Dave Chappelle

At 51 years old, Dave Chappelle has this physical status:

David Khari Webber Chappelle (born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and producer.

Chappelle has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including two Emmy Awards and two Grammy Awards.

Chappelle's Show, his most well-known satirical comedy sketch show, is available from 2003 to 2006.

Neal Brennan co-wrote the book, which continued until Chappelle's departure from the show two years later.

Chappelle's career as a writer on television extended to stand-up comedy throughout the United States by 2006.

Rolling Stone ranked him No. 1 in 2017. In their "50 Greatest Stand Up Comics of All Time," 9 is ranked 9 out of a total of 49. "Chappelle has appeared in numerous films, including Mel Brooks' "British Tights (1993), You've Got Mail (1998), Undercover Brother (1999), Chi-Raq (2015), and A Star Is Born (2018).

He appeared in Half Baked, a 1998 comedy film co-written with Neal Brennan, his first lead role.

Chappelle also appeared in the ABC comedy series Buddies (1996). He signed a $20 million-per-release comedy-special contract with Netflix in 2016 and, as of 2019, he has released five standup specials under the contract.

In 2018, he received a Grammy Award for his Netflix-produced comedy film The Age of Spin and Deep in the Heart of Texas.

Equanimity, another Netflix special, was nominated for three Emmys in 2018 and received the award for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded).

Chappelle was chosen to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2019, which is coveted by the Kennedy Center as America's highest comedy award.

Early life

David Khari Webber Chappelle was born in Washington, D.C., on August 24, 1973. His father, William David Chappelle III, was a professor of vocal performance and dean of students at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Yvonne Seon (née Reed, formerly Chappelle) was a Congolese Prime Minister and served as a lecturer and university administrator at several universities, including Wright State University and Prince George's Community College. Chappelle has a stepmother and a stepbrother.

Chappelle grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and attended Woodlin Elementary School. Pete Seeger and Johnny Hartman were among his parents' political followers, and family house visitors included Pete Seeger and Johnny Hartman. Chappelle was predicted to be a comedian by Hartman, and Chappelle's comedic inspiration came from Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. Chappelle and his mother stayed in Washington while his father spent summers in Ohio after his parents separated. He served as an usher in Ford's Theatre in high school. He attended Eastern High School in Washington for a short time before transferring to Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he studied theater arts, graduating in 1991.

Personal life

Chappelle married Elaine Mendoza Erfe in 2001. Sulayman and Ibrahim, the couple's two sons, as well as Sanaa's one daughter. They live on a 65-acre (26-hectare) farm near Yellow Springs, Ohio. Chappelle also owned many houses in Xenia, Ohio. In September 2006, he told Yellow Springs' residents:

Chappelle converted to Islam in 1991.

He told Time magazine in May 2005:

Chappelle appears in a video in Mecca describing the religious history of the Well of Zamzam.

Bishop William D. Chappelle, a slave enslaved in 1857, served as president of Allen University and led a delegation of African Americans who met President Woodrow Wilson at the White House. During Reconstruction, his great-grandfather, Robert J. Palmer, was a member of the South Carolina Legislature but later went majority black. During a time when segregation barred many African Americans from having access to health care, his grand-uncle W. D. Chappelle Jr. established the People's Infirmary, a small hospital and surgery practice in Columbia, South Carolina.

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Career

In the first episode of ABC's America's Funniest People, Chappelle appeared in a montage of random people telling a joke. Chappelle left New York City to pursue a life as a comedian. He appeared at the Apollo Theater in front of the "Amateur Night" audience in Harlem, but was booed off stage. Chappelle characterized the experience as the "one" that gave him the confidence to resume his show business ambitions. He made a name for himself on the New York comedy circuit, as well as appearing in the city's parks. He hooned his craft at "open mic" performances at Boston's Comedy Club in Monday night, as late as 1994. In 1992, he received critical and acclaim for his television appearance in Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam on HBO. It was his appearance on this program that made his name rise, eventually allowing him to appear on late-night television programs such as Politically Incorrect, Late Show with David Letterman, The Howard Stern Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Whoopi Goldberg dubbed him "The Kid." In Mel Brooks' "Ahchoo" in Men in Tights, he made his film debut at 19 years old. He appeared on Star Search three times before losing to competing comedian Lester Barrie; Chappelle later joked about becoming more popular than Barrie. Chappelle was given the role of Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue in Forrest Gump this year. He was worried that the character was demeaning and that the film would crash, and he ruled out the role. He parodied the film in 1997 short Bowl of Pork, where a dim-witted black man is suspected of the Rodney King beating, the Los Angeles riots, and O. J. Simpson's murder. Chappelle appeared in Getting In, a Doug Liman film from 1994. He was the first act for R&B soul singer Aretha Franklin, who was 19 years old at the time.

