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Eleven years ago today, Charlie Murphy announced that Chappelle’s Show would come to an end. This was a disappointing and shocking┬áannouncement for one of the finest sketch comedy shows ever created. ThatÔÇÖs not hyperbole, by the way. Creating sketch comedy shows are far from easy and, from my personal experience, a majority of them are hit or miss. Dave Chappelle has stated on numerous occasions how mental and emotionally taxing it was to create his show. With that said, even though the comedian dropped a few duds of his own, Dave consistently hit the right notes┬áwith┬áskits that became a part of the fabric of pop culture.
There’s so many great skits to choose from when it deciding which one made me laugh the hardest. Even if I skipped the obvious favorites like the Rick James episode, the Prince episode, the ÔÇÿPlayer HatazÔÇÖ Ball, and the R. Kelly “Piss On You” video, thereÔÇÖs still so much material to choose from.
ThereÔÇÖs the super hilarious ÔÇ£Pop CopyÔÇØ sketch where Dave works in a faux Fed-Ex that does everything except making the customers happy. ThereÔÇÖs the time Wayne Brady took over the show and for seven minutes I was subjected to phrases like ÔÇ£Is Wayne Brady going to have to choke b*tch?ÔÇØ and ÔÇ£It is not an option, n****, if you do not smoke this we will have a problemÔǪÔÇØ Also, DaveÔÇÖs interpretation of The Real World, titled ÔÇ£The Mad Real World,ÔÇØ will never stop bringing tears to my eyes because I can still hear Dave saying, ÔÇ£I had sex with Katie,┬átoo.ÔÇØ
While it provided more than its fair share of laughs, there was also a message behind the madness. The skit for ÔÇ£The Mad Real WorldÔÇØ took the premise of the original show and flipped it. Instead of having two black people to share a house with five white people, one of which was almost guaranteed to be racist, they had one white person, Chad, in a house full of black people.
Chad had it rough as two of his roommates had sex with his girlfriend, one of them stabbed his father, and he was literally┬áchoked for making racially insensitive comments. The kicker of the show is that despite all of this, once Chad tried to fight back, he was voted out of the house because the other housemates ÔÇ£felt unsafe.ÔÇØ
Chappelle’s┬áShow┬áloved to take these kind of risks. For example, Clayton Bigsby as a black white supremacist might not seem like a risk today, but was certifiably insane in the early aughts. Dave was a genius at the way he was able to take racially insensitive topics and create skits that enabled you to laugh while making you think about the sort of world we live in.
ÔÇ£Tron Carter’s Law and OrderÔÇØ took on societyÔÇÖs treatment of black and white people in the court system. The catch though, was that Tron was the privileged member while his white counterpart was treated like a criminal. Some of you might remember this from the court scene where Dave Chappelle keeps pleading the ÔÇ£fifÔÇØ when heÔÇÖs being interrogated in the courtroom.
Even though the show could get heavy with the satirical skits pointing at America’s hypocrisy, there was good fun to be had as well. There’s one skit where Dave hilariously pokes fun at the late great Tupac Shakur’s ability to have so much music released posthumously that somehow contained commentary on current events. Things got downright tear-inducing┬áas the Tupac on the show would predict events in the club, before they actually happened. Chappelle was trying to teach lessons but he was also here to make sure folks had a good time, too.
ThereÔÇÖs so many classic skits on the show that thereÔÇÖs no way I could really name them all. While DaveÔÇÖs obviously made peace with what happened to the show, thereÔÇÖs still a part of me that wishes it couldÔÇÖve ended in a manner more fit for its impact. ItÔÇÖs crazy to think itÔÇÖs been 11 years has passed since itÔÇÖs ended, but the work that he did will never be forgotten. Dave Chappelle created a classic that┬ásolidified his legacy as one of the greatest comedians of all time.
Dave ChappelleÔÇÖs Sketch Comedy Show Is A Testament To His Legacy As One Of The GOATs : UPROXX
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