Dave Chappelle: The Issue is That He's Black, No?

CNN especially has been treating the story of Dave Chappelle with all the breathless coverage of The Runaway Bride.

But I can't help thinking if the story here, at least for them, is that he's black. Whites in the media - and beyond - just can't understand how a black man walked out on a $50 million deal that gave him exclusive creative control over his own show. Whites have walked out on such deals and not garnered anywhere near the attention, which is why I question whether it's Chappelle's skin color that is driving so much of the speculation.

Chappelle isn't my kind of comedian although, to be fair, I'm not sure what my type of comedian is. Most comedians irk me. I'd rather spend an hour being tortured at Gitmo (no, Bushies, this is NOT an invitation to do so) than sit through most stand up comedy, and I'd be willing to take a week at Gitmo to avoid standup by Ray Romano, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, etc. and I'd go two years at Abu Ghraib to be spared a half hour of Dennis Miller. More tolerable are some of the women and high-energy guys: Ellen DeGeneres isn't too bad, nor is Dennis Leary, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and I adore George Carlin usually. I sort of liked the late Mitch Hedburg.

But I have to say that some of the skits on his show are brilliant (I'm not a regular watcher but my partner is, and he enjoys Chappelle immensely). I was floored to learn he's only 31; largely because he seems far more mature and his talent seems advanced for his age.

I'm more than willing to take his comments in a recent interview at face value: that he needs to sit back because he's questioning whether the voices in his head are cutting edge comedy or indicative of a deeper problem. I don't tend to believe some of the rumors that he's "just another star strung out on drugs" or "just trying to get $100 million" or "afraid of success." To watch Chappelle is to see his brilliance and to realize there's some deeply disturbing shit underlying it. I have no idea of his background; I just know what I've seen on TV.

Chappelle in some ways seems like an unlikely TV star. Not just because he's got one hell of a potty mouth. But because TV really isn't that big on brilliance. To me, "South Park" isn't brilliant. It's like Beavis and Butthead before it; goofing on everyone by someone (in SP's case - 2 someones - who feels superior to it all without any apparent justification for that superiority. Give me Jon Stewart on The Daily Show over SP anytime.