Chappelle captured the interest of television network executives and produced numerous pilots, but no pilots were selected for the project, but no one was chosen up for development into a series. In 1995, he appeared on ABC's hit show Home Improvement as a guest on an episode. Chappelle and a life friend and comedian Jim Breuer had to call Tim Taylor for tips on their girlfriends. The characters' single outing in the episode was so popular that ABC decided to give them their own spin-off sitcom titled Buddies. Breuer was fired and replaced by actor Christopher Gartin after taping a pilot episode. Buddies debuted in March 1996 to low ratings, and the show was cancelled after only five episodes were out of 13 that had been planned.

Chappelle appeared in another pilot after Buddies' failure. According to Chappelle, the network was dissatisfied with the African-American cast and wanted white actors to be added. Chappelle resisted and subsequently charged the network with bigotry. Chappelle's father died soon afterward and, after returning to Ohio, he considered leaving the entertainment industry.

In the 1996 comedy The Nutty Professor, starring Eddie Murphy, one of his key comedic influences, he appeared later as a stand-up insult comedian attacking patrons of a nightclub. He appeared in Con Air's 1997. He appeared on HBO Comedy Half-Hour at the start of 1998. He appeared in "Pilots and Pens Lost," the show's unidentified television network's sixth season's sixth season, in which he and the show's executives mocked scriptwriters and show designers, as well as the executives' knee-jerk tendencies toward racial stereotypes.

Half Baked, Chappelle's first starring role, focuses on a group of marijuana-smoking friends trying to get their other friend out of jail. It made money at the box office and remains a classic "stoner" film, as well as more recent faresuch as Judd Apatow's Pineapple Express. In You've Got Mail, Chappelle appeared as Tom Hanks' character's friend and confidant. He appeared in the Martin Lawrence film Blue Streak in 1999.

In 2000, Chappelle premiered Dave Chappelle' Them Softly in Washington, D.C., for his first hour-long HBO special. In the 2000 comedy film Screwed, he costarred alongside Norm Macdonald. In the 2002 racial satire Undercover Brother, he continued this with the appearance as "Conspiracy Brother."

Chappelle's Show, Chappelle's Show, opened on Comedy Central in 2003. Many aspects of American culture were parodied, including racial stereotypes, politics, and pop culture. The show also included musical performances by mainly hip-hop and soul artists in addition to comedy sketches. He also promoted the careers of other black comedians, most notably Paul Mooney and Charlie Murphy.

Comedy Central's new parent company, Viacom, offered Chappelle a $55 million deal (giving Chappelle a cut of DVD sales) to continue Chappelle's Show for two years while still encouraging him to do side projects due to the show's success. Chappelle has stated that sketches are not his favorite form of entertainment, and that the show's style was similar to short films.

Chappelle was in talks to portray James in a Paramount Pictures biopic, which is also owned by Viacom, in June 2004. The estate of James Davis disagreed with the film's supposed comedic tone, causing the cancellation of negotiations.

Chappelle's second comedy special on Showtime, Dave Chappelle, For What It's Worth, was released on September 6, where Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robin Williams had appeared at the Fillmore Auditorium, where Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robin Williams appeared in the same month.

Chappelle walked off the stage in Sacramento, California, after berating his audience for yelling "I'm Rick James, bitch!" The sketch had become a hit since his famous "Rick James" sketch. Chappelle returned and revived by saying, "The show is ruining my life." He said he disliked working "20 hours a day" and that the show's success made it difficult for him to continue his stand-up work, which was "the most important thing" to him.

He told the audience:

Season 3 was supposed to debut on May 31, 2005, but Chappelle surprised fans and the entertainment industry when he unexpectedly departed during production and headed to South Africa. Chappelle expressed disappointment with the show's course in an interview with Time magazine, and he expressed his desire for reflection in the face of immense stress: he said in an interview with Time magazine that he was dissatisfied with it.

Chappelle's resignation was prompted by heroin use or a mental disorder, rather than Chappelle's ethical and professional questions.

