“Jokes aren’t only about laughing” Tyler Cowen on podcast (paraphrased by me).
“I make fun of poor people because I see myself in them” David Chappelle
“When you make jokes about Trans people, doesn’t that normalise us?” Daphne (trans) as told to Chappelle
David Chappelle was offending everyone.
I was camped out in a boring Boston hotel after my own show was cancelled (due to the start of COVID distancing) and after four days of non-stop activity at a healthcare conference I thought I’d do an activity which I can’t get to at home.
No. Not watching the adult channel. Close.
Putting on offensive comedy on Netflix.
Comedians - and the stage - occupy a special place in our free speech system. I’ve arrived at the view that it must be cherished even when offensive or particularly when offensive.
Comedians are special because their role is to tell jokes... and in doing so they reveal us. If you go to a comedian on stage or Netflix, you are going to their church, their home.
That home is a sacred space to tell jokes and offend everyone and in doing so reveal all aspects of our humanity, dark and light.
That’s not to say that those jokes and views are above criticism or even condemning what might be said. To defend a comedian’s right to tell jokes is not the same as being indifferent to those jokes.
That said, Chappelle made some subtle and not so subtle arguments for himself in “Sticks and Stones” which I found fascinating.
It starts with the title - yes words can be offensive - but do they ever hurt like sticks and stones? We can argue for mental stress but Chappelle made an interesting joke (and a running theme) about how few people would actually go about shooting up a school - causing violence in real life is a league different from telling jokes.
He acknowledges the peoples he pokes. He pokes at the poor. He pokes at celebrity. He pokes at Chinese. But then, he offers a small private disclosure. His wife is Asian. She hates his Chinese impression joke. He doesn’t tell it at home. Unless they are really fighting. Another joke. Passion. Love. Humour.
He goes on to let slip
“I make fun of poor people because I see myself in them”
Chappelle was poor (or so he implies). Now he is rich and happy for it. But he does know what it is like to be poor. And in this, he is also poking fun at himself, in part.
This idea is a notion in common with David Sedaris. Perhaps a comedy writer pretty far away from David Chappelle. First name notwithstanding.
Sedaris makes fun mostly of himself, and then oft times of his family and those he meets. But mostly himself. He has written (and now spoken on “Masterclass”) about this. This self humour can dig at a deeper truth, can be funnier for its self-recognition in us all and to an extent diffuses the challenge on picking on another class of person - which might seem unfair or bullying. That Sederis does this mostly in essay form rather than stand-up (though him performing his essays comes close to stand up).
Sasha Baron-Cohen (Ali G) has achieved this very effectively in parodies. Even more so, to my mind, in a sketch where part of the joke is him speaking in hebrew. His Jewishness is both a defense and a heightened offence / joke - if you can know enough to understand the language or his own history.
Back to Chappelle. There’s an argument about words with a producer. The words or terms he can or can not use on air. Chappelle fires back but I can say “nigga” all I like! This evokes the defense of talking about yourself as more acceptable. To that possible answer, Chappelle also extends and rebuts: “But I am no nigga.”
There’s a joke about letters. LBGT letters. (He seems to have missed the Q). (It’s perhaps not super funny, nor as offensive as it could be.) There’s a joke about rape. A woman has to leave. She was raped and she can’t stay. He answers:
I am sorry you were raped. But it’s also not my fault.
This is also in his space. His comedy den. And the vibe is in danger of snuffing out. He goes on and in the middle of the audience a trans person, Daphne, keeps laughing. And laughing. And laughing. And Chappelle is nervous coming into his LGBT jokes. And Daphne keeps on laughing.
Later they drink and Daphne tells him:
“When you make jokes about Trans people, doesn’t that normalise us?”
And the way Chappelle tells the story, it comes as a revelation - I think that’s Chappelle’s technique and charisma but he uses it to good point. LGBQT+ have in some sense become mainstream, because a mainstream-ish comic can poke fun. (see end for the counter to this)
Chappelle towards the end recounts a humble-brag story. He is hanging with the great and the good. Chris Rock - from comedy legend - brings round a crowd including the Mayor and Senator Kamala Harris. This is as Obama is in the early stages running for office. Kamala tells Chapelle to speak to Obama and dials him up. The call arrives at voicemail, but Chappelle sends his advice - the same for being a black kid at a school shoot out or almost any time - crouch low and run in a zig zag pattern.
Fast forward. Chappelle is waiting, post a media event, with Obama and other runners. Obama is last and makes his way to Chappelle. Hitting him up in a hug, the way Chappelle has been acting it out all along, and whispering in his ear: “I got your message...?”
In the world of the humble brag, Chappelle has elevated himself to the highest echelons of our elite power circles.
With graft and stories and words and reflections and
I think - maybe - he deserves to be there - in our folklore - our kings and queens have had their jesters - and they can be awful people -
For jokes aren’t only about laughing
They reveal who we are to each other.
Even in a time of COVID, that’s worth remembering.
