Dave Chappelle

[Deleted]

I couldn't bear to watch the show but did see a few clips. I think Dave Chappelle is still recovering from trauma. I don't think he's psychotic. More likely had an enormous realization that rocked his world - a traumatic shock to his system/

There have been a few threads about different celebrities where I've noticed a lot of reference to someone being crazy, mental cases, etc. In each situation, the person suffered a traumatic event. I'm not condemning anyone here but just want to say that recovering from a shocking event or full blown trauma is not an easy thing.

The way Dave Chappelle looked to me, he's still coming to grips with things. He's sort of afraid to speak but trying very hard to do so. This is what it looks like, trying to come out the other side of traumatic injury.

[swanflake]

I still am not sure what to think about the interview. I think I was surprised by how it went down because I was expecting that he'd have answers to a lot of the questions surrounding him, but it turned out that he has way more unanswered questions about his situation than anyone else does. Good luck to him with whatever he does now.

[Inkyblott]

I have to wish Dave the best with whatever else he does. When he's really at the top of his game, he manages to be both hilarious and observant. I do think there's more that went on with the demise of the Chapelle Show than he's willing to talk about. Not a cconspiracy or anything but definitely some conflicts and possibly something going on in Dave's personal life.

I am glad that he didn't let Oprah put her patented Oprah spin on what he was saying.

I can understand why Dave ended the show. I remember reading an interview where he said that it was getting hard to do stand up because people just wanted him to do lines and characters from the show. I think he was afraid of getting typecast or stuck in a rut. But it does suck that he ended his show in a way that probably left the regular-folk staff hanging. Dave got his money but those people are out a job.

[Shanmac]

I really like him. I hope he gets everything straightened out in his life. His show was hilarious, but I think if he needs to do something new, he should.

I forgot to set my TiVo too. Damn it.

[MrsCatHead]

What trauma is he recovering from?

[ladyboy]

Celebrityitis.

[Neurochick]

diane63 said:

I've got to agree with you WitchyPoo. He seemed very concerned as to how he was going to come across, and everytime Oprah tried to repeat what he was saying, in her way, she kept getting it wrong.
I think towards the end the show, she finally caught on to what he had been trying to say. He realized how people were just using him. They were no longer laughing with him, but at him. Quite a realization. I felt bad for the guy. To have the people you think are your friends, and find out that they aren't. I'm glad he called their bluff, and took off. What a way to screw them all.

I still don't get it. Here's real stress Dave:

Just try being a single mother with two or three children holding down two jobs, hoping that your children get good educations and don't end up in prison or dead. How about the single mother who has to get up at 4am just to get her child to the babysitter so she can get to work on time?

To me, this man just sounds like a fucking crybaby. Give me 50 million and I am certain I won't cry about it. Poor meeeeee, they gave me fifty millionnnnnn oh my goodness.

Give me a fucking break.

[swanflake]

neurochick said:

To me, this man just sounds like a fucking crybaby. Give me 50 million and I am certain I won't cry about it. Poor meeeeee, they gave me fifty millionnnnnn oh my goodness.

Give me a fucking break.

I'm have sympathy and understanding towards him, and I think his career can recover from all this, but yeah, a lot of the things he said I couldn't feel too sorry for.

For one thing, I really didn't get why he feels a need to work a deal with Comedy Central that half of their profits from DVD sales need to go to charity. Why can't he just let them pay him $50 million and then he can go donate money however he chooses? That seems a lot easier to me than trying to draft up some agreement with Comedy Central.

And the way he was surprised how some audiences interpreted his use of meta-bigotry--I mean, was it really that surprising? He's on Comedy Central after all. I kind of feel like he should've seen that coming and been ready to deal with it ahead of time, instead of being shocked by it and not knowing what to do and reacting the way he has. I remember when he did an interview for "60 Minutes", he said that it felt empowering to say the N-word now because a lot of white people get really uncomfortable about it and don't know how to react. Well the more people have heard it said by comedians and rappers, the more desensitized those white people (all people for that matter) have become to it. Either that or they decided they don't like Dave Chappelle and don't wish to watch him. So I definitely think he needs to move on to some new ideas.

But the first thing I think he should do is call up the people who were his friends--like Neal Brennan--and work on repairing things with them. If I had a friend to go on TV and moreless say they didn't think I cared about them, that would really hurt my feelings.

[Deleted]

Neurochick, to be fair, it doesn't matter who you are, or how lucky, depression and/or stress and anxiety can hit you hard. Look at poor Howard Hughes. A bloody genius who ended his life wearing kleenex boxes on his feet, hadn't had a hair cut or cut his nails in years, keeping jars of urine in his closet.

[indygirl]

Wait...that's not normal? What am I gonna do with all those jars...