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2017, a year newly in the past, saw Dave Chappelle celebrate 30 years of doing stand-up comedy.
He honored the occasion by releasingfourstand-up specials,the latter two EquanimityandThe Bird Revelation released on New Years Eve.
Present-day Dave Chappelle wants to be taken seriously, except when he doesnt, and therein lies the issue.
Comedians do not have to be right.
In fact, there are reasons for comics to be wrong.
Comedians poke at that messiness, offering relief from your own demons.
That, or a comic might be wrong simply to get a rise out of people.
Both make sense on a theoretical level.
But you have to understand this is the best time to say them.
The joys of being wrong.
I didnt come here to be right, I just came here to fuck around.
Chappelle is not just a comedian people go to see fuck around onstage.
Take his bit about R. Kelly peeing on a 15-year-old from 2004sFor What Its Worth.
Chappelle has always had an unprecedented level of comfort onstage.
But since returning, he has used this power to make serious points.
(Not to mention, the pretentiousness of the titles themselves.)
Chris Rock, for example, has always positioned himself as smart.
He broke out as a social commentator, and he wants all his material taken seriously.
In both cases, the perspective is clear.
InThe Bird Revelation, Chappelle presents a joke where he says a Louis C.K.
He doesnt change his tone, but asks people to know when hes just joking.
(I do think this is why stand-ups get worse when they get really big.
They dont have to work as hard to get laughs.)
What Chappelle loses in the shift from one audience to the other is the benefit of the doubt.
Either way, comedians have to work harder to earn an audiences trust.
When I say this is a problem Chappelle faces, I mean its a conundrum.
