting the upcoming November 12 edition of the show, which will also feature A Tribe Called Quest as the musical guest (which also feels like a fun throwback). Don’t get us wrong — we love Benedict Cumberbatch, and are thoroughly excited to see him perform on the show. Yet, at the same exact time Chappelle is a legend in comedy, someone whose talent is only superseded by his enigmatic personality. His departure from “Chappelle’s Show” remains more stunning than almost any “SNL” departure, and we have no idea whatsoever how this hosting gig came about, but we are not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Do we think that Dave will kill this? Absolutely, but we’d be shocked if he reprises anything that he first introduced on his Comedy Central show, given that they’re owned by different networks and we’re not sure if Chappelle even owns the rights to many of the characters he introduced over there. (If Charlie Murphy makes a cameo on the show, we may altogether lose our ability to write.)

It’s hard to summarize this report any further other than saying that one of the funniest people alive is going to have a chance, finally, to host a show that has been one of the funniest things on the air. It’s wildly inconsistent, but the surprise nature of “SNL” is innately part of its charm.

If you want to preview “SNL” with Cumberbatch further, our advice is to use this article as a starting point. We’ll be back with more on that subject a little later in the weekend. (Photo: NBC.)