August 28, 2019

"That’s why I don’t be coming out doing comedy all the time. I’m goddamn sick of it. This is the worst time ever to be a celebrity. You’re gonna be finished. Everyone’s doomed...."

"Doesn’t matter what I say. And if you at home watching this shit on Netflix, remember bitch, you clicked on my face. Celebrity hunting season. Doesn’t matter what I say, they’re gonna get everybody eventually. Like look, I don’t think I did anything wrong, but we’ll see."

Said David Chappelle, quoted in his new comedy special, "Sticks and Bones," quoted in "Dave Chappelle under fire for discrediting Michael Jackson accusers in Netflix special/Standup comedian also takes aim at callout culture that sees public figures held to account by audiences" (The Guardian).

We watched the show last night.

ADDED: I enjoyed the show and laughed while it was going on. Looking back on the whole thing, my primary observation is that Chappelle's humor is premised on no empathy — specifically a black man's withholding of empathy from everyone who's in a better position than a generic black man. Chappelle is able to make this funny for the general audience because he has us — most of us or some of us — convinced that he is good at heart. The clearest example of his no-empathy position was stated outright when he mocked white people on heroin and said that he had no more empathy for them than white people had for black people during the crack epidemic of the 80s. He even dramatized killing a white heroin addict — blowing him away with a shotgun.

45 comments:

henry said...

was it funny?

tim maguire said...

I watched about half of it. I'll probably watch the other half at some point, but it's usual Chappelle in that it is uneven. Part brilliant part not so much.

I had to turn down the volume in case the neighbors heard--the language was embarrassing, gratuitous.

Quaestor said...

Based on past experience I'm laying down Quaestor's Law: If it's Netflix, it sucks.

rhhardin said...

Making mobs ridiculous is always fun, at least for people who are not joiners. On the other hand, they don't get you fired. The mob still rules.

rhhardin said...

The best you can do is turn the mob. Mobs gotta mob.

rehajm said...

If all y'all are watching it I'll have to sign up for another free month of Netflix and check it out. The new season of The Ranch is coming soon, too...

Darrell said...

Times they are a--changin'.

Marvel just removed an anti-American Mark Waid screed from their 80th Anniversary 1,000th issue before it printed.

0_0 said...

Tim Maguire, how loud do you normally have the TV? Neighbors would probably rather not have to listen to everything you watch, with the language being the least objectionable part.

Tarrou said...

Watched it last night. I liked it, but I didn't laugh the way I usually do at Chappelle. No hilarious moments, just A-/B+ material interspersed with a lot of opinions. Which, being Chappelle, are interesting, but this rang to me less as a comedy set and more of a funny lecture.

Lucid-Ideas said...

I enjoyed it, even the parts I thought were over the line;)

Going all the way back to Chappelle's Show, he was one of the few comedians (also Chris Rock) that was willing and able to poke fun at his own race. This gave him license to dish it out to everybody.

Tank said...

Watched last night. Very funny. And Questar, Netflix does have some good programs. I love when he be calling me bitch. I’d say he is an equal opportunity Insulter. Old fashioned comedy really, fighting the PC BS.

Rory said...

"Celebrity hunting season. Doesn’t matter what I say, they’re gonna get everybody eventually"

As President Harrison Ford might say, "It's your turn to be afraid."

JAORE said...

That's NOT funny!*


* The unofficial motto of the new left.

Tank said...

@Lucid

Agree.

Dave Begley said...

Yeah, was it any good?

I watched "The Big Easy" last night. Great movie. Almost as good as "Frankenstein in Love."

Great sex scene with Ellen Barkin. Why billionaire Ron Perelman married her.

tim maguire said...

0_0 said...
Tim Maguire, how loud do you normally have the TV? Neighbors would probably rather not have to listen to everything you watch, with the language being the least objectionable part.


In addition to how loud I have the TV, you might want to consider where I might live.

J. Farmer said...

Was watching it last night in bed with the hubby but fell asleep before the end. The "alphabet people" routine was quite funny, though, and I thought Chapelle's jokes about the relationship between the G's, the L's, the B's, and the T's was pretty spot on.

Rumpletweezer said...

I thought the part about talking to the woman at Standards and Practices was absolutely hilarious.

purplepenquin said...

Based on past experience I'm laying down Quaestor's Law: If it's Netflix, it sucks.

You can't judge all of "Black Mirror" by S1:E1. That episode is its own lil' thing...

Rob said...

I enjoyed it, especially the story about his son eating duck.

daskol said...

Chapelle has always been a softie, which is what have frisson to the most of the act. He's so full of empathy he empathizes with school shooters!

Kay said...

I’m on Chappelle’s side here, but at the same time I don’t feel motivated to get hysterical about the hysteria surrounding his act. 15 years ago the controvery would have been about making fun of the troops. 40 years ago, about using the word “fuck.” There is always something. And as always the controversy is helping to fuel the attention he’s getting.

SeanF said...

purplepenquin: You can't judge all of "Black Mirror" by S1:E1. That episode is its own lil' thing...

When we watched "Black Mirror", we for some reason started with Season 3 (I'm guessing that because the first two seasons were not NetFlix exclusives but Season 3 was, the system presented Season 3 to us as something new to watch). We did eventually go back and watch the previous seasons once we realized what was going on.

