Last night’s Chappelle’s Show wasn’t funny. No other way to say it. Had to put the other one on TiVo to make sure I wasn’t just gassed about the last one because I was just yearning for the show. The last one’s still funny, so it’s all good.
Except it’s not.
Last week, I asked whether Charlie Murhpy and Donnell Rawlings were selling out by hosting the show in Dave’s stead. They gotta eat, so I’d never be too critical. Plus, I don’t know if they’re Dave’s boys or were just his co-workers (employees).
After the last show, I’m comfortable saying it’s the latter.
Here’s the story–Comedy Central decided to televise a sketch where Dave plays mistrel-like pixies that pop in people’s heads when they’re in situations where their races make things uncomfortable. For example, a sambo pops up when Dave is trying to decide whether to order chicken on an airplane.
I think it’s a pretty good premise. I actually wrote something about it a few years ago. Anyway, the sketch wasn’t bad.
But see, the sketch is also infamous. This is the sketch that Dave says made him reconsider what he was doing on the show. He said he saw someone laughing in a way that made him uncomfortable, so it was time to jet.
It didn’t seem like the sketch that would make someone quit over racial conscience. This was not nearly as close to the line as Reparations 2003. That was the one that made me worry if white people were going to miss the point (but when it comes to reparations, most people of all persuasions miss the point, anyway). But Dave chose to quit, as is his right. Not my place to say anything about how he should or should not feel. As a rule, I have little to say about people having hypersensitive consciences unless said conscience adversely affects my sex life. Beyond that, be what you want.
So Comedy Central decided to show that sketch. And since they’re having the damndest time filling up full half-hour episodes, they decided to follow the sketch with audience discussion on the sketch and whether they found it to be offensive.
What followed was utter bullshit. First, the audience responses were very carefully edited. Not a single person in the audience, that I remember, had a problem with the sketch. I didn’t either, and I have no doubt that no one in hte audience was offended. There’s a selection bias that comes from polling that audience. They come for stuff that’s off the hook.
But Comedy Central tried to play me, you and anyone else watching with that shit. First, no non-black person offered any important societal discourse on the issue. A Jewish gentleman said that he always pays double his share on a dinner bill so no one assumes he’s a cheapskate. That’s pretty funny, but it doesn’t really touch on the issue. He simply expressed what it would be like to be a person in the sketch, but it didn’t really touch on what it was like watching the sketch.
For Comedy Central to touch on what concerned Dave, it would have to talk to some regular, run-of-the-mill white folks and ask them why they found the sketch to be humorous. After all, those are the people that worried Dave. Instead, they asked a bunch of black folks, just about all of whom commented on how we can’t worry about what white people think and how the show was funny and how you just need to be funny and stuff like that.
Y’okay.
Comedy Central can’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining. The network tried to play it as though it was simply trying to encourage some discourse on a controversial topic. But what really was going on? An attempt to discredit Dave for leaving the show, an attempt to show that he was off in his assessment of the sketch. And it was done in a way that anyone with a quasi-decent ability to see through rhetoric could tell was bullshit.
Comedy Central really irks me here because there’s no need for them to run a PR offensive. Dave’s gone. He’s not coming back. It doesn’t really matter why he’s gone. He’s just gone. Why try to play him as though he’s unreasonable?
He had to right to leave the show and he did. He didnt’ feel comfortable with it. And since it’s not my place to say what he should be okay with, I say nothing more than that such a sketch wouldn’t bother me a bit. That’s also colored by the fact that I’ve reached the point where I almost am totally unconcerned with the opinions of white people. It makes me uncomfortable when they’re overly concerned with mine, so I don’t worry too much about theirs.
(The worst anyone can think is that I’m just like the rest of the niggaz, which is the truth. Different from ’em, too, but we’re all different. Just not sweatin that too hard, so long as I’m just being me.)
But to keep running a PR campaign this long after Dave left is positively absurd.
And for Charlie and Donnell to sit there passing the mic around like Phil Donahue and Oprah? Shameful. Absolutely shameful. As artists, they know Dave’s got the right to mold his own vision and decide how he wants to be received. For them to be complicit in this, to question Dave’s motives even though they would have done the same thing in an analogous situation is selling out. Period.
