SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk delivered a self-deprecating opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, making fun of many aspects of his persona and getting plenty of laughs from the audience.
Musk’s selection as the night’s host was controversial, with even several SNLcast members publicly voicing their disapproval. Musk’s seeming attempt to crowd source ideas for sketches on Twitter drew mockery. Pete Davidson, however, said he didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t know why people were “freaking out.”
But the big question remained: would the billionaire be…funny?
It may have partly been a function of setting low expectations and then exceeding them — and let’s not forget to give credit to SNL’s writing staff — but the live audience certainly seemed to find him entertaining, punctuating virtually all of his jokes with laughter and even cheers.
Musk began by thanking the audience and saying what an “honor” it was to be hosting SNL.
“I mean that,” he quipped, making fun of his own voice. “Sometimes after I say something I have to say ‘I mean that.’ So people really know that I mean it already, that’s because I don’t always have a lot of intonation or variation in how I speak — which I’m told makes for great comedy.”
“I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL — or at least the first to admit it,” Musk continued, publicly mentioning that he has the condition for the first time. “So I won’t make a lot of eye contact with the cast tonight. But don’t worry, I’m pretty good at running ‘Human’ in emulation mode.”
“Look, I know I sometimes say or post strange things but that’s just how my brain works,” Musk explained. “To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars, and I’m sending people to Mars on a rocket ship — Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?”
He brought up how people were often “reduced to the dumbest thing they ever did,” which, for him, was smoking weed on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
“And now all I hear all the time is, ‘Elon Musk, all he ever does is smoke weed on podcasts.’ Like I go from podcast to podcast lighting up joints. It happened once. It’s like reducing O.J. Simpson to ‘Murderer.’ It happened one time!”
“Fun fact,” Musk continued. “O.J. Also hosted this show in ’79. And again in ’96. Killed both times.”
He also cracked jokes about saying “something truly shocking” on live TV (“I drive a Prius!”), how to pronounce his son’s name (“cat running across keyboard”) — and then, with the show the night before Mother’s Day, brought his own mother, Maye Musk, up on stage.
She’s apparently getting Dogecoin for a Mother’s Day present. When Musk has tweeted about Dogecoin before, it’s led to a price spike, so that may be something to watch.