Dave Chappelle has released a new Netflix special, The Dreamer, which is full of jokes about the trans community and disabled people.
“I love punching down!” he tells the audience, in a one-hour show that landed on the streaming service today (31 December).
It’s his seventh special for Netflix and comes two years after his last one, the highly controversial release The Closer.
That programme was criticised for its relentless jokes about the trans community, and Chappelle revisits the topic in his new show.
He tells jokes about trans women in prison, and about trans people “pretending” to be somebody they are not.
Ancient comedian desperately struggles to stay relevant, only manages to capture the attention of a few boomers and nazis. news at 11.
Haha Dave tickles my funny bone and gets it raging hard
Stephen Fry once said that comedy is about punching up. Anyone can punch down, it takes real talent to punch up, you have to make fun of your betters, because they think they are your betters.
Beating on people who are already incredibly socially ostracized is not comedy, it’s bullying. If you think it’s comedy then you’re a bully.
I watched both his and Gervais’ latest last night out of morbid curiosity. Both were profoundly unfunny. To be fair, Chappelle was marginally funnier than Gervais, whose act seemed like a barely-disguised checklist of right-wing talking points spouted off by a narcissistic man-baby who constantly laughs at his own “jokes” (and seemed like he had a laugh track or just poor audio editing) Chappelle, at least, elicited a few chuckles when he was willing to make himself or th, insanely wealthy (pretty lackluster running bit about the submarine implosion) the butt of the joke. His constant making “joking” about trans, gay, and bisexual people was just not funny.
I think that the root cause of their shifts is that they were always in life for themselves, looking up at the rich and powerful thinking “I want that”. So, when they were getting established, the underdog thing was useful. But, they never saw themselves as underdogs but the temporarily-embarrassed millionaires. Once the got their piece, they’re right there next to the boomers with the “fuck you, I got mine” attitude to court the favor of those that will reduce their need to give back to the society that they benefitted from. I’m pretty sure neither of them are actually discriminatory in their private lives (they both basically say as much); either they just absolutely lack scruples and are happy to play a shithead to make money and powerful friends or, their pride and ego doesn’t allow them to publicly acknowledge fault and not understanding that context and nuance matter (odd to think as they are professional wordsmiths).
poke the bear…
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He’s got a really niche audience. People who think they’re all cool just for being “politically incorrect.” Like other comedians in the american scene.
I used to like his comedy – great storyteller and all. But lately, it’s like his specials follow this routine: some jokes on how racism’s still an issue, mixed with a bit of him claiming he’s the top comedian alive. And let’s not forget the bits where he suggests making fun of people’s choices is all in good fun.
The crowd at these specials? Feels like a bunch of yes men, laughing and clapping at every word from Chappelle. It makes watching his stuff on Netflix a bit of a struggle for me.
Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s talented. Awesome timing and storytelling. But nowadays, being a badass doesn’t mean being a bully, and it seems like that shift bugs him and his entourage of yes men. That’s probably why his specials come off a bit too harsh, at least in my book.
It’s crazy to me that he bitches about racism still being an issue, while he spreads hate and bigotry on another minority group.
He is right about racism, and it’s fine if his cause involves fighting it. But you’re right, bigotry and hate on others is BAD.
Anyone reveling in “punching down” is a piece of shit.
This is just NotTheOnion territory at this point
I am so sick of his comedy of grievance. Every act he does over the past few years is about how unfair the world is to him and how people don’t acknowledge how great he is.
He’s riding out the glory of an okay sketch show that he made two seasons and then torpedoed 20 years ago.
I remember in “The Closer” he said "now Key & Peele are on Comedy Central, doing my show."
Like dude, you did not invent the sketch comedy show. SNL had been going on for decades before he even thought of doing his own spin on it. I used to like his comedy, but not so much after that special, and definitely not after this.
I grew up with (and loved) the Chappelle Show but Key & Peele is sooo much better. I rewatched some of his show a few years ago and most of the skits don’t hold up well at all. It’s mostly just black stereotype caricatures that are only “not racist” because a black guy wrote them
And misogyny. I can’t remember a woman on that show that wasn’t eye candy or the butt of a joke.
The fucked part is one of the reasons he stopped doing Chapelle Show was (according to him sometimes) because he recognized a good chunk of his audience was laughing at the black stereotype shit instead of with him about how ridiculous it was. And now he’s cashing in on punching down at other groups and cares not a bit about it.
Yeah. I like some edgy humor but the show was an invitation for racists to be more public with their opinions…which they did
Yeah, seems Dave’s always had a problem with misreading the room. Still does, just is bitter about it now
It was a joke you absolute donkey.
Jokes are meant to be funny and that is just whinging on his part, you bloody walnut.
Did the live audience laugh?
Big-name comedy show audiences are moronic fanboys who will laugh at anything.
I mean, yeah, he’s a piece of shit, and yeah he’s still riding on that old fame, but come on. That was a great sketch show, not merely an ok one. The fact that he has turned into Clayton Bigsby should not distract from the fact that the first episode of his show featured a faux documentary about a black white supremacist. That was some amazing television. I’m all for bashing Dave for the many, many shitty things he’s said and done in the past few years, but let’s not rewrite history here.
