Dave Chapelle vs the wokescold: comedy strikes back
Comedy is striking back. For the longest time comedy has suffered. Too many comedians have gone the path of Sarah Silverman and dropped six feet down into a grave of PC culture, kowtowing to whoever complains first. Even Kevin Hart suffered the wokescold over a gay joke he tweeted years ago. He kind of stood up the crowd but he did it with his tail between his legs.
Dave Chappelle runs to those whiners and punches them in the face. He leaves them bruised. The only people to defend the three or so loudest green haired fanatics in our country are the critics at rotten tomatoes. Yeah, they suck, we all know. But how bad and how hard?
His latest standup received a whopping 0% it’s first week by the critics. The polls opened to the average Joes and BOOM- Dave Chappelle’s new special earned a 99% from the audience. More critics jumped into the game and it stands currently at 31%.
The disparity is a canyon sized swamp of elitist critics who were never meant to analyze comedy and us, those who wish to laugh. These guys seem like the naggy Vice journalists who never let their subjects finish their story. Speaking of Vice, they have a litany of articles deriding Chappelle. Their major gripe is he is offensive. Duh! It’s sad to see a once hilarious magazine turn into a Buzzfeed like media enterprise. I remember Jim Goad’s article, Methturbation blues, smoking tweak makes my cock weak; the article is an anecdote on masturbating on Meth and the extreme sexual urges which follow. Jim Goad is a hilarious writer and it’s totally worth reading. It’s one of the few things I’ve read that actually made me laugh out loud.
What’s funnier than Dave Chappelle? According to the critics it’s Amy Schumer. Her special Live from the Apollo has 90% from the critics and 21% from the audience. Are we even watching the same screen anymore?
Why is our media so far flung to one side? That’s the problem here. Dave Chappelle, although black, makes some scathing remarks against the “alphabet people.” This is not allowed. Social commentary must be against the so called dominant group or you’ll be flung into the social gulag.
Jim Gaffigan came to the defense of Dave Chappelle: “I think people sometimes confuse or lose the appropriate expectation, he is a comedian. Obviously it’s like I’m talking about one of my children. I would defend them. I would defend any comedian.”
He continues, “Do I agree with everything he said? No. But I don’t agree with any comedian 100 percent. There’s also something … I wonder if Dave was poking the bear. Just to see the reaction. And he is so brilliant so maybe he’s ahead of this curve.”
And you know what? I think he is ahead of the curve. Dave Chappelle is providing the impetus to finally let comedy really go at it again. The audience loved the special. Everywhere I go I hear people talking about it. Not one of them is calling for the cancelation of the two comedians; they think its funny.
The media attention has been arrested on the poor unarmed African American male. But, not to victim blame here, look at what he was wearing. By that I mean, he knew what he was getting into. He was looking to cause a stir, as Jim Gaffigans said. He had things to say and he said it. Not despite the critics, but in spite. The people have spoken: we want raunchy humor, not safe, but straight cold hard funny.
By Ted M. Iverson