Two months after the debut of “Black Panther,” the star of the film, Chadwick Boseman, has finally assumed the role of host in the latest iteration of Saturday Night Live. While Cardi B’s confirmation of her pregnancy when she took to the stage as a musical guest threatened to eclipse the actor’s hosting gig, a series of poignant skits and an all-around commanding presence was enough to drive Boseman’s Saturday Night Live debut to success.
In his opening monologue, naturally, there was no escaping “Black Panther” as he joked about having to wait two months to host the show after the debut of the year’s biggest film. "It’s actually really tough because SNL has already done a bunch of sketches about ‘Black Panther.’ So, there's only really bad ideas left," he joked. “Sterling K. Brown got to do a ‘Black Panther’ sketch before me, and he dies in the first scene of the movie. I’d say ‘spoiler alert,’ but again, the movie’s been out for two months people.”
Of course, no SNL monologue in 2018 is quite complete without a dig at the Trump administration. Chadwick mentioned that since the film came out he’s been asked if he’d ever run for president given his role as an influential world leader in the picture. His response: “Why would I go from being a serious actor to doing reality T.V.?”
He would soon reference his roles portraying historical African-American figures such as James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall, drawing a comparison to the place he hopes “Black Panther” can hold in history before being interrupted by Kenan Thompson, who appeared as Panthro from ThunderCats, and accused the Black Panther of biting his style.
Catch the full monologue and standout sketches, including a revival of Black Jeopardy starring King T’Challa, down below.
