Retroactive Thinking: Chappelle’s Show Premiered 10 Years Ago

Something strange happened in 2002/3 in the typically predictable world of television; after years of being the TV station for youth, the MTV we were familiar with was replaced with a shiny, new, nigh-unrecognizable channel. All of the hit shows were gone; the station had previously embraced music, animated series like Daria, Beavis & Butthead and Celebrity Deathmatch (not to mention hilarious sketch shows like The State). However by 2003 the station was basically just a reality series generator.

Meanwhile, Comedy Central slowly filled the void in our hearts left by the termination of the classic MTV. The channel went from an obscure station that played movies and BBC shows to mass mainstream conciousness in 1997 with South Park. It was on January 22, 2003 that Comedy Central proved itself to be the new king of boundary pushing comedy: it was on that day that Chappelle’s Show debuted.

I don’t think anyone would have guessed that Chappelle’s Show would become one of the biggest shows for the network, just behind the ever-growing titan that is South Park. The show was short lived, featuring only 25 episodes over 2 years, (and 3 embarrassing Lost Episodes) but was more culturally significant than it ever gets credit for. But let’s ignore the rest, and just talk about Chappelle’s Show‘s most infamous skits.

Season 1 as a whole is generally hit and miss, however, there are a handful of sketches that helped make the show the massive success that it was. One sketch, and one character in particular, comes to mind.

The debut episode contained the infamous sketch Clayton Bigsby, the black Klansmen. This sketch (presented as an episode of Frontline) showed the boundaries that Chappelle was willing to cross with his show. It was crude, vulgar and threw around a certain racial slur without any hesitation whatsoever. It was an edge beyond anything other sketch shows had ever been willing to go.

With the follow-up episode, Chappelle introduced the lovable crack-addict Tyrone Biggums and once again proved that no topic was too offensive or taboo for his comedy. Sadly, the rest of the season was mediocre at best.

It was when Chappelle’s Show’s second season premiered that the series hit its stride with the help of Charlie Murphy, Wayne Brady and Paul Mooney.

Legendary comedy writer Paul Mooney began making more appearances on the show, crafting sketches like ‘Negrodamus’ and ‘Mooney on Movies’. His one comment about Wayne Brady (“Wayne Brady makes Bryan Gumbel look like Malcolm X”) lead an episode where Wayne Brady took over hosting duties for Chappelle (we’ll get into this in a second). However, it was Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories that most people remember, with one sketch in particular… possibly the most famous of all sketches, one that made 4 words into a catchphrase that would eventually lead Chappelle to walk away from everything: “I’m Rick James Bitch.”

I won’t deny that it’s a painfully over-used catchphrase; however the sketch itself (which takes up the entire episode) is quite brilliant. Charlie Murphy tells various stories of him and his brother Eddie dealing with Rick James at the height of his drug addiction. It’s intercut with interviews of Rick James both denying and admitting to the events. Meanwhile Chappelle plays the over-the-top Rick James. It’s a catch-phrase collection unlike any other bit. James basically speaks in nothing but one-liners that get into your brain and will not go away (ever).

It was around this time that Chappelle would begin walking off stage at performances once crowds began heckling “Rick James Bitch” at him. During a performance in June of 2004, Chappelle spoke about the show, claiming that it was “ruining his life” and making it increasingly difficult to perform as a stand-up comedian, which was much more important to him.

Shortly afterwards, Chappelle disappeared and set off for South Africa, just as Season 3 of Chappelle’s Show was set to start production.

So what happened? Why did one of the biggest up-and-coming comedians of the new millennium suddenly run and hide from the world? In 2005, Dave appeared on Inside the Actor’s Studio and spoke of how the show had evolved (or devolved) into a modern day minstrel show. He revealed that he didn’t completely consider the series dead, and that he was willing to return and complete the 3rd season so long as Comedy Central didn’t air the sketches he’d already filmed, and that proceeds from DVD sales were donated to charity. Four months later, Comedy Central premiered Chappelle’s Show: The Lost Episodes, and essentially put an end to the series for good.

You could see that things were heading this way two years earlier, during the second season of Chappelle’s Show. There are at least three episodes featuring opening segments in which David quits the show over a disagreement with a Comedy Central employee. The final instance of these leads into the “Wayne Brady” episode; the executives state “we’ve already got the skits, we don’t need you”. Admittedly, this was a fictional piece of work, but there must have been hints of truth to the reality of the behind the scenes atmosphere. After “The Lost Episodes” were released, Chappelle’s hosting duties were replaced by Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings, who while funny could not fill Chappelle’s shoes.

What Comedy Central didn’t understand was what made the show work. They seemed to think that as long as Chappelle was doing something outrageous in a sketch it’d bring ratings, while in truth, the three episodes of the third season are borderline unwatchable. The featured sketches are just okay (and that’s being generous).  It was never the sketches that made the show work, but Chappelle’s personality on stage introducing and acting out the segments. It’s the same thing that made his two stand-up specials so fantastic.

Nothing showed Chappelle’s self-awareness quite like when he did an episode called “Greatest Misses”. It was 20 minutes of David mocking his own failed sketches. He managed to take a handful of painfully unfunny skits and make them memorable by showing us that he was also aware that they weren’t funny.

If you watch interviews with Chappelle he comes off very self aware that most people think he’s a crazy drug addict who went off the deep-end, and that he represents the bad side of being a celebrity. Regardless, he comes off as a good guy; look no further than this video of him hanging out with paparazzi.

While he’s stayed out of the public limelight, enough time has passed that Chappelle is able to rediscover his love of stand-up. I just hope that one day we’ll get another stand-up album, because Killin Me Softly is a fucking masterpiece.