Rocket launcher.Mars promoter.New car salesman.Tunnel digger.
But is Elon Musk a comedian?
The 50-year-old uber-entrepreneur, with a net worth over $160 billion, took his turn at hosting Saturday Night Live.
Musk came on stage decked out head to toe in black, and launched a self-deprecating monologue about his social media antics and audacious ambitions.He revealed he’s the first SNL host with Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of autism.
Musk drew a round of applause.“So I won’t be making a lot of eye contact with the cast tonight,” he joked.“Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at running human in simulation mode.”
Online commenters were quick to point out that former SNL star Dan Aykroyd was also diagnosed with a mild diagnosis as a child.
Musk called it an honor to host the long-running NBC show.
“I mean that.Sometimes after I say something, I have to say I mean that,” he said.“So people really know that I mean it.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.”
Musk also promoted his futuristic goals of widespread renewable energy and the need for humanity to become a multi-planetary species.
“If I just posted that on Twitter, I’d be fine,” he said.“But I also write things like, ’69 days after 4/20 again haha.’”
Then, a mea culpa.
“To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship.Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?”
His mother, Mae Musk, joined him at the end of the monologue for a Mother’s Day celebration.
Her Mother’s Day gift? Elon’s favorite crypto currency, Dogecoin, of course.
Musk followed up on the quip later on a Weekend Update segment.Wearing a bow tie and glasses, Musk handled repeated questions from hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost asking “What’s Dogecoin?”
Finally, Che nodded.“Oh, so it’s a hustle?”
“Yeah,” Musk said and laughed, “it’s a hustle.”
The former Silicon Valley resident appeared in several sketches, trying his acting chops as a doctor, video game character and very-Elon-like old west cowboy.
Musk has made numerous appearances on TV shows and movies.The businessman has made a side hustle as a showman, filling an IMDB page with guest appearances on South Park, The Big Bang Theory and Iron Man 2.He’s also said to be a real-life inspiration for fictional Iron Man Tony Stark.
The show was also streamed for the first time on YouTube to more than 100 countries, including his native South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, India, Russia and the UK.
In his day job, Musk serves as CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla and SpaceX, and leads other ventures in artificial intelligence, solar power and subterranean vehicle transport.The Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle maker has been hitting record production and sales numbers.
But like comedy, the electric vehicle market is a competitive business.Right after Musk’s monologue, rival Ford purchased a spot for their new electric Mustang Mach-E..
