Legendary comedian Dave Chappelle is making a return to standup Comedy very soon, releasing to privately filmed specials from the past two years on Netflix on the same day, 21 March. In the trailer for the specials, one called “Deep in the Heart of Texas” filmed in Austin in 2015 and the other called “The Age of Spin” filmed last year in LA, Chappelle talks about everything from ISIS to OJ Simpson, and promises some fantastic material to mark his comeback.
Recently, to promote the specials, Chappelle gave an in-depth interview to The New York Times, during which he discussed everything from President Donald Trump to the Bill Cosby scandal to the tragic death of Prince (who he impersonated on his sketch show “Chappelle’s Show”).
‘It’s fun to see everybody back’
On the topic of many American comics making similar comebacks to the stage (eg Chris Rock), Chappelle said, “It’s fun to see everybody back.” He then added that “the whole Trump thing makes it harder for comedians.” Clarifying his statement, Chappelle said that Trump is “so skewed, it’s hard to find an angle that sounds fresh,” and that joking about Trump on stage is “almost like you’re part of the chorus and not a soloist.” Basically, there’s no challenge for comedians to carve their own niche on the subject because Trump is so easy to satirise.
The interviewer asked Chappelle about the Bill Cosby situation, because Cosby is one of his idols and key inspirations, and this summer he will stand trial for many allegations of sexual assault. Chappelle says that the news was “tough” for him to process, and said that he didn’t want that “to detract from his alleged victims at all,” but rather he was just stunned by the revelation because Cosby was “a hero of (his).”
Chappelle said that “so many bad things happened to our heroes,” citing Muhammad Ali’s Parkinson’s, Richard Pryor’s MS, and Prince’s early death. The comic legend said that before the allegations came out against Cosby, he seemed as though he would just ride out the rest of his life and “just die of old age.
And this happened.” He said, “It’s awful.”
Chappelle is also working on a third special
So, while Chappelle’s first pair of Netflix specials, “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and “The Age of Spin” (both really cool, really intriguing titles, by the way), are set to be released concurrently this Tuesday on 21 March, he revealed during the interview that his deal with Netflix accounted for three specials, and that a third is on its way later on in the year.