Chappelle's decision to leave the show meant walking away from his $50 million deal with Comedy Central and creating a rift with longtime collaborator Neal Brennan.

Despite the relatively small number of episodes compared to most American syndicated television shows, the show continues to appear on several television networks. Chappelle's abrupt departure from his show remains a point of discussion and analysis of Chappelle's own comedy. Chappelle's book Pimp, the memoir of Iceberg Slim, is similar to Bird Revelation.

Chappelle was the star and producer of the Michel Gondry-directed documentary Block Party, which chronicles his appearance at a free concert in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn on September 18, 2004. Kanye West, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Dead Prez, and Jill Scott are among the film's performers on stage and in discussion off-stage; Chappelle brought Yellow Springs residents to Brooklyn at his own expense. The Fugees' reunion, which was another highlight of the festival.

Chappelle performed in several cities in February and March 2006 to promote the film under the name "Block Party All-Stars starring Dave Chappelle." On March 3, 2006, Universal Pictures' genre division, Rogue Pictures, was released in the United States. It was a success, grossing a total of $11.7 million on a $3 million budget.

Chappelle appeared at impromptu stand-up shows in Los Angeles in June 2005 and then toured Newport, Kentucky, not far from his Ohio home. He made a pre-planned, but not so successfully promoted surprise appearance at Towson University's annual Tigerfest celebration on May 11, 2006. He appeared on HBO's Def Poetry, where he performed two poems, titled "Fuck Ashton Kutcher" and "How I Got the Lead on Jeopardy."

Chappelle outlined his reasons for leaving Chappelle's Show in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on February 3, 2006. He also expressed his disdain for the entertainment industry's tone towards black entertainers and audiences:

Chappelle appeared in Inside the Actors Studio at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Performing Arts on December 18, 2005. On February 12, 2006, the show premiered. He had performed the musical tribute to Sly Stone at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards four days before.

Chappelle said on Inside the Actors Studio that the death of his father seven years ago inspired his decision to go to South Africa. He had not had a chance to mourn his father's death by throwing himself into his work. He also said that rumors that he was under drug or psychiatric care only persuaded him to stay in South Africa.

He said,

Chappelle said that some of his sketches were "socially irresponsible." He singled out "pixie sketch" in which pixies appear to people and encourage them to reinforce stereotypes of their races. Chappelle is wearing blackface and is dressed as a villain in a minstrel show in the sketch. According to Chappelle, a white crew member chuckled during his filming in a way that made him uncomfortable, saying, "It was the first time I felt someone was not laughing with me but not laughing at me."

Chappelle did not rule out returning to Chappelle's Show to "finish what we started," but he did not return without any improvements to the process, such as a safer working environment. He wanted to donate half of the DVD proceeds to charity. Chappelle expressed disdain at the prospect that his work from the unfinished third season be broadcast, noting that doing so would be "a bully move" and that if Comedy Central were to air the unfinished program, he would not return to the show. Comedy Central aired the first episode of Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes on July 9, 2006. Chappelle appeared on CNN and said he did not return to Chappelle's show after the DVD's were announced. On July 25, the episodes were released on an uncensored DVD.

Following Chappelle's return to stand-up comedy, the comedian has been known to make impromptu and unannounced appearances at comedy clubs and continues to do so.

Chappelle set a stand-up endurance record at the Laugh Factory Sunset Strip comedy club in April 2007, defeating comedian Dane Cook's record of three hours and 50 minutes. Chappelle set a new personal record in December of the same year in a time of six hours and twelve minutes. In January 2008, Cook regained the record in a record of seven hours. Chappelle appeared at the Laugh Factory once more on November 19, 2009, when it was speculated that he would try to recover the record. However, he was disqualified after leaving the stage five hours earlier in his schedule, according to the club's president.

Chappelle appeared on Inside the Actors Studio once more, and the show's regular host, James Lipton, was interviewed by Chappelle during the show's 200th episode. On November 11, 2008, the episode premiered. In 2013, he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio for the 250th time.

Chappelle did a four-hour set at Comic Strip Live in New York in February 2009.

Chappelle appeared at Comedy Jam in San Francisco in August 2011.

Chappelle returned to full-time touring stand-up in August 2013 as a headliner at the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity festival. Chappelle co-headlined with comedy act Flight of the Conchords, which was funded by Funny or Die.

