When we did a retrospective on Bill Burr’s fading career, we tried to find the precise moment Burr went from being an entertaining comedian — which he was, at one point, believe it or not — to a joyless, unfunny, predictable shill for the political establishment.
asserted
he → do → establishment
At some particular moment in time, he transitioned from a world-class comedian to a guy with the sense of humor and comic instincts of a public school teacher.
asserted
he → transition → teacher
Scholars and historians have debated when this shift took place and why.
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shift → debate → place
We concluded that there’s a lot of truth to the theory that he married a black feminist and the rest was history.
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rest → conclude → feminist
No man’s sense of humor can survive a marriage to a feminist.
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sense → survive → feminist
So the once-edgy and funny comedian is now a finger-wagging HR representative.
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comedian → wag → ?
A fate that has claimed Howard Stern as well, and a whole host of other Gen X and Boomer comedians.
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that → claim → comedians
He was one of the first major comedians to deflate like a balloon toward the end of his life, becoming a limp, sad, droopy shell of what he had been.
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he → deflate → life
He stopped telling jokes entirely and just sat on stage delivering philosophical exposition that seemed really insightful and interesting if you were a freshman in high school enrolled in special ed classes.
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you → stop → classes
To anyone who went to a Carlin show expecting maybe a joke or two, it was confusing and disappointing.
asserted
it → go → joke
A similar transformation has occurred with Dave Chappelle.
asserted
transformation → occur → Chappelle
Now, Chappelle has always been overrated.
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Chappelle → overrate → ?
But he at least used to tell jokes.
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he → use → jokes
He’d give the setup and then land on the punchline.
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He → give → punchline
That’s how jokes work, in case you’re curious.
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you → ’ → ?
He had a routine 20 years ago where he critiqued the residents of Sesame Street for their unfair treatment of Oscar the Grouch.
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he → have → Oscar
It’s not funny when I retell it, but from Chappelle, it was amusing.
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it → ’ → Chappelle
Mostly, though, Chappelle has spent his career making essentially the same three jokes about white people.
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Chappelle → spend → people
The media treated him like Jesus back in the day for that reason alone.
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media → treat → reason
He made fun of white people.
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He → make → people
Who had ever heard of a black comedian making fun of white people?
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comedian → hear → people
No black comedian had ever done it before, with the exception of every black comedian who has ever lived.
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who → do → comedian
Chappelle’s Show is consequently discussed with the same reverence that people talk about Citizen Kane or Shakespeare.
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people → discuss → Kane
But if you go back and watch Chappelle’s Show now, you’ll be shocked by how lame a lot of it is.
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lot → go → it
Not because it’s offensive or anything like that.
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it → ’ → that
It just lands flat.
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It → land → ?
There are about five Chappelle’s Show skits you remember because they introduced catchphrases into the culture.
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they → be → culture
What you might not realize, or recall — I know I didn’t, until I went back and checked — is that those five skits are the only things the show ever did.
uncertain
show → realize → What
When Chappelle ended his show, Comedy Central immediately went out seeking another black comedian to do skits about white people.
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Central → end → people
That gave birth to Key & Peele, which actually holds up much better than Chappelle’s Show, probably because they produced a bunch of skits that had nothing to do with race at all.
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that → give → race
Then Peele left and started making horror movies, where every single movie is about how white people are evil.
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people → leave → movies
So, regression to the mean, I suppose.
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I → suppose → mean
At least, back then, Chappelle was trying to be funny.
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Chappelle → try → ?
In recent years, however, he’s taken the Bill Burr-George Carlin-Howard Stern route.
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he → take → route
He ran out of jokes years ago.
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He → run → jokes
He told his three “white people are lame” jokes and couldn’t think of a fourth.
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people → tell → fourth
So now he wanders around stage telling long, discursive stories, philosophizing, and impressing himself (if no one else) with how insightful he thinks he is.
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he → wander → himself
Performing at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Chappelle reminded everyone — once again — that he’s no longer even vaguely interested in comedy, jokes, or making people laugh.
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people → perform → comedy
He took the opportunity, without any kind of punchline in mind, to declare that he felt good about the fact that Charlie Kirk was publicly executed because of his political beliefs
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Kirk → take → beliefs
:
THIS IS NOT A JOKE ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK -> Dave Chapelle is creating public permission for more assassinations.
asserted
Chapelle → create → assassinations
…and 242 more, not listed.
The Aporia
