David Khari Webber "Dave"
Chappelle (born August 24, 1973) is an American
comedian, screenwriter, television/film
producer, and actor. In 2003, he
became widely known for his popular
sketch
comedy television series,
Chappelle's Show.
Comedy Central ranked him forty-third in the
list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians.
Early life
Chappelle
was born in Washington,
D.C.
His father, William David Chappelle III, was
a professor at Antioch
College
in Yellow Springs, Ohio
. His mother, Yvonne (née Reed), was a professor at
Howard
University
, Prince George's Community
College, and the University of
Maryland
and is also a Unitarian Universalist minister. Chappelle grew up in
Silver Spring,
Maryland
and attended Woodlin Elementary School.
During young Chappelle's formative years, his comic inspiration
came from various comedians, particularly
Eddie Murphy and
Richard Pryor.
After his
parents separated, Chappelle stayed in Washington with his mother
while spending summers with his father in Ohio
. In
1991, he graduated from Washington's
Duke Ellington School of the
Arts where he studied
theatre
arts.
Career
Early works
Chappelle
moved to New York
City
to pursue a career as a comedian.
He
gathered the courage to perform at Harlem
's famed
Apollo
Theater
in front of the infamous "Amateur Night"
audience. The performance resulted in him being
boo off the stage. Chappelle has described the
experience as the moment that gave him the courage to continue his
show business aspirations. He quickly made a name for himself in
the New York comedy circuit, even performing in the city's parks.
At the age of 20, Chappelle made his film debut as "Ahchoo" in
Mel Brooks's
Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
That same year, he had a small but showy role in the film
Undercover Blues. On the
strength of his performances in these films, Chappelle was offered
the role of
Bubba in
Forrest Gump, which was in a
pre-production stage. Not realizing the effect this future
Academy Award winner for Best
Picture would have, and concerned about what seemed to be a
racially demeaning character, he turned down the part. He has since
admitted to regretting the decision. Chappelle played another
supporting movie role in 1994's little-seen
Getting In.He attracted the attention of TV
network executives and developed numerous
pilot but none of them were picked up for
series. In 1995, he made a guest appearance in an episode of
ABC's highly rated
sitcom Home
Improvement. The storyline had Chappelle and real-life
friend comedian
Jim Breuer ask
Tim Taylor for advice on
their girlfriends. The characters' single outing in the episode
proved so popular that ABC decided to give them their own
spin-off sitcom titled
Buddies. However, after taping a
pilot episode, Jim Breuer was fired
and replaced with actor
Christopher
Gartin.
Buddies premiered in March 1996 to
disappointing
ratings. The show was
cancelled after only four episodes out of thirteen that were
produced. Nine years later, in May 2005, ten of the episodes were
released on a single-disc
DVD to capitalize on
Chappelle's new-found fame.
After the failure of
Buddies, Chappelle starred in another
pilot. According to Chappelle, the network was uncomfortable with
the
African-American cast and
wanted
White actors added. Chappelle
refused and accused the network of racism. Shortly after this
incident, Chappelle's father died. Chappelle returned to Ohio and
considered leaving the entertainment business.
He later appeared as the nightclub comedian in
The Nutty Professor
starring
Eddie Murphy, one of his major
comedic influences. He also had minor roles in
Con Air and
Martin
Lawrence's
Blue
Streak. He co-wrote (with
Neal
Brennan) and starred in
Half
Baked, a
cult film about a group
of
pot-smoking best friends trying to get
their friend out of jail.
Chappelle appeared as himself in an episode of
The Larry Sanders Show, in which
he and the executives of the show's nameless
television network satirized the
treatment that scriptwriters and show creators were subject to, as
well as the executives' knee-jerk stereotyping when it came to
race. In 1998, he played a supporting role as
Tom Hanks' character's friend and confidant in
You've Got Mail.
Dave then, in 2002, played the "Conspiracy Brother" in the movie
Undercover
Brother.
Chappelle's Show
In 2003, Chappelle debuted his own weekly sketch comedy show on
Comedy Central called
Chappelle's Show. The show parodied
many aspects of
American culture
including
racial stereotypes,
politics and
pop
culture. Along with comedy skits, the show also featured
musical performances by mostly
hip-hop
and
soul artists.Chappelle's pointed
social and political commentary quickly helped the show garner
critical and commercial success as well as controversy.
Richard Pryor, one of Chappelle's comedic
influences, was a fan of the show and stated that he had "passed
the
torch" to Chappelle. Chappelle received
two
Emmy nominations for the show.
Additionally, the
DVD set became the
best-selling DVD of a television show to date, overtaking the
previous best-selling,
The
Simpsons first season DVD. It had sold over 3 million
copies. Due to the show's popularity, Comedy Central's parent
company
Viacom reportedly offered Chappelle a
$55 million contract (giving Chappelle a share of DVD sales) to
continue production of
Chappelle's Show for two more years
while allowing him to do side projects. Chappelle had stated that
sketches are not his favorite form of comedy, and that the
characteristics of the show's format were somewhat like
short films.
