Dave Chappelle Lifts 'Saturday Night Live' to Season-High Ratings

Throughout the presidential campaign, Saturday Night Live has drawn attention for its brutal political satire. The show's first post-election episode, however, drew the biggest audiences of the season, as viewers presumably looked for a way to laugh after a week that left many Americans in a somber mood.

The episode began with a widely praised--and unflinchingly serious--rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" by Kate McKinnon. McKinnon played the number in the guise of Hillary Clinton, whom she had impersonated through the campaign, but she wasn't clearly in character when she offered a message of hope at the end of the song.

Dave Chappelle hosted the episode, and his monologue directly addressed the election, pointing out the implications of the results in terms of racial relations. The topic of racism also surfaced throughout the episode in skits featuring Chappelle and guest Chris Rock.

Ratings for the series' season overall had already been up compared to last season, but this week's episode easily outpaced the season's previous episodes. Ironically, the episode's ratings were the highest since Donald Trump hosted the show last November. Among younger viewers, however, this episode bested the Trump-hosted episode by far; in the 18-49 demographic, more viewers tuned in than had watched any episode since Jimmy Fallon hosted in 2013.