-Our first guest tonight is the Emmy-nominated co-head writer
of "Saturday Night Live," who also serves as co-anchor
of "Weekend Update," his latest stand up special
"Shame the Devil" is streaming now on Netflix.
Please welcome back to the show, our very good friend,
Michael Che, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back. -How you doin'. Hi.
-I'm doing great. -I never --
I never know what to do with the mask after I take it off.
-Yeah. Well I think a pocket is the right answer.
-Yeah? -I think you're crushing it.
-I got this fear that, like, this is going gonna all
end up in the ocean on some turtle.
-Oh, yeah. Well it's very good to think that way.
I think that's -- I heard -- we're always happy to see you
but I heard you have a little bit of a bone to pick with me.
-Yeah, I do. -Okay.
-You took my look, man.
I wanted to be casual on "Late Night" first.
You know, every -- every year I've always asked Lorin
and the show, like, please, let me just be casual.
I want to wear my own clothes at "Update."
And they said "No, Seth wouldn't do that."
And now Seth. -Yeah.
-Is casual. -Well, you know why
I got away with it and you didn't?
-No. Why. -Lorin watches "SNL."
That's how they get you. -Touché.
-That's how they get you. Did you know -- I have to ask --
this is a little in the weeds on the job
I used to have that you have now. Did you wear suit pants?
-No. No. I don't wear any pants.
-Yeah, yeah. I'm very bummed that I -- you know --
I wore jeans all the time. -Yeah.
-Which was fine, presented fine.
But there is a lot of like cool back stage photos
you get over the years, and you look super dumb.
I wish jeans with the top suit is so stupid.
-Yeah, you look like -- what's that guy,
"You Might Be a Redneck." -Yeah. Well, it is.
Like, when you think of it, it's like the mullet of outfits.
-Yeah.
-Business up top. Party on the bottom.
-That was, like, the comedian, like, uniform.
-Like jeans, a dumb blazer. -Back in the day, yeah.
-Yeah. -And then high-tops.
Like big, powerful, like, red high tops.
-Yeah, you gonna get you a development deal
if you dress like that. -1989 development deal.
You -- congratulations, I know you moved.
You got yourself place Upstate New York.
-That's right. I'm a home owner now.
-Yeah. Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ]
How is -- how is the neighborhood?
How are you taking to the neighborhood.
-Very, very white. -Okay.
-It's the whitest neighborhood I've ever been to.
It's like -- it's like me and one black bear. And that's it.
I can't wait to meet him, too. -Well, yeah.
-Excited. -Is it a town?
-It's what they call a hamlet. -Oh, wow.
-Do you know what that is? -It's white, I think. Yeah.
-There is nobody like, "Oh, I live in a black hamlet."
Othello?
[ Laughter ]
That was for us. -That was very good.
There's someone with a pipe watching right now going,
"Oh, very well played, Che." -Nicely played.
-Nicely played. I will show this to my class tomorrow.
So you live -- what about Thanksgiving?
Are you going to do it there, going to do it with your family?
-I'm going to probably go see my mom, because I got to work.
I'M WORKING LIKE THIS WHOLE Week.
So I'm just going to go to my mom's house.
And I'm just gonna wait until it's late
so it's not too crowded.
Because my mom has a huge Thanksgiving.
-Was last year small because of the pandemic.
-No. -Okay.
-Well, see, she thought it was small because she said
it would only be a few people.
She was like, "We'll only have like 10 people."
But my mother thinks if she invites her family
that counts as one person. So I'll be like 10 people?
Just, like, Derek and the kids, so that's one.
That's 11 what are you?
And in her head that's how she does math.
-Do you have to bring anything? -No, but I get to take stuff.
-Oh. -Yeah, that's the tradition.
Is when you -- you know, Thanksgiving,
you get to take a pie home if you've been on TV.
If I was -- I wish I was on a hit show.
If I was on "Squid Game" I'd probably get a whole turkey leg.
[ Laughter ]
-What about -- you had -- I guess what are you like eight,
nine episode into the season? -Yeah.
-Do you have anything -- I always like to ask --
anything you wrote that you liked
that was like a complete non-starter?
-Oh, man, I don't know if it was a non-starter.
But it didn't go anywhere.
Some things are just fun for me.
Like I had this sketch -- I wrote a sketch about a guy --
it was a about a guy who was have a wet coma.
-A wet coma? -Yeah.
It was like a wet dream, but a coma.
[ Laughter ]
-Just so we can all --
I think everybody is trying to picture that right now.
We might as well put the host to it. Who did you write it for?
-Owen Wilson. -Okay.
So Owen Wilson -- and so he is in a coma.
So who -- who recognized he was having a wet coma.
-The doctor.
Because his kids come to visit him,
and he is just moaning the whole time.
Like, "Ohh." "Mmm." "Oohh."
And apparently you can't put that on NBC.
[ Laughter ]
-I have a lot of questions about your special.
We'll be right back with more from Michael Che.