Dave Chappelle

[TylerW]

Bro, they're jokes. They don't require peer review.

Sure, when you say it like that it sounds ridiculous. But jokes are based in reality - that's what makes them funny. And when you tell a joke that's based on something that isn't true, it can still be funny if the recipient knows it isn't true. But if the recipient knows that it isn't true, the joke just dies.

Which is why I think I found the show as unfunny as I found it - because I know that Dave is just plain wrong on a lot of the ideas he's representing. Not subjectively or morally wrong, but factually wrong. And either Dave doesn't know that he's wrong (I have a hard time believing this, he's a really sharp guy) or he's assuming his audience doesn't know he's wrong, or just doesn't care.

Like his joke about how we need gay people today to be more like "the Stonewall gays" - and how he either doesn't know, or conveniently leaving out the fact that, sure, the gays fought against the police in the stonewall riots eventually, but it was trans women, black trans women who were the first to get fed up and start throwing bricks at cops.

 

[chickenfried]

Sure trans people were part of the stonewall riots. So what was the ratio trans to gay to lesbian? Marsha P. Johnson said she came after the riots already started. Just backs up what the poster you replied to said...

Sure, when you say it like that it sounds ridiculous. But jokes are based in reality - that's what makes them funny. And when you tell a joke that's based on something that isn't true, it can still be funny if the recipient knows it isn't true. But if the recipient knows that it isn't true, the joke just dies.

Which is why I think I found the show as unfunny as I found it - because I know that Dave is just plain wrong on a lot of the ideas he's representing. Not subjectively or morally wrong, but factually wrong. And either Dave doesn't know that he's wrong (I have a hard time believing this, he's a really sharp guy) or he's assuming his audience doesn't know he's wrong, or just doesn't care.

Like his joke about how we need gay people today to be more like "the Stonewall gays" - and how he either doesn't know, or conveniently leaving out the fact that, sure, the gays fought against the police in the stonewall riots eventually, but it was trans women, black trans women who were the first to get fed up and start throwing bricks at cops.

 

[Karbon]

IDK man, I just expected more from Dave. Maybe he peaked a couple of specials ago.

 

[Eldritch]

Sure, when you say it like that it sounds ridiculous. But jokes are based in reality - that's what makes them funny. And when you tell a joke that's based on something that isn't true, it can still be funny if the recipient knows it isn't true. But if the recipient knows that it isn't true, the joke just dies.

Which is why I think I found the show as unfunny as I found it - because I know that Dave is just plain wrong on a lot of the ideas he's representing. Not subjectively or morally wrong, but factually wrong. And either Dave doesn't know that he's wrong (I have a hard time believing this, he's a really sharp guy) or he's assuming his audience doesn't know he's wrong, or just doesn't care.

Like his joke about how we need gay people today to be more like "the Stonewall gays" - and how he either doesn't know, or conveniently leaving out the fact that, sure, the gays fought against the police in the stonewall riots eventually, but it was trans women, black trans women who were the first to get fed up and start throwing bricks at cops.

I mean, the whole point of that bit was to tell social media activists to STFU, leave celebrities alone, and rather go out and actually physically disrupt power structures currently in place, specifically those controlled by mighty whitey.

He never takes the position that trans are not participating in in the LGBTQ community, nor that they should stop doing what they are doing as a life style. He is just saying that what they do is funny as life choices to him, he doesn't understand it, and that should be ok.

He has made similar statements in the past about 2 dudes having physical intimacy and the statement is similar. They can and should do it, he thinks it is hilarious, and it is ok to make fun of it for being funny.

I don't agree with all of it, but the idea he is expressing seems to me to be the expression of a healthy social paradigm.

 

[TylerW]

Vaush has a good take on it. As a public figure, when you misunderstand certain concepts and come into the discussion with unchecked biases, if you're going to be offensive, you should be able to handle the crits.
The thing is, generally for a lot of people, jokes which are based on misinformation are just less funny. Sure, maybe you're able to suspend your knowledge of the subject and feign ignorance about the subject matter but the jokes just don't hit the same.
[youtube]piqQJveh-r8[/youtube]

Needed to come back to this video for one thing: dude needs to seriously learn to stop touching/fondling/hanging on his mic arm. That's amateur hour shit.

 

[Karbon]

Needed to come back to this video for one thing: dude needs to seriously learn to stop touching/fondling/hanging on his mic arm. That's amateur hour shit.

yeah well streamers, man.

Most of his content and long format stuff is good, and basically blows every garbage Reactionary talking point/argument (many parroted heard here on BARF) out of the water.
He's recently identified himself a Libertarian Socialist. His politic 101 vid is a good primer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b3kKWBlGt4&list=PLvVEXejrE-HTX-r4kmIRMtZsbDdijZh7Q

 

[GAJ]

I watched last night to see what all the controversy was about and didn't see it to be honest.

The list of groups he potentially "offended" with his shock comic jokes was much much larger than just the LGBQT+ community.

Offending is his thing and shouldn't come as a surprise and the greater the push back the more he'll keep pushing those buttons.

https://deadline.com/2021/10/dave-c...rs-his-trans-friend-daphne-dorman-1234853511/

 

[afm199]

Gummo wasn't very funny, either....

We won't even bring up Karl!

Karl got the last laugh!

