CHAPPELLE BACK ON TOP
But will the outlandish and sharp-witted comedian walk away from the spotlight again?
Dave Chappelle WASHINGTON went back to where it all began.
As a teen, Chappelle worked stages in the Washington, D.C., comedy scene. He recorded Killin’ Them Softly at the storied Lincoln Theatre, telling jokes in the same space where Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday had performed. The 2000 HBO special, considered one of Chappelle’s most quotable works, showcases the incisive, clever and downright ridiculous outlook on race and relationships that would be on full display three years later during his breakout Chappelle’s Show.
Then, at the height of his career, Chappelle famously walked away: from a $50-million Comedy Central deal, from TV specials, from it all. And while he has performed standup in the intervening years — popping up in comedy clubs, closing out festivals — Chappelle is now having his most public moment in a decade.
He returned to Washington last month for a nearly two-week stint at the Warner Theatre, where he filmed material for his third Netflix special. His $60-million deal with the company also yielded two other standup hours, filmed in 2015 and 2016 and released in March, that became Netflix’s most-viewed comedy specials ever. Chappelle has since completed a star-studded, two-week Radio City Music Hall residency over the summer and quickly sells out shows.
But when he opened a recent Warner performance, Chappelle joked about how he’s ready to walk away again. You know, after he drops this next special.
He said part of it has to do with how “brittle” some ears have become. While that served as a premise for a bunch of jokes, it’s also a sentiment Chappelle has expressed before.
As standup comedy booms and the number of comedy fans has multiplied, “now there’s a big debate about how far we should be able to go, and you’ll see guys saying things that will really upset people,” Chappelle said in a brief interview with The Washington Post over the summer.
He has some recent experience to draw from. Jokes in his first Netflix specials, particularly about transgender people, received some criticism. While shooting this next special, he doubled down on even more transgender material and incorporated the very criticism he has received.
But the world has changed. Since he released his last special, 2004’s For What It’s Worth, public attitudes on key social issues have dramatically shifted.
Technology has also dramatically changed. In 2004, most audience members didn’t carry phones that could let them covertly video and publish sets for the world to see. There was no widespread social media and rarely did the internet drive mainstream news coverage.
Recent years have seen bits, picked out of the context of a live show, take on a life of their own — such as a 2014 Hannibal Buress joke about allegations against Bill Cosby. Chappelle requires audiences at his performances to lock up their phones in magnetic pouches, but someone can still tweet or write about it after the fact. And sometimes jokes get written about as if they’re straightforward statements of opinion. A 2016 Observer story on a Chappelle drop-in set, where he riffed about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, caused quite the stir. Chappelle addresses that in his new act, too.
All of this has created an environment of increased awareness and accountability for standup comedians. Some veterans, such as Jerry Seinfeld, have bemoaned how political correctness hurts comedy. But there have always been people who have found comics’ jokes distasteful or offensive. It’s just that now everyone has a platform for their grievances.
Chappelle has long walked the lines between outlandish, offensive and sharp-witted. Not everyone will like what he has to say. But he’s still an expert of the craft who will always command a legion of fans eager to hear what he does. So, sure, Chappelle could walk away again if he wants. And there would be an audience waiting, again, for his return.