Chappelle torched SNL (1 Viewer)

[First Time Poster]

I originally posted this on SR-EE but I thought about it and remembered that a lot of it involved political commentary. So, to avoid any issues, I'm moving it here. Disclaimer: Like I said on SR, this isn't for brittle spirits. He brought the heat.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I will say that I'm going to miss Alec Baldwin and his skits.

 

[ktulu909]

Chapelle/Grohl 2024

 

[ktulu909]

I will say that I'm going to miss Alec Baldwin and his skits.

Who the hell says they have to stop Lmao. You think Trump won't keep providing material after he's out?

 

[B4YOU]

He has entered a small group of generational comedians. I stayed up to see his monologue last night and watched again first thing when I woke this morning. He can speak on uncomfortable tragedies and find a way to balance it with his comedy. His show post George Floyd’s death in Ohio was less standup than an airing of feelings and yet imminently watchable. He speaks about human, black, and American experience as only the great comedians can.

 

[The moose]

He has entered a small group of generational comedians. I stayed up to see his monologue last night and watched again first thing when I woke this morning. He can speak on uncomfortable tragedies and find a way to balance it with his comedy. His show post George Floyd’s death in Ohio was less standup than an airing of feelings and yet imminently watchable. He speaks about human, black, and American experience as only the great comedians can.

Yep in the last few years he has cemented this place on mount rushmore for me. Pryor, Carlin, and him.

The fourth I am still undecided about. Would be murphy but he fell off a cliff. Could be Bruce but was gone so quick but his influence is undeniable.

The last one am not solid on but before the last few years nobody was close to Pryor or Carlin. Chappelle upped his game to a level I did not know he had he is solidly number three for me and most people.

 

[DaveXA]

Yep in the last few years he has cemented this place on mount rushmore for me. Pryor, Carlin, and him.

The fourth I am still undecided about. Would be murphy but he fell off a cliff. Could be Bruce but was gone so quick but his influence is undeniable.

The last one am not solid on but before the last few years nobody was close to Pryor or Carlin. Chappelle upped his game to a level I did not know he had he is solidly number three for me and most people.

While he fell off the map, I don't think anyone had a bigger impact on standup than he did relative to time on the stage. But he didn't disappear completely. He got into the acting business with Beverly Hills Cop, Dr. Doolittle, Coming to America and Golden Child. He's had numerous appearances and starred in other movies as well. His humor, timing and acting ability always came through and few have ever commanded a stage like he has. So, imo, he should be in that top 4.

There are others I liked as well. Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld and the list goes on. Gallagher had his moments. My favorites have to be Pryor and Murphy though. Chappelle is my third. I don't know why, but Carlin just didn't connect with me the way the others did. He's definitely a great comedian, but I guess I've just not watched him a ton.

 

[First Time Poster]

I agree. He definitely has an agenda and that is him fighting against the "cancel culture" that both liberals and conservatives engage in. He purposefully says shirt in in stand-up routines to get a negative reaction form his audience and then admonishes them for their their reaction and reminds us all that it's just a show, not real life. Sometimes I think he forgets that his audience are just there for the laughs, not a lesson.

"I definitely don't necessarily aim to offend anybody. Maybe the thought of hurting someone's feelings, that is a painful thought, you know what I mean? But it'll happen in the course of the job. This is possible. So much of the work of art is on the viewer to interpret. And this time, we cut people's meat for them so much that we do too much of the audience's work. And this audience, with this internet now, it's like a baby running around with a loaded gun. Somebody gotta get that gun from that baby or at least not be afraid that the baby has a gun but the sermon is on them. More than ever, they got to do their own work." - Chappelle

I believe Dave when he says it isn't his aim to offend anyone. I don't think he does it to invoke "negative reactions." Dave speaks his truth but he isn't looking to defend what he says but the platform, the art, by which he says it. He said recently:

"There's something so true about this genre, when done correctly, that I will fight anybody that gets in a true practitioner of this art form's way, cause I know you're wrong. This is the truth, and you are obstructing it. I'm not talking about the content, I'm talking about the art form."