Season three turbulence
In a June
2004 stand-up performance in Sacramento, California
, Chappelle walked off the stage after berating his
audience for constantly shouting "I'm Rick
James, bitch!," which became a catchphrase from the popular ""Rick James" sketch
. After a few minutes, Chappelle returned and continued by
saying "The show is ruining my life." He stated that he disliked
working "20 hours a day" and that the popularity of the show was
making it difficult for him to continue his stand-up career which
was "the most important thing" to him. He also told the
audience:
Season 3 was scheduled to air on May 31, 2005, but in that month,
Chappelle stunned fans and the entertainment industry when he
abruptly left during production of the third season of
Chappelle's Show. Chappelle has since stated that he was
unhappy with the direction the show had taken, claiming pressure
from network executives regarding the show's content. Chappelle
left the United States to visit
South
Africa. His decision to visit South Africa while leaving the
public in the dark regarding the details about his absence
triggered reports of drug problems. Chappelle gave an interview to
Time Magazine's South African
bureau chief. Chappelle denied any drug or mental problems but
stated that his reasons for visiting South Africa were to reflect
on his life and career.
Return
Later in
the year, Chappelle performed impromptu stand-up shows in Los Angeles
. He then went on a tour which began in
Newport,
Kentucky
which is not far from his Ohio home. He also
made a surprise appearance on
HBO's
Def Poetry where he performed two poems,
titled
Fuck Ashton Kutcher
and
How I Got the Lead on "Jeopardy!." He was interviewed for
Inside the Actors
Studio on December 18, 2005 at
Pace University's
Michael Schimmel Center for
the Arts. The show premiered on February 12, 2006. Chappelle
stated that the death of his father in 1998 had an impact on his
decision to go to South Africa. By throwing himself into his work,
he had not taken a chance to mourn his father's death. He also said
the rumors that he was in drug or psychiatric treatment only
persuaded him to stay in South Africa.
He continued:
Chappelle also said that he felt some of his sketches were
"socially irresponsible." He singled out the "
pixie sketch" in which pixies appear to people and
encourage them to reinforce stereotypes of their races. In the
sketch, Chappelle is wearing
blackface and
is dressed as a character in a
minstrel
show. According to Chappelle, during the filming of the sketch,
a crew member was laughing in a way that made him feel
uncomfortable and made him rethink the show. Chappelle said "it was
the first time I felt that someone was not laughing with me but
laughing at me."
During these interviews, Chappelle did not rule out returning to
Chappelle's Show to "finish what we started," but promised
that he would not return without changes to the production, such as
a better working environment. He also stated he would like to
donate half of the DVD sales to charity. Chappelle expressed
disdain at the possibility of his material from the unfinished
third season being aired, saying that to do so would be "a bully
move," and that he would not return to the show if Comedy Central
were to air the unfinished material. On July 9, 2006, Comedy
Central aired the first episode of
Chappelle's Show: The Lost
Episodes. An uncensored DVD release of the episodes was
made available on July 25.
Chappelle
has stated that he has no intention of leaving Yellow
Springs, Ohio, his current residence. "Turns out you don't
need $50 million to live around these parts, just a nice smile and
a kind way about you. You guys are the best neighbors ever," he
stated at a blues and jazz festival in the town in mid-September
2006, "That's why I came back and that's why I'm staying."
Chappelle again appeared on
Inside the Actors Studio and
in celebration of the show's 200th episode, he humorously
interviewed the show's usual host,
James
Lipton. The episode aired on November 10, 2008.
Rick James Movie
In June 2004, based on the popularity of the "Rick James" sketch,
it was announced that Chappelle was in talks to portray
Rick James in a
biopic from
Paramount Pictures. James' estate
disagreed with the proposed comical tone of the film and put a halt
to the talks.
Dave Chappelle's Record Stand-up
In April
2007, Chappelle set an stand-up endurance record at the Laugh Factory
Sunset Strip comedy club, besting comedian Dane Cook's record of 3 hours and 50
minutes. In December of the same year, Chappelle broke his
own record with a time of 6 hours and 12 minutes. Cook took the
record again in January 2008, with a time of 7 hours.
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
was the subject and
producer of the
Michel Gondry-directed documentary
Dave Chappelle's Block
Party which chronicles a Chappelle-hosted "rap concert" in
the
Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood of
Brooklyn
on September 18, 2004. Several musical artists,
among them
Kanye West,
The Roots,
Erykah Badu,
Mos Def, and
Jill
Scott are featured in the movie both performing in the concert
and in conversation off-stage. The most surprising highlight of the
event was the "last minute" reunion of popular '90s rap group
The Fugees. Chappelle toured several
cities in February and March 2006 to promote the film under the
moniker "Block Party All-Stars featuring Dave Chappelle".
Universal Pictures' genre division
Rogue Pictures released the film in
the United States on March 3, 2006.
Personal life
Chappelle
lives with his wife Elaine and two sons, Sulayman and Ibrahim on a
farm, just outside Yellow
Springs, Ohio.
Chappelle has stated that he is an avid
World of Warcraft player.
Chappelle is a
Muslim; he converted to
Islam in
1998. He told
Time Magazine in a May 2005
interview, “I don’t normally talk about my religion publicly
because I don’t want people to associate me and my flaws with this
beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful if you learn it the
right way."
Chappelle can play two songs on the piano,
Round Midnight and
Misty, as revealed by drummer
?uestlove in
Dave Chappelle's Block
Party.
Television work
Filmography
References
- DAVE CHAPPELLE, WIFE AND KIDS - Black Celebrity
Kids
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