Dave Chappelle: "I'm Not on Crack!!!"
Chappelle's 'stress' is a stretch
By Renée Graham, Globe Staff May 17, 2005
Now that Dave Chappelle has officially declared himself ''not crazy" and ''not smoking crack," he needs to end his extended sabbatical and finish the third season of ''Chappelle's Show."
After weeks of speculation about what made the comedian bolt from his hit Comedy Central show -- and postpone its May 31 return -- Chappelle told Time magazine that he's been on a ''spiritual retreat" in South Africa, and has not, despite reports to the contrary, checked into a mental hospital there. He claims he went AWOL from the program he created in mid-production last month because he ''didn't like the direction of the show."
More to the point, Chappelle said he's ''definitely stressed out," and feeling the pressure of co-writing and performing his irreverent sketch-comedy show after signing a $50 million deal with the network.
So the 31-year-old comic up and left, without so much as a call to Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog, leaving in his wake lots of questions and rumors that he'd lost his mind in a blur of sudden, overwhelming fame or a haze of drugs and unchecked partying.
Without question, Chappelle is one of the funniest guys around. Little attention was paid when his show premiered in 2003, but once the first season was released on DVD, the half-hour show featuring bawdy, provocative skits about race, politics, and sex became a certified hit. To everyone's surprise, that set became one of the top-selling TV shows released on DVD.
That brought bigger audiences to the second season of ''Chappelle's Show," and the kind of attention that turned the once-unknown comic into a pop culture icon, and lines from his shows into oft-imitated catchphrases. (As profane as he is funny, two of Chappelle's best bits involving the late singer Rick James and entertainer Wayne Brady can't be repeated in this newspaper.)
Now, Chappelle is as heavy a hitter on Comedy Central as Jon Stewart on ''The Daily Show" and Cartman on ''South Park," but he's feeling too put upon to continue, at least for the moment.
Well, you know what, Dave -- you weren't feeling too stressed to sign that reported $50 million deal, even though you say it took you months to decide. If nothing else, that gives him 50 million very good reasons to return to work.
Another is, of course, Chappelle's considerable talents. No other show on TV offers a more pointed take on a variety of tricky topics, especially race. Along with co-writer Neal Brennan, Chappelle introduced such characters as a blind white supremacist who doesn't know he's black; a game show called ''I Know Black People," with questions pertaining to the ''Good Times" theme and hip-hop lyrics; a spoof of MTV's ''The Real World" with a crazy all-black cast, save for one incessantly abused and perplexed white guy; and a ''race draft" in which various races claim racially ambiguous celebrities such as Tiger Woods.
It was all remarkably assured and fearless, and some of the skits were so audacious they could leave viewers in slack-jawed awe. More often than not, each show was incredibly funny, as Chappelle highlighted through humor the absurdities of racism.
When his audience will see new episodes of ''Chappelle's Show" remains unanswered. (The complete second season DVD is due in stores May 24. ) According to Time, Herzog told Comedy Central staffers not to expect the third season in 2005, and Chappelle didn't sound any more optimistic.
If mo' money has led Chappelle to mo' problems, perhaps he should pull out of his multimillion-dollar deal. He could always return to making lousy movies such as ''Half Baked" and ''Undercover Brother." Whatever the case, Chappelle needs to get it together and get back to work.
You know what stress is, Dave? Stress is a single parent of three trying to support a family on minimum wage. Stress is an employee whose pension is about to be slashed by her company. Stress is a kid two years out of high school wondering if he or she will make it to their 21st birthday before being blown to bits by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Stress isn't making a half-hour comedy show and, when all is said and done, pocketing $50 million.
Renée Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe.com
This Article came from the Boston Globe.
By Renée Graham, Globe Staff May 17, 2005
Now that Dave Chappelle has officially declared himself ''not crazy" and ''not smoking crack," he needs to end his extended sabbatical and finish the third season of ''Chappelle's Show."
After weeks of speculation about what made the comedian bolt from his hit Comedy Central show -- and postpone its May 31 return -- Chappelle told Time magazine that he's been on a ''spiritual retreat" in South Africa, and has not, despite reports to the contrary, checked into a mental hospital there. He claims he went AWOL from the program he created in mid-production last month because he ''didn't like the direction of the show."
More to the point, Chappelle said he's ''definitely stressed out," and feeling the pressure of co-writing and performing his irreverent sketch-comedy show after signing a $50 million deal with the network.
So the 31-year-old comic up and left, without so much as a call to Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog, leaving in his wake lots of questions and rumors that he'd lost his mind in a blur of sudden, overwhelming fame or a haze of drugs and unchecked partying.
Without question, Chappelle is one of the funniest guys around. Little attention was paid when his show premiered in 2003, but once the first season was released on DVD, the half-hour show featuring bawdy, provocative skits about race, politics, and sex became a certified hit. To everyone's surprise, that set became one of the top-selling TV shows released on DVD.
That brought bigger audiences to the second season of ''Chappelle's Show," and the kind of attention that turned the once-unknown comic into a pop culture icon, and lines from his shows into oft-imitated catchphrases. (As profane as he is funny, two of Chappelle's best bits involving the late singer Rick James and entertainer Wayne Brady can't be repeated in this newspaper.)
Now, Chappelle is as heavy a hitter on Comedy Central as Jon Stewart on ''The Daily Show" and Cartman on ''South Park," but he's feeling too put upon to continue, at least for the moment.
Well, you know what, Dave -- you weren't feeling too stressed to sign that reported $50 million deal, even though you say it took you months to decide. If nothing else, that gives him 50 million very good reasons to return to work.
Another is, of course, Chappelle's considerable talents. No other show on TV offers a more pointed take on a variety of tricky topics, especially race. Along with co-writer Neal Brennan, Chappelle introduced such characters as a blind white supremacist who doesn't know he's black; a game show called ''I Know Black People," with questions pertaining to the ''Good Times" theme and hip-hop lyrics; a spoof of MTV's ''The Real World" with a crazy all-black cast, save for one incessantly abused and perplexed white guy; and a ''race draft" in which various races claim racially ambiguous celebrities such as Tiger Woods.
It was all remarkably assured and fearless, and some of the skits were so audacious they could leave viewers in slack-jawed awe. More often than not, each show was incredibly funny, as Chappelle highlighted through humor the absurdities of racism.
When his audience will see new episodes of ''Chappelle's Show" remains unanswered. (The complete second season DVD is due in stores May 24. ) According to Time, Herzog told Comedy Central staffers not to expect the third season in 2005, and Chappelle didn't sound any more optimistic.
If mo' money has led Chappelle to mo' problems, perhaps he should pull out of his multimillion-dollar deal. He could always return to making lousy movies such as ''Half Baked" and ''Undercover Brother." Whatever the case, Chappelle needs to get it together and get back to work.
You know what stress is, Dave? Stress is a single parent of three trying to support a family on minimum wage. Stress is an employee whose pension is about to be slashed by her company. Stress is a kid two years out of high school wondering if he or she will make it to their 21st birthday before being blown to bits by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Stress isn't making a half-hour comedy show and, when all is said and done, pocketing $50 million.
Renée Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe.com
This Article came from the Boston Globe.
posted by Mike | 9:34 AM
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