Chappelle ends silence on Oprah--

[bliss_eternal]

Excerpt from article:

-----snip-----
'SOCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE' SKETCHES

Chappelle told Winfrey in the interview, which was taped last week and aired Friday on her syndicated program, that the producers of his show were "wrong 100 percent of the time about what people would like." He said the show was a "tremendous amount of work" and he became "stressed out ... I was doing sketches that were funny but socially irresponsible."

He cited a sketch in which racist pictures appeared in characters' minds when certain words were used -- including a man in black face, which he used as "the visual personification of the 'N word."' Chappelle said someone on the set laughed in a way that made him know he was being laughed at and not laughed with.

"It was the first time I've gotten a laugh I was uncomfortable with," he said. "I don't want black people to be disappointed in me for putting that out."

-------snip-------------

link to article on AOL:
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/tv/article.adp?id=20060203070809990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001

I watched most of the interview. I'm still not really sure how I feel about it, partially because Dave didn't seem very sure of himself. At least that is how I viewed it. Personally, I always viewed what Dave's show did as satire--guess I was wrong.

Did anyone else see the interview on O?

[alarcojon]

1. But what if the satire is over the audience's head?

I remember his commenting about the uncomfortable laugh in the TIME magazine story a few months back - that story suggested this was a major reason he took his break. For everyone who gets what he's doing, there's probably someone laughing at it as if it were straight minstrelry.

[bliss_eternal]

3. This is a valid point--

Quote:
For everyone who gets what he's doing, there's probably someone laughing at it as if it were straight minstrelry.

This seems to be precisely the point he was making. It's funny you responded to this when you did. After posting and going away for a while, I thought about it, and was returning to add to my earlier thoughts.

It seems that as comedians, there is very little time that they actually spend relating as themselves (out of character), on their true feelings about things. There was a hesitation or uneasiness evident in him that I saw today, that I haven't really seen before.But in the past, I've only seen him as 'funny Dave,' performing Dave--Dave doing a show, etc.

Also, and I really hate to say this but his eyes seemed glassy, as if he may have been high. At the moment that I turned on the interview, he seemed to be discussing something very uncomfortable, so seeing his eyes so glassy I assumed he was close to tears. But it persisted throughout the interview and it made me wonder. Maybe he was so uncomfortable with the notion of talking about what happened on this level that he 'indulged' in some of his prior self-professed, smoking habits.

I feel so badly for him. It seems maybe the show's success came on so suddenly he didn't get a chance to catch up. Also, he apparently had unsupportive people that didn't understand him, his vision,who he is as a man, or a man of color. Those people may have made his job much harder than it had to be. I can kind of see how one would want to run away from all of that.

[wildeyed]

2. I watched the Oprah show.

Chappelle looked tired and unhappy. He came on with his shoulders slumped and you knew right away that he was not a happy camper. He seems to be trying to balance a lot; fame, money, friendship, social responsibility. You gotta hand it to him, most people would just take the money and run. He is trying to do something productive for the greater good. Hope he gets it worked out.

Chappelle will be on "Inside the Actor's Studio" (I think that is the right show name) in the next few weeks.

[bliss_eternal]

4. I saw the ad for that, I plan to watch it.

I was surprised the Actor's Studio was featuring him, as he hasn't really done many films.

I didn't see him when he came out, so I appreciate your description of what that looked like. Was it just me, or did his eyes seem glassy?

I hate thinking people may be high, but thought maybe it was a way for him to face all of this publicly.

I agree that he didn't seem very happy.

It's so sad in a way. So many strive almost their entire lives to get to that place, of fame and success. Then they get there and it never seems to truly make them happy--or should I say fulfilled. Dave's been doing what he does since he was a teenager. I don't know--I wonder if it's really worth it in the long run.

[wildeyed]

5. I thought he was tearful.

I dunno about drugs. It is hard to tell the difference between stress and drugs sometimes. Today I look like I could be hung over, but what happened was I had a really busy week and then one of my kids got sick so I was up a lot at night.

My guess is that if drugs are involved, they are not the primary problem. If he was drugging, he would either have flamed out completely or have deadened his feelings enough to continue filming the show. Instead he seems to be making an effort to confront the issues.

Two things he said that really rung true to me; First, "I just want the show to be fun again, like it used to be." and second, "I don't want to control the people around me, I want to control the audience." Show will never be like it used to be, and he has a much wider, mainstream audience now so I guess he has some issues to deal with since there is no going back to what he had before the big $$$ deal.

[bliss_eternal]

6. I'm glad you thought tearful--

as I'd rather not think he was high on pot. :) It's believable to me that he was moved to tears. As an artist, the show was his labor of love and they destroyed that. Poor Dave.

I felt really sad for him when he said that, too. About wanting the show to be fun again. Oh, and when he said he hadn't had contact with his freind, Brennan. That was really sad. That the industry and comedy central people seem to have tore them apart.

[wildeyed]

7. Is Brennan his writing partner?

I thought that was sad, too. Maybe Brennan was hurt that Chappelle took off without telling him where he went and that is why he didn't call. Maybe they can patch it up.

Did you watch the "After the Show" show? That might be interesting. If I remember, I will get Tivo to save it for me.

[bliss_eternal]

8. Yes, he was his writing partner--

and he was a producer on the show.

I think that you're right that Brennan may have been hurt that Dave took off without telling him. I don't always agree with Oprah, but I thought she made a good point on this issue--that Dave shouldn't believe everything that the media quoted Brennan as saying. They have a way of misquoting, blowing comments out of proportion, etc.

Dave was also hurt he didn't contact him. Maybe he didn't out of being hurt(or confused) by Dave disappearing. I've also learned that everyone doesn't deal with stuff like this the same way--culturally. Dave is used to people that will check in with you when they know something is wrong. Whereas other cultures aren't necessarily the same way. I learned this first hand through marrying into a different culture.

I didn't watch the aftershow. If you Tivo'd and watch, let me know what you thought!

:hi:
bliss_e.

[msgadget]

9. The actor's studio seems to be letting anyone on these days,

isn't it? I first noticed when J-lo wrangled an appearance.

As for Chappelle, I am so sorry the show has caused him to suffer so. How old is he? There's an age we reach when we confront not only who we are but who we appear to be. I'd always assumed that he did his satire with that already settled in his mind.