SNL: Dave Chappelle spoofs diverse casting on House of the Dragon

Dave Chappelle spoofed House of the Dragon during his Saturday Night Live tenure this weekend.

The controversial comedian began by asking the crowd: “Anyone out here watching this new show, ‘House of Dragons’ [sic]?

“I am the biggest Game of Thrones fan, I love their new show. And I got to tell you, I love that they’re including Black characters. But to be honest, the Black characters… they take me out of it a little bit. It’s that blonde hair and old timey accents. It’s a little jarring, where are these people from?”

Chappelle then teed up the SNL sketch by saying that executive producer Lorne Michaels had managed to secure a “sneak peek” of the show’s second season.

The comedy spoof was littered with characters and references to the host’s Noughties sketch show, Chappelle’s Show, including original cast member Donnell Rawlings.

In the SNL scene, Kenan Thompson as Lord Corlys Velaryon introduces “new allies” including Ice-T as Larry Targaryen.

The Game of Thrones prequel series faced criticism from some fans of George RR Martin’s original work over the diverse castings, which were not accurate to the book descriptions.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, series co-creator Ryan Condal said on the issue: “The world is very different now than it was 10 years ago when [Game of Thrones] all started. It’s different than 20 years ago when Peter Jackson made The Lord of the Rings. These types of stories need to be more inclusive than they traditionally have been.

“It was very important for [co-creator Miguel Sapochnik] and I to create a show that was not another bunch of white people on the screen, just to put it very bluntly.”

Elsewhere on SNL, Chappelle went on a wide-ranging, 15-minute monologue that featured risqué jokes about the Jewish community in light of Kanye West’s recent controversies.