Chappelle walked off the stage after a stop in Hartford due to the audience's applause that lasted throughout his entire performance. The raucous was so raucous that it drowned out Chappelle's voice over the P.A. Other audience members who later reported about the performance regarded it as highly uncalled for and out of context by some of Chappelle's Show episode's chanting of "White Power," a term that was used in a Chappelle's Show episode. Chappelle came to a stop in Chicago a few days later for a preview. ComedyHype.com acquired and posted a video of him on stage protesting the booing. Chappelle referred to the Hartford incident, arguing that "young, white, and alcoholic [s]" should be blamed for the previous event, that he wished North Korea would bomb Hartford, that he would not stop in Hartford for gas, and finally expressing his dissatisfaction with the situation. However, Chappelle's set returned to Hartford in August 2014 for a surprise appearance at the 2014 Oddball Festival, where he received standing ovations during his set.

Chappelle made his first major New York City appearance in ten years in June 2014, performing ten nights at Radio City Music Hall. Chappelle promoted the dates by appearing on The Today Show, Jimmy Fallon's Show Business, and David Letterman's Late Show.

Chappelle appeared in Spike Lee's Chi-Raq, his first film role in 13 years.

Chappelle made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live on November 12, 2016, the weekend of Donald Trump's resurgent in the 2016 presidential election. A Tribe Called Quest performed as the musical guest on the program. Chappelle attacked Trump and the election as a result of his opening monolog. "I'm wishing Donald Trump's luck," he said, "I'm going to give him a chance," says the disenfranchised, and we'll all be asking for one." Critics and audiences alike lauded his SNL appearance. He was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards. When filming an episode of Jerry Seinfeld's Netflix series "I Wish I Had A Camera," he donated the Emmy to his former high school.

Netflix announced on November 21, 2016, that three new stand-up comedy specials would be released from Chappelle in 2017, with Chappelle's bill rising to $20,000 per special. On March 21, 2017, Chappelle's personal comedy vault was among the first two specials shown on Netflix. "Deep in the Heart of Texas" was shot at Austin City Limits Live in April 2015, and "The Age of Spin" was shot at the Hollywood Palladium in March 2016. The specials marked the comedian's first concert specials in 12 years, and they proved to be a huge success a month later, when Netflix revealed that they were the most watched comedy specials in Netflix's history.

Equanimity, the third special, was shot at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C., in September 2017, and Chappelle's fourth special, The Bird Revelation, was released on November 20, 2017 at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. On December 22, 2017, Netflix announced the extension of the contract to include The Bird Revelation, which was released with Equanimity on December 31, 2017.

Chappelle's first two 2017 specials The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in January 2018. The Equanimity special at Chappelle's Equanimity special received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) in September 2018. In Bradley Cooper's debut film version of A Star Is Born in October 2018, Chappelle returned to the big screen as "Noodles," Jackson Maine's best friend and former musician. The film was a huge critical and commercial success. He was nominated and co-cast for the Screen Actor Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture. Chappelle and Jon Stewart joined forces in 2018 in the United States and throughout the United Kingdom for a duo comedy tour. He has also appeared with Aziz Ansari for three stand-up performances at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas.

Chappelle was nominated for and received the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for Equanimity and Bird Revelation in February 2019.

Chappelle was chosen to receive the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by The Kennedy Center in 2019. "Dave is the embodiment of Mark Twain's argument that "against the assault of humor, nothing can stand," says the Kennedy Center's President. And, for three decades, Dave has brought us all the most interesting yet relatable topics from his completely original yet relatable experience." The group of people honoring Chappelle included Jon Stewart, Bradley Cooper, Morgan Freeman, Tiffany Haddish, Aziz Ansari, Neal Brennan, Neal Brennan, SNL cast members Kenan Thompson, Michael Che, and Colin Jost. On October 27, 2019, the prize was presented at the Kennedy Center gala. The ceremony was televised on PBS on January 7, 2020. Muriel Bowser, the Mayor of Columbia, declared "Dave Chappelle Day" in Washington, D.C. on the day of the award ceremony.

Dave Chappelle's fifth Netflix special, Sticks & Stones, was unveiled on August 26, 2019. The special drew controversies (received an average score of 5.70 by Rotten Tomatoes observers), receiving backlash for jokes regarding musician Michael Jackson and R. Kelly's allegations of assault, as well as jokes about the LGBT community and cancel culture. However, audiences applauded it (with a 99% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), and Sticks & Stones received the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2020.

