Dave Chappelle on Oprah

It's pretty early in the morning. I went to sleep a few hours ago and normally I sleep like a rock, but I made the mistake of going to bed with a tummy full of chicken burrito, beer, and whiskey. The good thing about being up insanely early is that I get to catch up on some stuff. Stuff like watching the Oprah Winfery episode I recorded yesterday.

So Oprah interviewed Dave Chappelle and it was all very, very weird. What you have to love about Oprah is that she dives right in and asks celebrities the questions people want answers to, and asks follow-up questions if they try to skate around it. Basically the first words of Oprah's mouth after Dave got on the stage were, "Why did you walk away from the $50 million?" Then Dave explains that he wasn't walking away from the money, but the conditions under which he found himself working all of a sudden. This is where is starts to get a little weird.

Dave, right off the bat, launches into a conspiracy theory about networks, music producers, etc. purposefully protraying their talent as insane after signing them into big contracts. He uses Mariah Carey and Martin Lawrence as examples, which, I mean, is kind of convincing. He says he was not crazy, but just extremely stressed out with the responsibily of making another hit season. Then he goes off about how the show got to be such a success and how he came to be in a position to make all that money (ratings were sky high and DVD sales were setting all-time records).

Then Oprah cuts to the Chappelle's Show episode in which Oprah is having Dave's baby. Then she comes back and asks Dave if there is any truth to the rumors that he was on drugs or crazy and in a mental institution. Dave says flatly he was not on drugs or crazy at all. He says he was doing sketches that were funny, but socially irresponsible and started to question his ethics. He felt like he was deliberately being encouraged to do this kind of comedy and keep on doing it since it was making so much money for so many people.

Keep reading the full post after the jump.

He used one sketch he did as an example: In the sketch there were little pixies that would appear every time racist things would happen, and the pixies were in black face (Dave used used black face to personify the N word). He saw the sketch as meaning that everyone has racist tendencies and small things you say have racial undertones, the black face pixies were little reminders that racism still exisits even if people aren't calling you the N word to your face. But, Dave explained, he got some unexpected reactions. He said one white person on the set laughed in a way that made him feel uncomfortable; like he was laughing at him and not with him. Apparently this was some sort of awakening for Dave, because he didn't want to portay black people negatively for the sake of comedy - he was actually trying to expose racism with his comedy. After that you really started to see Dave's internal conflict, because he said, as a comedian, it's not his job to be socially responsible, but he also didn't want to absolve himself of any social responsibilty. He says this incident was the "first tipping point."

The other events that led to his unannounced departure from the show were when he says Comedy Central planted a story in the papers that he had pneumonia and and later planted another story that he had writer's block (neither of which were true, he says) and that they put up a wall in his office, claiming that he wanted one - all in an effort to make him seem or even feel insane. Now this is where Dave started to lose me. I just don't understand why CC would do all this crazy shit of out of the blue. Dave offers no explanation for CC's actions other than his conspiracy theory, and he also never explains the purpose of this conspiracy. What would Comedy Central gain from making him look crazy? I guesss maybe they could use that against him to take control away from him on the show... I think he was trying to suggest that, but the whole thing seemed a little far-fetched, and it just seemed too much like Dave felt the world was against him. I kind of hate to say this, but he was talking as if he were a little bit crazy or at least extremely paranoid. I mean, I see why he'd be super cautious with CC, but he was being cautious to such a degree that he would rather take off to Africa without telling anyone (except his brother apparently) than stay at CC and let them manipulate him. I don't know. It just seems like a strange thing to do based on an extreme interpretation of Comedy Central's actions.

So then he talks about his leaving the show in the middle of taping the season. He says before he actually split, he kind of knew he was going to do it. Things had started to deterioate at work. The negotiations were apparently very difficult and he says people started taking credit for different things and it all got to be too much for him so he just left the situation entirely. Dave says the whole time CC was trying to convince him he was crazy and even tried to convince him to take psychiatric medication. What? Part of me believes CC actually did this, because he doesn't act totally normal, but whatever, CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies have their own eccentricities, but the Board of Directors doesn't tell them to start taking Wellbutrin or Xanex. Geniuses are crazy. Whatever.

