The NY Times' Jason Zinoman traveled to San Francisco to watch Dave Chappelle do a secret stand-up gig and wrote a piece about it. This is all in the wake of Chappelle doing two shows in NYC with Chris Rock, spurring speculation about a comeback. Chappelle talked about making a comeback twice during the SF show but didn't get too specific, so maybe he's plotting something big.
Lost Roles is a weekly column that takes a particular comedic performer or writer and dives deep into all of their movie and TV projects that came close to happening but didn’t, for one reason or another. This week, we turn our attention to Dave Chappelle, who eight years ago was the hottest comedian in the country.
After spending more than a decade honing his chops as a stand-up comedian and appearing in supporting roles in other people's movies (and a starring role in his own, Half Baked), Dave Chappelle finally found the perfect vehicle for comedy in the Comedy Central sketch show Chappelle’s Show in 2003.
Chappelle’s [...]
Chappelle's Show is unlike almost any sketch comedy show before it. It doesn't come from the same sketch comedy tradition that SNL and Monty Python created; it's first and foremost a vehicle for Dave Chappelle. He and his co-writer Neal Brennan wrote every single sketch and Chappelle stars in almost every one. Although there are regularly featured actors like Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings, there really is no permanent cast to speak of. The show really has more in common with vanity driven sitcoms starring stand-up comedians than any other sketch show in terms of it's approach to humor. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the show became [...]
This piece is brought to you by Eddie Murphy: One Night Only, a star-studded celebration of one of the greatest comedic minds of the past half-century. Check it out tonight at 10/9c on SpikeTV!
Three decades into a career that's seen him working as an actor, standup, and writer, Charlie Murphy is continuing to pound the pavement to hone his craft. Most recently, he traveled the world, headlining an ambitious 10 country standup tour, traveling from Scandinavia to Australia to perform before sold-out crowds. Murphy, whom you may know best from his work on Chappelle's Show (or as Eddie Murphy's brother), also keeps busy with movie and TV [...]
Over at NPR, Andrew Lapin makes the argument that Dave Chapelle left show business, and stayed away, because his fans simply became too obnoxious. Lapin uses Chappelle's stand-up showdown in Florida, among other instances, to chide Chapelle's devotees into calming the hell down so he can be great again. Personally, I'm not buying it.
Now, clearly, I'm not saying Chappelle should enjoy it when people scream "Fuck your couch!" while he's buying light bulbs, but it seems pretty clear from his abrupt exit from the limelight that Dave's inner turmoil had more to do with the concept of creative control and the pressure of production and the [...]
Much in the way that Bill Clinton was considered our first black president, Neal Brennan might be our first black podcast host.
As co-host of The Champs podcast, along with comedians Moshe Kasher and DJ Douggpound, Brennan brings the predominantly white podcast universe a much-needed dose of diversity through his show’s edict of having only black entertainers as guests. It’s a funny and interesting formula that works, as the podcast is edging towards 1 million downloads. And what better ambassador to the black community, as Brennan himself would probably tell you. He earned his street cred co-creating Chappelle’s Show, one of the most successful black-themed television [...]
It might be the first Dave Chappelle interview in five years, but sadly he didn't guarantee us a new, equally funny show like we've all basically demanded. While talking with the DJs of San Franscisco's Wild 94.9, Chappelle discussed bombing in Florida last month, living in the Midwest ("Ohio is not as bad as people would think," Dave insists) and, of course, whether we're going to ever see a successor to Chappelle's Show. "It's kind of like I'm trying to kick. It's kind of like, you know…it's addictive, being a famous person," Chappelle explained, completely side-stepping the new show question. "I don't want that to be the [...]