At root, this issue is between Dave and Dave. It has nothing to do with any of the rest of us. They should have a certain respect for that. And if they don’t, the need to take it to the back and say nothing about it in that setting.
Also, please remember that I don’t say this as a media outsider. I write about sports on what might be the biggest sports outlet on Earth. I also like to write about race and spend a great deal of time thinking about it. I have to make decisions all the time about what angle to take when I write about race because I have to be entertaining, interesting, informative, and clear. I am loyal to my thesis and little else when I write.
I offend black people all the time when I’m critical of black people. I had black folks from all corners hit me up when I wrote about Vince Young’s Wonderlic because I wasn’t representing him in the proper light in my piece. It seems that by criticizing his choice of an inexperienced–and, conincidentally, black–agent I was reinforcing notions of black inferiority. The humor in that case, of course, is that the same racism they fear is the one that forces them to look at every black person as a representative the rest of us.
I say that to say this–I understand what Dave was worried about. He felt that the ideas he wanted to convey were not being received in the way he wanted. He sees his work as being subconsciously intellectual, but he felt like it was being taken as a joke on black people. It wasn’t just that people missed the point. It was that he feared people would never get the point. So he walked away.
I respect that.
I’m not quite at that point. People miss the point of my work all the time, so I’ve come to expect it. I just make my thesis as clear as possible. Since the logic I write with doesn’t allow for as much personal interpretation as comedy, I don’t have to deal with what Dave’s dealing with. Lucky for me, shit.
But the long of the short–this wasn’t the network’s call and this wasn’t Murphy and Rawlings’ places to be. CC needs to run the shows and shut the fuck up. Let Dave have his stand, especially since it’s too late for anyone to take it from him.
17 thoughts on “Charlie and Donnell Are Sellouts”
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Was watching the show last night and was completely underwhelmed. I had to ask myself, was it just that it wasn’t funny, or is it that I’m reacting to the fact that Dave’s absence speaks way louder than any words or skits ever could? When after the series of pixie sketches, Donnell & Cholly announced that they would be taking comments from the audience, I thought it was a joke. When they came back, and people actually started standing and commenting, my mouth literally flung open. The fact that CC is still on the offense with this, leads me to believe that there’s been some funky shit going on behind the scenes for a while. The fact that D & C would choose to be a part of it, while also prepping a show on CC with Dave’s former partner is just foul. To let Dave have his stand, would be akin to Comedy Central admitting that he isn’t just another crazy nigga. Dave’s not posed at the end of his show in shackles, holding two wads of cash for nothing. He and Martin Lawrence know something about this business that D & C have yet to figure out. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check Dave on Inside The Actor’s Studio, and he’ll explain it to you.
i was watching last night as well and wrote something about the show last night.
i’m with you. the sketch in my opinion wasn’t bad. i laughed. i also understand dave’s point as well.
i was hopeful about the audience discourse. you’re right about the editing. to really know how folk felt about it isn’t going to appear on comedy central. they’re going to make themselves look as good as possible.
and that inside the actor’s studio as stephanie mentioned was on point. i have it on my ipod.
When I saw the audience comment section, it reminded me of the movie “Bamboozled” where the studio (and fans of the show) tried to rationalize the show’s offensiveness by highlighting its entertainment value. Although I wouldn’t say Dave’s show is reminiscent of the “Mantan The New Millennium Minstrel Show,” I do know a media snow job when I feel one.
I think that the sketch showed that Chappelle’s Show had a definite limit as to how deep comedy could be used to discuss and portray deep social issues. The show’s goal is comedy and within a limited time frame utilized by the vehicle (30 minute tv) I don’t think that the point was going to be made in a truly meaningful manner.
Reparations 2003 didn’t have any part where it showed Dave anguishing as to what something as simple as ordering the food would mean in a social context…even if it was all internal. I think that the ideas he has regarding race and how it effects him internall and externally would never be displayed accurately in this format. The same reason why the Block Party was better as a feature movie than a special episode of Chappelle’s Show.