Dave talks a little bit about being famous and how hard show business is and alludes to the pressure that came from being given a $50 million contract - he said it was like someone saying, "You're the CEO of a $50 million company. Good luck!" But then when Oprah asked him if the money was too much to handle, he says it was not the money or the fame - he loves being famous.

Oprah asks about his relationship with his former writing partner, Neil. Dave says he was upset with Neil because he went to the papers and said that Dave wasn't well, but never called him to ask how he was doing, so Dave isn't convinced that Neil was actually worried. Dave keeps talking about "vitamin love" and how it was missing from the show and his relationships. Oprah asked Dave if he was paranoid and he said of course he was. He just got $50 million, so he was like a "marked man" and had to watch his back. Oprah asked if he went to a mental institution in South Africa and he says he didn't. "Why would I leave America and go to Africa for medical treatment?" True. He went to Africa because he had family friendss there and he thought it was the kind of place he could go to quietly reflect. Fair enough.

Dave said he left the show because everyday when he went to work, he didn't have the same good feeling (the vitamin love was missing!). He "felt like a prostitute" and he kind of felt like a sellout as well. He said when he heard that one white guy laughing the wrong way, he felt "like they got me." Then he goes on about how he's a conspiracy theorist, using as an example how Hollywood likes to make black comedians wear dresses in movies (exhibit A, Martin in Big Momma's House). He told a story about being on the set of a movie he was filming with Martin when one of the producers wanted him to do a scene in which he had to dress like a woman (which they had not agreed on before). They were persistent in trying to convince him the scene would be hilarious, but he refused.

Now the big question - will Dave Chappelle go back to Comedy Central??? He says he's gone back and forth on it, and decided he wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem - he wanted to be more socially resposible. What does that mean? Does that mean he'll stop doing jokes abot the gay KKK and stop using the N word? Oh God, I hope not! He goes on the say he would need to be assured that he could make a "proper working environment" and have the kind of control he feels comfortable with.

He also said he wanted to give his half of the DVD revenue "back to the people." He says he wants to give the money back to Katrina victims and his High School... and Oprah tells him to be careful about what he says because he's on national TV. Dave says he doesn't want the money or the drama. He wants to give the money to people who are not exploiting him. He wants doing the show to be sort of a charitable venture, so "even if I say something socially irresponsible, it's going to a socially responsible cause." For some reason the housewives love that line and explode into applause and smiles.

So that's basically it. Dave will go back to the show and finish the season if CC is willing to meet his demands, which seem very reasonable. It seems like he should be able to work with whomever he wants and do skits about whatever he wants and the show will be enormously successful no matter what, so CC can only gain from him coming back. Also he'd be giving his half of the DVD sales to charity, so what does CC care? A report from E! Online News said that on Friday, Comedy Central stated their door is always open to Dave and that he is a "comedy genius whose work we truly value." Oh man, they're kissing his ass already.

Then Oprah and Dave talked about his new movie, Dave Chappelle's Block party, which looks hilarious!!

So all in all, the interview was informative. I learned that Dave Chappelle is in fact crazy, that he is extremely paranoid, and a control freak. Now, I don't know how big a deal that is if that is what makes him so hysterically funny. I guess I like the fact that he basically told Comedy Central to fuck off when they were trying to fuck with him, but I just think it was an unnecessarily dramatic way to voice his frustration. I'm glad he went on Oprah's show though, and I am obviously glad that there might be a full season 3 after all.

UPDATE: Here is video from Best Week Ever. In this clip he talks about feeling manipulated. If you click the middle of the player, you'll be able to see two more clips posted by BWE.