It’s far from the worst, but great? I guess there’s no accounting for taste. I’d prefer Mr Show, Monty Python, In Living Color, Key & Peele, Portlandia… does Robot Chicken count?
Yeah, I’m reminded of Jerry Seinfeld. Some comedians are great for life, most have a time and a place and excel then and there. I’m the 90s Seinfeld was bigger than big, in the 10s he was telling college campuses they’re too pc for not laughing at jokes about trans people. In the 00s Chappelle left on a high note and was a popular icon of comedy who quit too soon. In the 20s he was a raging bigot who should’ve stayed quit. Meanwhile Larry David is still making tv and fairly popular, but that’s because he mostly sticks to punching himself in the face.
Meanwhile Larry David is still making tv and fairly popular, but that’s because he mostly sticks to punching himself in the face.
I’ve got a love-hate thing with his writing. David is a master of unconventional suicide by words. He’s very funny but so good at causing intentional cringe that I suspect that his humor could be weaponized in the event of another world war.
Full agree. I think Jason Alexander did an amazing job of playing him in a way that didn’t hurt as bad to watch as when David plays himself. I tried curb your enthusiasm and it was funny but I just couldn’t watch more than one episode the cringe was so intense.
Chappelle has said that Key and Peele were just doing “his show.” But look at how Jordan Peele has reinvented himself as one of the iconic horror film directors of our generation (and maybe all time?). He wouldn’t be out of place in a list alongside Alfred Hitchcock, Eli Roth, M. Night Shyamalan, Clive Barker, or George A. Romero.
Jordan Peele has reinvented himself as one of the iconic horror film directors of our generation (and maybe all time?)
I mean I’m happy that Peele has found success, but this is not accurate in any way.
He has one okay movie, and none of his movies can really be considered horror.
Meanwhile Chappelle made some edgelords all defensive. Samesies!
Also, like so? People wanted more and you quit so others said they could do something similar. And as you said, Peele is doing stuff nobody dared do before in a different genre now.
I think at the root of his problem Chappelle seems to think that he’s the greatest and people just refuse to see it. He seems to lack the humility that is needed for a comedian to stay relatable
Yep, dude is just hurt that no one considers him the comedy king anymore. Not that he deserves it, but HE certainly thinks he does. It’s sad, really… I remember respecting him for stepping down for a bit. What a disappointing return, I wish he had just faded away with positive memories instead of torpedoing himself, his legacy, and the fight for equal rights.
Gonna take friendly umbrage with you putting Shyamalan on that list but not mentioning John Carpenter or Wes Craven :)
I take umbrage with Eli Roth being on that list at all…
I give him slight props for 1 decent movie but yeah I know what you mean.
Fair!
You could also absolutely argue that what Key and Peele were doing was continuing on with a successful team-up that started on MadTV. If SNL got cancelled and Keenan Thompson got his own sketch show a couple of years later… I mean, that would make sense, wouldn’t it? People find him likable and he has sketch comedy writing and performing experience.
Seinfeld is a groomer
Dude is a multi millionaire in his 50s who does nothing but bitch about how other rich people “stole” his money. Sooooo relatable Dave, wow!
Think what you like about Dave Chappelle but he only had one joke about raping women. Come on people.
Edit: this comment is so perfectly controversial I can’t even guess which people are down voting and which are upvoting.
Yeah that’s like all he does these days. The guy is out of material. Like the third or fourth special where that’s the main Crux of it. Washed up
Reminder that Reid Hastings the Netflix founder is a prolific anti union and anti public school pact funder. He is a piece of shit outside of giving chappelle a platform
He also literally said “Netflix is not in the business of speaking truth to power” when he censored The Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj for Saudi Arabia.
What’s a “public school pact”? I went to public school and no one ever informed me of any pact!
Fuck! When I saved that orphan from the nobles and someone chanted, “remember the pact” was that what they were talking about‽
I must’ve been sick that day.
Oh, you must’ve taken study hall as an elective instead of that Commune With the Old Ones class. I heard it was mislabeled as “Gym Class” so it’s understandable.
They most likely mean PAC (political action committee), which is just another name for a lobbyist group.
His comedy has always been about making fun of essentialism in the way only comedy does (Men are like, Women are like, White people are like, etc).
His problem is that he got mad people were calling him mean and his bloated ego decided the solution was to double down and be mean on purpose. Then he decided he was smart enough to understand the entire project of personal identity (something humans have been concerned about since the beginning of writing and which likely isn’t getting much further without a solution to the mind-body problem) and did some internet research and, after generalizing the experience of two trans people and committing erroneously to the fact that most people would claim to be internally consistent in their beliefs, he decided he’s not even being vindictive anymore, he’s simply understood something true and so he’s allowed to use his (formerly anti-racist) platform to say it.
Cannot watch him now. For me he has even tainted my fun recollection of his early stuff that I’d liked.