Remember in the '90s there was this big push to cancel gangsta rap? Delores Tucker. Hell, even the Senate's Judiciary Committee was having hearings on whether gangsta rap was inciting violence! Fast forward to 2020, how much has "gangsta rap", as an art form, become ingrained in our culture, our society? How poorer would we be, culturally, if that art form was snuffed out? That experience? That...truth?

For Dave, he sees society, us, and our culture is one that we are spoon fed narratives and told what to think about EVERYTHING. 24 hour shows. Opinion shows about anything - news, politics, sports, music, fashion, COOKING! And he sees comedy, as an art form, as one of the last bastions where we are told the truth, even if it is just the truth from that person's perspective.

Yeah, we want to laugh but we also get informed to. It's meant to be thought-provoking. I think anyone who listens to Chappelle just looking to laugh, and not be informed, is doing a disservice to themselves. It's like listening to Bach or Mozart just to hear the violin playing. There is so much more there to gain if you're open to it.

For me, personally, not since Baldwin has an artist been able to so openly and honestly and brutally tell White America how it feels to live in this country being black. I get that it's not that deep for everyone else but, then, perhaps, maybe it's not meant to be. It just feels deeper than shirt-stirring for burns and laughs. For me.

 

[SystemShock]

Yep in the last few years he has cemented this place on mount rushmore for me. Pryor, Carlin, and him.

The fourth I am still undecided about. Would be murphy but he fell off a cliff. Could be Bruce but was gone so quick but his influence is undeniable.

The last one am not solid on but before the last few years nobody was close to Pryor or Carlin. Chappelle upped his game to a level I did not know he had he is solidly number three for me and most people.

If we are talking comedy, you have to put Jon Stewart up in there. He doesn't have stand-up routines like Pryor or Carlin, but the social commentary in his Daily Show had a tremendous impact for a long time.

A case can be made for Bill Maher too.

And yes, you have to put Lenny up there. He may not be the best, but he's the granddaddy of comedy as social commentary.

 

[SFIDC3]

Yep in the last few years he has cemented this place on mount rushmore for me. Pryor, Carlin, and him.

The fourth I am still undecided about. Would be murphy but he fell off a cliff. Could be Bruce but was gone so quick but his influence is undeniable.

The last one am not solid on but before the last few years nobody was close to Pryor or Carlin. Chappelle upped his game to a level I did not know he had he is solidly number three for me and most people.

The fourth is easy, has to be Robin Williams....and it's not close....IMO of course

 

[DaveXA]

The fourth is easy, has to be Robin Williams....and it's not close....IMO of course

He's probably my number 4. RIP

 

[B4YOU]

The fourth is easy, has to be Robin Williams....and it's not close....IMO of course

Maybe. The career arch for some is standup, TV, movies, and fade. Williams even with all his success always came back to standup and he never faded. He is arguably the greatest comedian of the TV age. I’m not sure he is top 4 all time for standup. So much of Williams needs to be visually seen. Maybe that’s not fair and that criteria also dings Steve Martin who is an amazing comedian.

Lenny Bruce probably deserves to be in that top 4 with Pryor and Carlin.

I think Dave benefits from some recency bias and suffers from comparisons to Pryor. Even with that, over the last 5 years every time he has stepped on the stage it’s been must see comedic performances. He is top 10 right now.

I think it’s ok if there are only 3 faces on the Mt Rushmore of comedians or that the 4th hasn’t been carved.

 

[SFIDC3]

Maybe. The career arch for some is standup, TV, movies, and fade. Williams even with all his success always came back to standup and he never faded. He is arguably the greatest comedian of the TV age. I’m not sure he is top 4 all time for standup. So much of Williams needs to be visually seen. Maybe that’s not fair and that criteria also dings Steve Martin who is an amazing comedian.

Disagree. His standup acts in the 80's were legendary, some of the best of all time....I love Steve Martin but RW was funnier IMO....