 

[Kurosaki]

I watched last night to see what all the controversy was about and didn't see it to be honest.

The list of groups he potentially "offended" with his shock comic jokes was much much larger than just the LGBQT+ community.

Offending is his thing and shouldn't come as a surprise and the greater the push back the more he'll keep pushing those buttons.

https://deadline.com/2021/10/dave-c...rs-his-trans-friend-daphne-dorman-1234853511/

Maybe we should start a thread to break down comedian's stand up shows. I watch a lot of comedy and this show from Chappelle wasn't anymore offensive than most of the other stuff I watch.

Comedy should be and still is kind of the wild wild west. Spending too much time breaking down comedian's bits, what they meant, what they actually think, who it offends, punching up, punching down, etc really seems like wasted time and effort to me. Being this critical of comedy is a race to the bottom where comedians just can't tell jokes anymore and comedy is dead. Then we can go to comedy clubs and hear jokes about someone's lost cat in a tree or someone's farts that no one laughs at and think back on that time people got so upset about something Dave Chappelle said about the trans community.

 

[GAJ]

Editing comedians is a fool's errand.

They view things differently than many of us and indeed can offend.

I mean just think of what was going through Mel Brooks' head when he came out with the hilarious "The Producers."

 

[Kurosaki]

Editing comedians is a fool's errand.

They view things differently than many of us and indeed can offend.

I mean just think of what was going through Mel Brooks' head when he came out with the hilarious "The Producers."

Imagine if there was this much outrage about Eddie Murphy - Delirious, the jokes he told about the gay community, keeping in mind the time when that happened.

Wait, no, there was a ton of outrage. When he released Raw a few years later, he made a few bits about how mad they were at him.

 

[Enchanter]

Comedy should be and still is kind of the wild wild west. Spending too much time breaking down comedian's bits, what they meant, what they actually think, who it offends, punching up, punching down, etc really seems like wasted time and effort to me. Being this critical of comedy is a race to the bottom where comedians just can't tell jokes anymore and comedy is dead. Then we can go to comedy clubs and hear jokes about someone's lost cat in a tree or someone's farts that no one laughs at and think back on that time people got so upset about something Dave Chappelle said about the trans community.

Well said.

 

[Mike95060]

Maybe we should start a thread to break down comedian's stand up shows. I watch a lot of comedy and this show from Chappelle wasn't anymore offensive than most of the other stuff I watch.

Comedy should be and still is kind of the wild wild west. Spending too much time breaking down comedian's bits, what they meant, what they actually think, who it offends, punching up, punching down, etc really seems like wasted time and effort to me. Being this critical of comedy is a race to the bottom where comedians just can't tell jokes anymore and comedy is dead. Then we can go to comedy clubs and hear jokes about someone's lost cat in a tree or someone's farts that no one laughs at and think back on that time people got so upset about something Dave Chappelle said about the trans community.

I tend to agree with this. If you want to punish a comedian, just don't laugh. Their act will change or the will be forgotten. If you do laugh at off color jokes then maybe that can be an avenue for further discussion when the show is over. I never found Dice or Lisa Lampanelli funny but I also didn't think it necessary to protest them. I just didn't watch.

 

[Melissa]

Not watching is always a choice but then nothing changes if everyone has the same colored hat on.
Where's the fun in that?

 

[JesasaurusRex]

Not watching is always a choice but then nothing changes if everyone has the same colored hat on.
Where's the fun in that?

The horse bit you did was always worth a smile.

 

[Robert R1]

Maybe we should start a thread to break down comedian's stand up shows. I watch a lot of comedy and this show from Chappelle wasn't anymore offensive than most of the other stuff I watch.

Comedy should be and still is kind of the wild wild west. Spending too much time breaking down comedian's bits, what they meant, what they actually think, who it offends, punching up, punching down, etc really seems like wasted time and effort to me. Being this critical of comedy is a race to the bottom where comedians just can't tell jokes anymore and comedy is dead. Then we can go to comedy clubs and hear jokes about someone's lost cat in a tree or someone's farts that no one laughs at and think back on that time people got so upset about something Dave Chappelle said about the trans community.

Agreed.

Micro criticisms of every word, tone and context isn’t going to get more people rallied to your cause either.

 

[Roundboy]

Karl got the last laugh!

Maybe we should have a Laissez-Fair for Comedians and not step in to regulate their jokes?

Sorry for trying to be funny and take the edge off this thread.

 

[GAJ]

Don Rickles was perhaps one of the first comics in the media that made you go

Loved that guy.

“An insult comic is the title I was given. What I do is exaggeration. I make fun of people, at life, of myself and my surroundings.”

“You know, every night when I go out on stage, there's always one nagging fear in the back of my mind. I'm always afraid that somewhere out there, there is one person in the audience that I'm not going to offend!”

“I shouldn’t make fun of the blacks,” Rickles said, and then proceeded to do just that: “President Obama is a personal friend of mine. He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.”

 

[msethhunter]

Thank god Bill Burr doesn't have the following that Chapelle does.

 

[TylerW]

Thank god Bill Burr doesn't have the following that Chapelle does.

I like his humor well enough. He can be as offensive as Chappelle, but his humor does more work to challenge his audience's preconceived notions. I felt like Chappelle's work in The Closer did the opposite - he reinforced them.