When Tiffany Haddish was set to host Saturday Night Live on November 11th of last year, she wanted to get the advice of a celebrity from a similar background who had done the show. As it would turn out, her appearance would be the first time a female black comedian would host the show in its history, which was news to her until she spoke to Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg, who had appeared on the show but never hosted, still had some awesome advice to pass on to Haddish as a fellow comedian:
To be a host is a super big honor. I couldn't believe I was the first black woman comedian to do it. I Googled and saw that Whoopi Goldberg had been on it, so I reached out to her. I said, 'Have you ever done SNL?' She said, 'Only a sketch.' I said, 'You never hosted?' And she said, 'You the first, bitch, you better do a good job.'
Hard as it may be to believe, Tiffany Haddish was the first black female stand-up comedian to host Saturday Night Live in 42 seasons. In an incrementally larger statistic, Haddish is only the twelfth black woman to have hosted the late-night sketch series with ten of the women in that group not having hosted until post-2000. SNL would have its first black female host in 1979 with actress Cicely Tyson, and Oprah Winfrey would become the second to do so in 1986. With the series having hosted 800 plus episodes since its beginning, one would imagine, much like Haddish did, that a female black stand-up comedian would've gotten on the show before now.
It would appear Tiffany Haddish's pep talk with Whoopi Goldberg, which she shared with Vulture, paid off, since there was nothing critics had to say regarding her episode specifically that hasn't been said about Season 43 of Saturday Night Live in general. Haddish got a couple of positive remarks from the public for speaking out about Hollywood's ongoing sexual harassment situation in her monologue, and got some laughs when she talked about her breaking the taboo of wearing an expensive dress more than once as a celebrity. Stand out sketches for the night seem to include Haddish's role as Boo Boo Jeffries in the skit "Tournament Fighter," which was a popular role that some would compare to David S Pumpkins:
Saturday Night Live returns to NBC Saturday, January 13 at 11:30 p.m. ET with special guests Sam Rockwell and Halsey. For a look at when other shows are set to return or debut in 2018, head on over to our midseason premiere guide. For a look at some shows that managed to get canceled in 2017, be sure to check out our cancellation guide. Those looking for a list of who has hosted Season 43 of SNL can find out by checking out our helpful list.
