Dave Chappelle - Why He is A Comedy Icon
Dave Chappelle represents this generation's idea of a comedy genius. His comedy jokes are littered with profanities and overt racial overtones accompanied by colorful commentary on the gender fluid community. It almost feels like our elders telling stories to help deal with the monotonous nature of life. Its very alluring because you almost don't expect the punchline intertwined with the crass description of what we now call society. Dave is known for provoking thought by making us uncomfortable using jokes as a medium. It has a strange way of unifying an audience because he disarms the room by laying it all out there. He is also famous for “The Chappelle Show” that aired on Comedy Central in early 2000’s. The show was so monumental and ground breaking that it is he built enough equity to get away with his jokes in today’s hyper sensitive climate. He is now primarily seen on Netflix where they paid the man generously to deliver his brand of raw comedy. His streaming debut came in 2017 with “The age of spin.” Although it was hilarious and a hit, it was met with controversy from the #metoo and lgbtq communities about his insensitivity. He confronted those issue in a cathartic way through his next comedy special “Equanimity.”
Dave Chappelle understands the game today based off of the sensitivities of today and unapologetically uses the controversy to drive his comedy. In his mind, it’s all jokes and so long as he isn’t caught doing anything criminal, it’s all fair game. Jokes cannot be funny if we strip humanity away from it. We should take s moment and laugh for it will bring us together and teach us about the difficulties that further separate us.