No question that Dave would be able to put together a traveling socio-political discussion panel where commentary wouldn’t be lost on forcing it through sketch comedy.
evan
tupac shappelle lives
Comedy Central has wanted to punish Dave since he elected to leave the show and the comments that were aired regarding the skit definitely make that clear, as Bo said. One thing for certain in this whole mess, is that CC needs Chappelle way more than Chappelle needs CC.
I pretty sure most people will disagree with me, but I think Dave Chapelle gets too much credit for his schetches being “intellectual” and though provoking. I think he does the same thing that rappers who rap about bitches and hoes do. The come up with something that’s funny/sounds goods and try to defend it later by saying something like “not all women are bitches. I think statements like that are cop outs, but I forgive rappers for making them and i forgive Dave too. Maybe I’m not an intellectual or i missed the point, but i was offended by Reparations 2003. But an artist’s fans are always going to defend the artist’s work and will always make excuses to why such and such wasn’t offensive or whatever. Hey, I still defend 2pac as the greatest rapper ever even though that may not be true. But yeah, Donnell and Charlie are sell outs to the Nth. Dollar, Dollar Bill, y’all
I’m not sure…I’m torn, because on the one hand, I didn’t necessarily think the sketch itself was something to quit over, however, I didn’t see the reaction of the person who make him think twice. I didn’t think the sketch was funny, but that’s a subjective statement.
I DO think Comedy Central was careful to have black people who said “hey, it was funny” as opposed to people like that one woman who said essentially, all the pixies had negative stereotypes except the white one, which I noted and agreed with. The lack of commentary from white people- I don’t know if that was because the white folks in the audience were too scared to say, “hey, this DID buy into stereotypes I have of minorities”, or if they didn’t bother to show those people.
On the subject of Charlie and Donnell- well, I feel less irritated with Donnell than Charlie- but again, that’s more or less subjective. Charlie seems to be more or less resigned to hosting, as opposed to Donnell who is practically saying “F**k Dave- look at me! Look at me!!!” everytime he mugs for the camera or gets all loud and annoying, which is to say…all the time.
I’m not so sure any more that Charlie and Donnell are necessarily sellouts. They, like Dave’s former partner, might just be pissed that their ex-meal ticket walked away from a giant pile of cash for reasons that they don’t understand. And, in some respect, I don’t blame them. Sure, Chappelle had his reasons for doing what he did, and they more or less seem like good ones, but it also comes off as a bit pretentious and self-righteous to a lot of people. It’s his show and his right to leave, so that’s fine, but I don’t know that Charlie and that ugly little troll Donnell really owe him much of anything beyond the work they already put in. If they owe him for the opportunities they had, then you could argue that Chappelle owes Comedy Central as well.
He sees his work as being subconsciously intellectual
and so it is…, (btw – I’ll be using that expression, subconsciously intellectual on the regular from here on out – thanks)
For Comedy Central to touch on what concerned Dave, it would have to talk to some regular, run-of-the-mill white folks and ask them why they found the sketch to be humorous. After all, those are the people that worried Dave.
I have very grave doubts about the ability of run-of-the-mill white folks to engage in the same type of introspection that gives rise to subconscious intellectual performance.
Consequently, run-of-the-mill white folks are susceptible to racist propaganda in ways that many black folks are not. They can exist in a state of extreme internal contradiction in which their subconscious is filled to the brim with biases, yet their rational minds deny any volitional racist intent.
Here’s the thing…I don’t really get Charlie and Donnell as “artists.” You can certainly participate in an art form without being artistic – and so, Charlie and Donnell don’t appear to me “lovers of the game.”
With that said, if you’re in the game and you don’t love the game…you’re probably in it for the money. So, Dave’s leaving his show – and taking much of their earning power with him – is really not the signature moment here.
