Dave Chappelle and Comedy on Trial — My Opinion

I’ve watched as the controversy swirling around comedian Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special “ The Closer” as its built into a somewhat of a fever pitch in the past few weeks. Let me first say I fully understand and have compassion for the suffering of others or their feeling of being marginalized, that being said, and without even mentioning the jokes or groups of people that are more than just offended by it, but want Dave Chappelle to pay, to disappear for his remarks. Ok, I find this a somewhat ludicrous position at face value , but I also find it deeply disturbing that this sort of outrage creates a fear for all comedians to create and comment through the jokes in their comedy routines on anything that may offend anyone.

Listen if your goal is to further your cause or find a sympathetic ear towards that cause, you should be able to accept some self depreciating humor, every group of people regardless of race , religion, color or sex or sexual identity or preference or religious beliefs have been made fun of by comedians throughout the years, and, in my opinion, Dave Chappelle was pretty funny and NEVER vicious in his comedy routine, it was just HIS commentary on how HE perceived things. Comedy itself seems to be on trial here by a vocal minority, and the danger is that left leaning corporations are following those that were offended and bringing out the guillotine, “off with their heads!” and down with their careers. Comedians throughout history have been able to push the envelope where other commentators could not, those that have sometimes paid the price and paved the way for others, Lenny Bruce in the 1960’s was well known for his open, freestyle and highly critical form of comedy which contained satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. He paved the way for counterculture era comedians, and was arrested on obscenity charges and his trial in 1964 was seen as a landmark for freedom of speech in the United States. He was harassed and arrested several times as undercover police would follow him around to his shows and arrest him for things that you could scream on the street today and not even turn any heads, some of those words were thrown in Dave Chappelles direction recently by his detractors without anyone in the room flinching.

In the 1970’s George Carlin got in trouble for his comedy bit that included “ The Seven dirty words”

Carlin was actually present at Lenny Bruces arrest for obscenity. As the police began attempting to detain members of the audience for questioning, they asked Carlin for his identification. Telling the police he did not believe in government-issued IDs, he was arrested and taken to jail with Bruce in the same vehicle. He was dubbed the Dean of Counterculture comedians and his comedy centered on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and other taboo subjects.

Richard Pryor, easily one of the most famous and beloved comics of all time, from comedian, to writer to Movie star, he was one of the greatest comedic minds ever, voted the # 1 Comic of all Time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2017 ( # 2 was George Carlin, #3 was Lenny Bruce, and currently # 9 on that list is none other than Dave Chappelle) His comedy albums won Grammys and were Gold records both with the N word in their titles “That Ni**** is Crazy” in 1974 and “ “ Bicentennial Ni****” in 1976.

His Comedy centered on self depreciation ( he knew how to make fun of himself, ahem) racism, politics, African American culture, religion, sexuality and both his own recreational drug use and drug use across America among many others subjects. He was groundbreaking, he was incredibly well loved, and still is, he was offensive to everyone equally and no one lost their minds at the time. He was a COMEDIAN !!

The things these comedians could say that others couldn’t comment on were important and actually changed the fabric of American society.

Which brings me back to Dave Chappelle, in our current climate of being politically correct and never offending anyone, where do we draw the line, I became a Dave Chappelle fan watching his Prince skit with Charlie Murphy ( Eddie Murphy’s older brother). It still cracks me up just thinking about it. But I believe this is less about Dave Chapelle than it is about silencing comedians on subjects that some may find offensive. Bill Burr is another Comedian that comes to mind whose comments are overly scrutinized for their sharp and biting ( and hysterical) observations. ( particularly about women) But if either of those two Comedians were not already famous, would they be able to defend themselves against a vocal minority that in this climate is backed by some major corporations who are just as afraid that there bottom line is going to be affected. Is it truly possible we were more forward thinking or less offended in the 1970’s than we are now ? I think so. And they don’t want to just cancel Dave Chappelle, their putting comedy and comedians on trial and on notice that you better not dare to stretch the boundaries of comedy if it hurts our feelings or goes against how we feel about anything, and it’s a slippery slope from there to the condemnation of free speech in across many different areas. And that’s not America, and That’s not FUNNY ! Not funny at all, and if ever we needed to laugh in this country , especially at ourselves, it’s RIGHT NOW !

John Walter Raney 1st