Michael Che Doesn’t Hold Back on Chris Rock, SNL’s Greatest Cast Members

I hope that's usable. A cool gift that I got that's got to be up there with the best gift. During the pandemic, SNL came back. Chris Rock was one of the first people to host. And he didn't want to host because he hadn't been on the road a lot. And, you know, it's really hard. You know, it's a lot to ask for a comedian to get up there and do that monologue. They take it serious. it's important you know you want to be sharp so i was taking him to places where he could underground comedy places where you know some of the restrictions was lax maybe and it was outdoors and masked and he could kind of get his feet wet and we was going through jokes and you know helping him with that uh he sent me a gift it was a really nice watch and it was engraved and it came with no uh no name no nothing a watch just showed up in the mail and i didn't know who i didn't know who it was from and i looked at the back and it was engraved it said thanks and i was like oh thanks chris so that's my uh it was a rolex it was a beautiful rolex watch it's in the mail and on the back it was engraved it said thanks and i was like that's chris and i was like did you send me something he's like i don't know what you're talking about and i was like all right i thought that was the i would never wear it it's just it's just uh yeah it's just a it means a lot because i know why he got it and uh it was cool for somebody that you know that's chris rock that's my hero so for him to be thankful for something that i could do meant a lot to me my top five SNL cast members of all time and by the way we play this game all the time at SNL so you would think I'd be prepared for this question it always changes because there's so many people and I always feel bad that you forget somebody let's just start with the easy one Eddie Murphy Will Ferrell are my two favorite SNL performers ever so we just get that out the way number three Phil Hartman who could just do everything was just like an amazing performer the kind of comedy performer you don't really even see anymore it's almost like a lost art for how steady and how versatile and how much he brought to to sketches then I gotta go Kristen Wiig I mean there was a time when Kristen was doing about six sketches a show which in SNL terms is probably literally carrying a show and then man this is where it gets tricky because you got a lot of people on that fringe you got you got Farley you got Polari Kate McKinnon Cecily who i love you got keenan who's keenan it's crazy how many people you could put in five and then you got the greats and you got blue sheet and all these guys sandler mike myers who's better than mike myers but i'm gonna go molly shannon because i've been watching a lot of Molly Shannon lately the way she went for it the way she committed the way she committed to Silly you could see the joy in in in her performances and it was just contagious and Vanessa Bayer is another one that I love too man there's so many people but that would be my five I'm going Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Phil Hartman, Molly Shannon that's my five and it'll change tomorrow but for now man one of my buddies his name is tim robinson he's a very funny comedian uh he has a show called i think you should leave and share company and he's getting a lot of he won an Emmy for those shows and he's getting a lot of credit right now but i know him as one of my first office mates at SNL and that guy every time i see him i just saw him a couple days ago. He makes me laugh harder than anybody. One of the funniest people I've ever met. This is the last thing I got in my phone that made me laugh so hard. It's a screenshot of a text exchange. I don't know who it's from, where it's from, but then I seen it, the text exchange. Should I read it to you? Yes, please. All right, I'll read it. Hold on, hold on. Wait a minute. Guy texts his friend, bro, she is online. What do I do? And he wrote back, I don't know, send a pic of your and the guy wrote back you first and he goes send it to her you idiot and he goes oh whoever wrote that whoever that happened to that it makes me laugh for like two days man that's just so funny best advice i ever received my my older brother used to always tell me when we would argue and he used to always say you know what they say about people who know everything they can't learn nothing and that was really good advice it helps you be a better listener if i could have any nick host snl josh hart seems like he's he's sort of very fun og is just like a funny character you know i might get in trouble for saying this but who wouldn't want to see charles oakley dress up and then sketches this might get me banned from the garden but man charles oakley would be hilarious i would say that would that would be maybe my pick you know sorry charles oakley man oh that'd be hilarious or anthony mason rest in peace anthony mason that would be amazing as well who am i listening to that people would be surprised by the band that was just on snl turnstile new to me i loved watching them we don't get a lot of like rock and roll on the on the show it was just refreshing it was different it felt like you know it's dope energy kind of like the look of the band they kind of look like people you know They didn't look like rock stars in the sense of they were trying to be rock stars. A lot of bands, they almost seem like tribute bands, but they seem like this is the kind of music, they make the music that they listen to, and I thought that was really cool. I dig them, so I've been trying to listen to them a little more. That's hard, because a true New Yorker doesn't really know how New York they actually are. For my wedding, I want to come down the aisle and shook ones. I still fold my pizza. I think that's a very New York thing. I see people eat pizza like a slice of loose leaf paper. It drives me nuts. Fold it. You got to fold it. You got to get the, even the Portnoy, he eats it like a dweeb. Fold your pizza. And I walk while I eat too. I don't care what it is. Rice, pizza, spaghetti, whatever. I could eat and walk like a real New Yorker. And I defend that. I think that you should be able to do that because we've got places to go. How about eating on the subway? Eating on the subway is wild. Because if you could keep your mouth open with them smells, then you're more New York than me. The best gift I've ever given anybody, I don't know. I really don't know. I'll tell you what, I don't know if this is a gift, But I think one of the best gifts I gave somebody, my mom, when she had some problems at her house, with her house, and there was a lot of construction and things that had to happen at the house. So I got her a new house and it was a nice, nice house. and I think that yeah I mean I feel like every every little boy wants to buy their mama a house and that's like you know that's the thing that it makes you feel like come on man you know no matter what I do when I'm at the Pearly Gates like I bought my mama a house though right you know what I mean so hopefully hopefully that's I don't know that I could top that one getting my mama a house knowing where we came from felt really good to do so that was the that was the gift that meant the most for me to do.