It seems to me that this is the cornerstone of mediocrity…doing something you don’t love for some reason that will eventually put you at odds with those who do it for the love. I believe its known as a failure to keep it real.
chappelle might have heard that nefarious sounding laughter for the first time in his audience but no doubt there are thousands of white folk who were laughing like that cat while watching it from their homes. in other words, regardless of what intellectual spin he was trying to bring to his skits, many folk won’t get it, nor will they want to get it. if a person is inclined to see other folk superficiallly then his skits won’t change that.
ultimately, its up to the individual to figure out how much effort he or she will put into trying to glean the message intended by the artist from what’s being shown or heard. as artists, all we can do is be clear with our intent. that’s it. folk are gonna see all that stuff how they wanna see it.
the presence of charlie and donnell on that show brings up an issue we all face…if they hadn’t done the show, what would it have meant for them? is being loyal to dave gonna pay their bills? when dave left, was he concerned about what would happen to those cats now that he abruptly ended their means of getting paid? did he make provisions for them? was he supposed to?
while the show itself was definitely an edited snow job, was it their responsibility to make it otherwise? no. and i don’t think they’re sell-outs because of it. to me, a sell-out is someone who sacrifices principles and creativity as personal expression for money. i don’t think donnell and charlie ever came across as cats who were in the game for any other reason than the money.
Larry and Charlie gotta eat. Dave ain’t think about that. He hasn’t called them dudes nor has he offered them other jobs. That’s not what friends do. That’s what self-consumed co-workers do. And that’s what Dave is/was. Am I saying he’s wrong for leaving the show? No. I’m just saying he thought about Dave first. And because he aint think about Charlie and Larry then, they owe him no loyalty now.
TheOtherBo, I’m curious as to why you were offended by the reparations sketch.
I thought the pixie sketch was funny for the most part, though it, like all of the new sketches, needed editing.
The black pixie was the best, and the Ying Yang Twins bit caught me off guard and had me rolling. The others were problematic for various reasons, mostly due to writing. In the Latino one, the guy from Half Baked is simply a terrible actor. In the Asian one, while the guy did a good acting job, they didn’t choose the right stereotype. In the first white one, the situation wasn’t right–they should have had a white guy interacting with a black stranger. And the final white guy one was pointless.
I agree that the post-sketch discussion was some Grade A. I don’t blame Donnell and Charlie for hosting–what are they going to do, turn it down?–but it is clear that they are uncomfortable, but that might just be because they, being untalented, are out of their league.
I dunno if I’d go so far as to say dudes were sellouts. Charlie and Donnell just worked there, it’s not like they were a family or something. I think the feeling of disappointment with dudes (on my end, at least) had to do how their being the hosts of those bullshit “lost episodes” punctured my fantasy of the Chapelle Show as some kind of utopia where a bunch of incredibly talented people came together to do some amazing work and get paid boocoup $$ for it to boot. Every time I saw one of the really great episodes I’d mumble to myself that THAT was where I needed to be working, that THOSE were dudes I wanted to spend 10 hours a day with chasing deadlines. Turns out it was a bullshit office just like any other locale.
I will say that the sketches are pretty fascinating just as a map of Dave’s creative crack-up. Every single one of them was about being post 50MM Dave. The pixie sketch didn’t strike me as worth quitting over. I think Dave was just tired: From what I understand of his process he wrote and reshot things until they were right. The pixie sketch seems like something he would have been able to punch into shape first season, but by the time it was shot he had run out of steam.
Doesn’t the white pixie not having, or playing into, a stereo-type fit the point that Dave may have been trying to make–that most white people feel they have no stereo-types, and the joke’s really on them (whites)?
Maybe the guy’s “laugh” alerted Dave to the fact that, “Hey, they really ‘don’t’ get it!”
P.S.
I haven’t seen the show, but I’m basing this on comments here regarding the skit.
I must say that I argree, I feel like Charlie and Donnel sold out. The show does not seem as funny without Dave. The show should have ended when he left but since they opted to air it without him he does not have to return all of that $50 mil… I would how much Charlie and Donnell are getting to look like complete fools. And after the season ends, then what? This show is going to end with this season and they will be unemployed. Isn’t is better to have your integrity or would you risk other people not wanting to work with you.
I never watched much Chappelle precisely because too many of the white kids I went to college with or were associated with through debate or whatever, found the show just a little too funny to suit me.
So I never really gave it much of a chance. When I watched it on occasion, I did see the genius that a lot of folks talk about with him, but…I’m glad he walked away, because I can appreciate his art a lot more in whatever he decides to pursue later…and I tend to think he’ll find a new venue or a way to do it.