After watching S1:E1, I told my wife that I was glad we hadn't started with that one, because I don't know if I would've watched any more after that.

daskol said...

The protracted bit about shooting up a heroin junkie in his kitchen was part empathize for deplorable gun owners and part racial table-turning on stereotypes from the crack epidemic: he even did Chris rock's famous/infamous line from New Jack City where he so memorably played a crackhead.

doctrev said...

I should be offended by Chappelle offering to blow away heroin addicts. After all, what would happen if white people professed a desire to hunt down crack addicts like they were on safari? But then I realized, that's the point. It's okay to deal with people lowering themselves to being animals. I'd suggest that the exchange be crack addicts for meth users instead, and white people would of course have to pay a premium for the privilege of culling the crack fiends, but overall it's better public policy than 60% of what comes out of Washington.

iowan2 said...

I watched it this morning. Unremarkable. Some funny stuff, not a whole waste of time (though I don't have heave schedule right now.) I thought the bit about shooting the invader, was non-racial. Funny no matter what.

I fail to see any controversy, but them I'm not woke, (brainwashed)

I liked Chappell better than Eddie Murphy. I could never get more than 10 minutes into his standup. In general I can take insult humor in small bites. Joan Rivers 3 minutes was about right, more than that starts to be fingernails on the blackboard.

n.n said...

Gallows humor, perhaps. Abortion humor? Rabid diversity, certainly. Very urbane.

The Crack Emcee said...

I didn't hear a single thing I disagreed with - and it was funny.

Dave Chappelle and I could be neighbors.

PM said...

The hardest part of being a black comedian:
Doing a set w/o mentioning white people.

The Crack Emcee said...

PM,

That should let you know what a huge impression they have on our lives - unlike whites who claim they can go a lifetime without considering us.

bleh said...

I liked it, but it was pretty uneven and some parts were very unoriginal. One example immediately comes to mind: I audibly groaned at his joke about allowing men to abandon their babies if the mothers chose not to have an abortion. That's only the oldest observation ever made by the men's rights movement. I remember hearing guys joke about that twenty years ago.

There were other examples of stale, unoriginal stuff that I can't remember now as I sit here. But overall it was pretty good. Much, much better than what passes for standup in the Hannah Gadsby era.

FullMoon said...

I laughed a couple of times. Interesting how the audience reacted with laughs or clapping before he came to the punchline sometimes.

(not exact)
"if a woman can choose to kill the baby, a man should be able to choose to abandon it"


Lots of whoops and hollars in agreement at "woman's choice"
Kinda slowed a bit at "no child support".


FullMoon said...

I liked it, but it was pretty uneven and some parts were very unoriginal. One example immediately comes to mind: I audibly groaned at his joke about allowing men to abandon their babies if the mothers chose not to have an abortion. That's only the oldest observation ever made by the men's rights movement. I remember hearing guys joke about that twenty years ago.

Did you nod and smile in agreement when he said it is up to the woman?

daskol said...

It may be an old idea, but it was framed fresh in terms of zero fetus/baby empathy: ladies, if you can kill it, we should at least be allowed to abandon it.

bleh said...

"Did you nod and smile in agreement when he said it is up to the woman?"

No, I didn't care for that either. As much as I disliked the lame joke, though, I was glad he wasn't saying that just for the "clapter."

bleh said...

"It may be an old idea, but it was framed fresh in terms of zero fetus/baby empathy: ladies, if you can kill it, we should at least be allowed to abandon it."

Huh? No, it's the same old, tired joke that every loudmouth idiot you've ever known has made.

FullMoon said...

No, it's the same old, tired joke that every loudmouth idiot you've ever known has made.

Apparantly you disagree with his opinion. That is what it is.An opinion. An observation. The joke was on the audience who did not expect the "abandon it" from Chapelle even though it has been an obvious point of view forever.

Has never been a joke.

PM said...

Crack:
That 'huge impression' certainly seems to drive black comedians' lives and material. But in the wider realm, inventions of black culture - in music, language, fashion, sports, gestures, etc - are not only 'not considered', they're unmistakenly woven into the national life.

The Crack Emcee said...

PM,

That 'huge impression' is a result of blacks being only 13% - spread out over the entire nation - but occupying at least 50% of white people's minds.

The Crack Emcee said...

BTW - if it seems strange to say blacks occupy 50% of white people's minds, when they claim they can go a lifetime without considering us, remember:

Nobody believes those claims.

jg said...

50% of fears, perhaps.

jg said...

Culturally blacks seem to punch about 2x above weight. With the rise of anti-white and anti-jewish hate crimes, we can perhaps all understand that it's uncomfortable to have your group made the topic of political discussion, period.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The Crack Emcee said...That 'huge impression' is a result of blacks being only 13% - spread out over the entire nation - but occupying at least 50% of white people's minds.

I don't know if this is a deliberate invocation of a white supremacist/racist shorthand--if it is then it's likely too subtle for most of this crowd but if it's not it's one of your more-hilarious comments.


Urban Dictionary: 13 50

0_0 said...

Tim Maguire- I don't see where you live as being relevant. Loud enough for the neighbors to hear is loud, by any measure.

tds said...

long sequence of killing white heroin addicts was not the point. It was just to make us forget that his dick was out and thus ensuring the punchline worked.