Chappelle's Show
SOMEONE has to. It's inevitable. Just like "Wassup" several years ago...no, it's more like "Hello!" has been since the advent of the English language.
It's such an odd saying to have such a shelf life.
I'm Rick James, bitch!
Maybe it's the fact that you don't expect it. Afterall, to see Wayne Brady or Tiger Woods mocked in such a forum of racial satire is no surprise; "Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?" is hilarious upon its original delivery, but after the shock wears off the usefulness of the catchphrase is limited. At least more so than its more popular counterpart.
I'm Rick James, bitch!
RICK JAMES? You couldn't find anyone better to parody?
No, Dave Chappelle couldn't. And he was dead-on.
The second season of Chappelle's Show was a vast improvement over the freshman outing that most likely made the show profitable off of DVD sales alone. While a few skits from last year hit the mark (especially the Popcopy orientation video and the Real World parody Number 9: Chappelle's Showthat featured one lone white guy in a house of African Americans; his girlfriend's line "No, I think I'll stay" and the subsequent reaction was one of the highlights of the 2002-03 television season) most of what Dave's crew tried were inspired but poorly executed, such as the pilot's Frontline parody featuring a white supremacist who just happened to be blind...and black. Funny in theory, but the joke got old fast.
Comedy Central's sophomore effort was much more balanced, and, well, a lot funnier. While the first season seemed to be built around SNL-type sketches loosely connected by Dave's stand-up narration, the show became more self-conscious and self-reverent in 2004, including the pinnacle of the season when Chappelle "quit" the program and Wayne Brady was "hired" to replace him, culminating in the classic skit where Brady shows his dark side during a late night SUV ride through the city slums.
Another highlight included the episode turned over completely to Charlie Murphy's stories about Rick James, an odd experience to say the least and not always as funny as the program has the potential to be, but still a very original and watchable half-hour of television. And just how valuable is Murphy to this program? Some of his characters, particularly in the Player Haters skit (and its outtakes in particular) outshine Chappelle.
Between these classic episodes were other notable skits including a hilarious racial draft (when you can make a simple bleeped "man, fuck you" hilarious, as Chappelle does here, you know you have great writing and good players) Dave getting Oprah pregnant and quitting the show, and the ren's show "Kneehigh Park" featuring real ren in a hilarious takeoff of Sesame Street.
Now, the greater question: is the series wonderful social commentary, or is Chappelle simply exploiting his stature as a minority to tap into racial stereotypes that caucasians cannot? I'd say it's a little of both. Slate Magazine would disagree with me a little, saying there's nothing of worth to be found on Chappelle's Show (besides the laughs, that is) I say Slate's mostly correct, and the show, unlike its network counterpart South Park, does not dabble as much in commentary as much as it just tries to bring the funny. Still, when the whites draft Colin Powell and the blacks agree on the condition that they take Condoleezza Rice as well, there's something there, a statement that you won't find on any other show on television.
And it's damn funny, too.