On June 12, 2020, Netflix released 8:46, a 27-minute and 20-second video of Chappelle's newly recorded stand-up on YouTube's "Netflix Is a Joke." The private function in Yellow Springs, Ohio, on June 6, 2020, where audience members observed social distancing laws and wore masks to discourage the dissemination of COVID-19. The name was chosen in honor of the 8 minutes and 46 seconds that police officer Derek Chauvin knelt knelt on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, killing him. Chappelle talks about Floyd's assassination and subsequent demonstrations, criticizing Don Lemon, Laura Ingraham, and Candace Owens.

Expanding on the concept of the socially distanced comedy performance, beginning with two shows in late June 2020 and then officially opening with a Fourth of July celebration, "Chappelle and friends" performed live at Wirrig Pavilion, Ohio, which attracted a largely disparaging audience. These shows featured regular performances by comedians Michelle Wolf, Mohammed Amer, and Donnell Rawlings, as well as Chappelle's tour DJ, Brian Smith, Brian Regan, Kelly Tucker, Trevor Noah, Tiffany Haddish, and many others, as well as Chappelle's tour DJ, Brian Stewart, Louis CK, Sarah Silverman, Joshua Shepherd, Bill Burr, John Mayer, Common Guest, and many others. Following several shows in July, some problems arose from neighbors' shouts of noise and disturbances, and local zoning authorities were granted a special license allowing the performances to continue until October 4, 2020. Since Elaine Chappelle revealed in a private Facebook fan club that there had been a potential COVID-19 presence in their inner circle, no further performances were scheduled, the Chappelle Summer Camp series of shows came to an end.

Chappelle had announced that he would return to host Saturday Night Live the weekend of the 2020 US presidential election, his second time giving a post-presidential monolog. The results were postponed and revealed earlier this Saturday due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vote count. In response to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump, Chappelle made a parody of the pandemic, the pandemic's aftermath, and the United States' political future.

The monolog was praised by critics and audiences alike, who characterized it as "scathing," "illuminating," and "powerful."

Chappelle's business, Iron Table Holdings, purchased a fire station near his Yellow Springs, Ohio home in December 2020 with plans to turn it into a comedy club. He converted a mechanic's garage in the same village into a clubhouse and nicknamed it "The Shack" for podcasting.

Chappelle appeared in his sixth and final Netflix special The Closer on October 5, 2021. Chappelle made a parody of gay and transgender people, especially transgender people, who were deemed transphobic in The Closer. Chappelle argued that he was not anti-transgender, bringing up his resistance to North Carolina's anti-transgender bathroom regulations and his closeness with late Daphne Dorman. Because of what some called "transphobic jokes," the special was met with backlash, including from students of Chappelle's alma mater Duke Ellington School. He was in his character as a character in the film. This included a portion in which he identifies himself as a TERF. On October 20, Netflix workers organized a walkout protesting their support for the transgender community, claiming that Chappelle's set is an example of the rhetoric that leads to transgender misogination and violence against transgender people. The demonstrators requested that The Closer be taken off Netflix. Ted Sarandos acknowledged that "storytelling has a real effect in the real world," but said he opposed removing the special because he believes it does not fall into hate speech." "A Washington, D.C. art school is postponing renaming its theater following alumni Dave Chappelle's Netflix controversy in November 2021," Saturday Night Live predicted the controversy during its Weekend Update segment. Well, because God forbids you to name a building after someone who has been "unfortue in Washington, D.C." Chappelle said in the summer of 2022 that he would not give his name to the Duke Ellington School theater but that it should be designated as the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the forthcoming documentary Dave Chappelle: Live in Real Life starring Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert will be released. The film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021, followed by a series of roadshow performances in the United States and Canada, and a limited theatrical debut on November 19, 2021.

Chappelle appeared onstage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, where he was attacked onstage by a member of the audience who was quickly subpoened by security. The perpetrator was discovered to have been wielded with a knife blade from a replica handgun. Chappelle's four-night stay at the Hollywood Bowl compares him to Monty Python for the most popular shows by a comedian at the venue.

Chappelle's upcoming appearance at the First Avenue in Minneapolis in July 2022 had been postponed due to transgender rights demonstrations outside of the venue. In response, the performance was relocated to the Varsity Theatre.

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