In his Netflix series Sticks and Stones, comedian Dave Chappelle rips the band-aid off Leftism. Chappelle delivers full-frontal comedy, tackling Leftists taboos built over the last decade.
In the clip below, Chappelle addresses the Jussie Smollett hoax. He discusses the black LGBTQ fraud and hoaxster as Frenchman Juicy Smollett, pronouncing Smollett as “Small-YAY”.
Chappelle says of the Smollett incident, “Black people, we were eerily silent (about Smollett incident).”
Then Chappelle delivers the punchline: “…because we knew this n-word was clearly lying!”
In my opinion, Sticks and Stones ranks among some of Chappelle’s best work.
In fact, for the most part his comedy bits in the performance would be sketches in his former comedy show, still considered comedic genius in its very short two-year run.
Chappelle deals with the #MeToo movement, abortion, and other issues as a pragmatist. He challenges both sides of the aisle to really think about issues, and from an interesting point of view. Such is the genius of Chappelle’s comedy, confronting social taboos with the deft hand of a skilled comedic surgeon.
Nevertheless, Leftists have revolted against Chappelle for revealing far too many truths about their character in his performance.
Salon took offense of Chappelle’s depiction of the LGBTQ community, as he refers to them as “the alphabet people”.
Then there’s the easily offended “alphabet people,” his shorthand for the LGBTQ community, particularly, as he says, the “confusing” Ts. The #MeToo movement, organizers of school shooting drills — they’ve all gotten out of hand and need to be taken down a peg.
Chappelle even takes a moment to stereotypically mimic Asians, which he defuses later on by reminding the audience that his wife is Asian. The entirety of “Sticks & Stones” is structured around such logic: by signaling to those who are true believers in his genius that it’s all just a joke, only words, this earns his ability to “punch down,” as the parlance goes.
Chappelle correctly targeted LGBTQ and he struck a nerve. Further, he targeted the anti-gun crowd and the over-reactors to shootings. This too struck a chord.
As for Chappelle’s Asian wife, she indeed gives him comedic permission to target the Asians (a very minor part of his routine). But even that “stereotypical mimic” of Asians set off the snowflake crowd at Salon.
Earlier in his set, Chappelle discussed the accusations against Michael Jackson. Chappelle contextualizes the charges against Jackson by accusing Hollyweirdos of being the real criminals. But Chappelle goes on to “humorize” being molested by Michael Jackson in what defines his ability to find the laugh.
Salon writes,
And perhaps he doesn’t really mean it when he says, even if Jackson molested children, “I mean” — long pause — “it’s Michael Jackson! I know more than half the people in this room have been molested in their lives. But it wasn’t no goddamn Michael Jackson, was it? This kid had his d**k sucked by the King of Pop. All we get is awkward Thanksgivings for the rest of our lives!”
“All we get is awkward Thanksgivings for the rest of our lives” is pure comedic genius. Chappelle takes real world scenarios and makes us laugh and twinge simultaneously.
A blogger at Daily Cal wrote of Chappelle’s performance,
But Chappelle is not unique in taking this path. Instead, his turn toward increasingly confrontational outrage comedy is merely evidence of a common mindset that has corrupted comedy and much of American discourse in general: Progressive cultural criticism is somehow an existential threat. For artists who cling to this belief, inciting this “liberal rage” has turned into a game —and therefore offensiveness, calculated or not, is the inevitable game plan.
Corrupted comedy? The ability to laugh at things is what keeps man sane. Yet this writer sees Chappelle’s interpretation of the world as “corrupted”?
He admits that only a decade ago, Chappelle’s schtick in Sticks and Stones would have found its way onto The Chappelle Show:
As a widely viewed A-list talent, Chappelle has become a sort of leading figure in comedy’s fight for this so called free speech. After a prolonged absence from television, Chappelle returned to release five stand-up specials for Netflix starting in 2017 — a deal that has brought him widespread attention and critical acclaim; it’s now difficult to point to a bigger name in stand-up comedy. But along with that fame has come a level of scrutiny that, just a decade ago, wouldn’t have manifested in the friendly confines of Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’s Show.”
What Chappelle did in both The Chappelle Show and Sticks and Stones epitomizes free speech. And most people who saw the show share my opinion that the show ranks among Chappelle’s best work. Nevertheless, Newsweek declared that Sticks and Stones was rated zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes. In other words, nobody liked the set.
I beg to differ. The YouTube video of a clip of the show has over six million viewers.
And not that my vote counts, but I loved the show. Apparently so did over 180,000 people who voted up the set, as this graphic indicates. You can bet this number grows daily.
In what may have been the least critical commentary on Sticks and Stones, NBC News described what others wrote:
“Chappelle’s Show” was an iconic cultural milestone, recognized for its brave and perceptive commentary. This latest special has not been received so kindly. The Atlantic calls it a “temper tantrum.” The Root says it’s “lazy.” The Ringer says it’s “predictable.” Vice urges its readers to skip it altogether. This echoes the sentiment of a New York Times column from last month, critiquing a similar Chapelle comedy set, which declares his jokes are “getting old.” But did Chappelle change, or did we?
These Leftist rags don’t like biting comedy aimed at them. As for NBC, they seemed at least to recognize Chappelle’s show for what it was:
Chappelle, from his celebrated, short-lived Comedy Central show to his recent run of comedy specials, is a birdshot sniper. He doesn’t go for the kill — he doesn’t need to. He’s a genius who leaves you just uncomfortable enough, laughing while you squirm. The problem now with Dave Chappelle is he’s a birdshot sniper in a buckshot society.
I consider this a fair assessment of Chappelle’s most recent work.
Indeed Dave Chappelle warns the Left in Sticks and Stones. Words will never hurt him.
