Chappelle's Show Is 10 Years Old Today. No Sketch Show Has Surpassed It. Discuss.

[Lumenskir]

I'd make this entire post just Youtube links, but this bracket breakdown of the 64 greatest sketches contains all the links you could ever want AND funny commentary and insight.

But yeah, it's been ten years. Which is actually very scary for me because I live in this bubble where it's always just been put on hiatus while Dave Chappelle works out some stuff, maybe make a concert documentary, but always with an eventual triumphant return on the horizon.

Now though...shit, ten years seems like a long time. And it's even more sobering to think that nothing's really risen up to take over it's mantle. I mean there have been some great revolutions in sitcoms, but nothing's really come close to Chappelle's Show in terms of just sheer hilarity per second of sketch. Some can do it on a sketch-by-sketch basis*, but even then you can see the strain. I'm pretty sure Dave Chappelle is a sketch comedy genius, and I don't know when we'll even get one of those anymore, and I guess I'm bummed but I'm also reliving his sketches which means I can't be bummed, and it's all very confusing.

*Off the top of my head, I'd maybe include Numberwang and the East v. West Bowl.

[Magus]

Yeah, Key and Peele is pretty good but it's not as funny.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

A little bit of fry and laurie says you're full of shit

[Lumenskir]

Yeah, Key and Peele is pretty good but it's not as funny.

I really like Key and Peele, but I think it's sort of emblematic of the inherent problem with a lot of non-Chappelle Shows, in that its very aware of the fundamentals of comedy and can push and pull on the aspects it wants, but at best it can produce something...I dunno, composed.

I guess the best way to say it is that a lot of sketch comedy these days is made by people who have come up through established comedy channels, where they've honed their craft and refined what they want to say, and they produce these beautiful little crystalline objects of humor with great regularity. And Chappelle's show just feels really organic, like a gushing/messy vein of hilarity.

A little bit of fry and laurie says you're full of shit

Meh, he was better on House.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

Meh, he was better on House.

Hahahaha. That was about as funny as a Dave Chappelle sketch.

[Nique]

I liked the idea of The Chapelle Show (and a few sketches) better than I liked what I saw of the show itself. But I'm a fan of Chapelle for walking away from it for the reasons he did.

[Lumenskir]

I liked the idea of The Chapelle Show (and a few sketches) better than I liked what I saw of the show itself.

1) It's just "Chappelle's Show", no 'The'.

2) Cuz I'm genuinely curious, what's the 'idea of' Chappelle's Show you liked? As in, I could tell that there are individual sketches with 'points' or 'messages' they want to push, but I never really saw the show having anything like a guiding thesis beyond "What Dave and his writers found funny."

[Magus]

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

1) It's just "Chappelle's Show", no 'The'.

2) Cuz I'm genuinely curious, what's the 'idea of' Chappelle's Show you liked? As in, I could tell that there are individual sketches with 'points' or 'messages' they want to push, but I never really saw the show having anything like a guiding thesis beyond "What Dave and his writers found funny."

I'd say it was famous for racial humor or humor that pushes the boundaries. I don't think you can overlook sketches like "The Niggar Family" or what have you. Of course many of the sketches have nothing to do with that but those stand out in my mind as perhaps part of a "thesis". On the other hand ones like "I'm James Brown Bitch" or "Is Wayne Brady Gonna Have to Choke a Bitch?" became the most popular memes (ironically the show was extremely popular, perhaps most popular by sheer number, among middle-class caucasian teenagers) and have next to nothing to do with race.

Key and Peele is in a similar tradition of having a few sketches about race (including the two's biracialness), but again, many or most have nothing to do with that (most obvious I can think of is the two college guys branding themselves with their teams logo, the one guy keeps screwing it up and has to keep painfully branding the guy over and over again).

[Token]

Originally Posted by Magus

On the other hand ones like "I'm James Brown Bitch" or "Is Wayne Brady Gonna Have to Choke a Bitch?" became the most popular memes (ironically the show was extremely popular, perhaps most popular by sheer number, among middle-class caucasian teenagers) and have next to nothing to do with race.

The most popular, overused meme from the show, and you still say James Brown instead of Rick James. I get that they're both black singers, but they ain't exactly interchangeable.

As for the Wayne Brady skit, it's pretty inherently race related considering it's a response to jokes about Wayne Brady being "white" in earlier sketches, which culminated in this one where he was stereotypically ghetto.

Hell, all of Chappelle's skits are race related- you can't divorce the race from the sketches without robbing them of context and culture. They're jokes about society from an inherently black viewpoint, both at our expense and the expense of other cultures. You couldn't just Pat Boone it up without runining it, and the fact that people tried is part of the big problem that led to his breakdown.

[Magus]

Originally Posted by Token

The most popular, overused meme from the show, and you still say James Brown instead of Rick James. I get that they're both black singers, but they ain't exactly interchangeable.

As for the Wayne Brady skit, it's pretty inherently race related considering it's a response to jokes about Wayne Brady being "white" in earlier sketches, which culminated in this one where he was stereotypically ghetto.

Hell, all of Chappelle's skits are race related- you can't divorce the race from the sketches without robbing them of context and culture. They're jokes about society from an inherently black viewpoint, both at our expense and the expense of other cultures. You couldn't just Pat Boone it up without runining it, and the fact that people tried is part of the big problem that led to his breakdown.

"I'm Rick James Brown bitch!"

The most overused one was the Lil' Jon "YEAAAH!" "OKAY!" one, actually. My god. Just never-ending.