Tossing Salt Presents:
A Dougietorial:
Dave Chapelle: Is Humor Dead?
October 16, 2021
DougMaynard.com

After all the uproar on Dave Chapelle’s Netflix special, I had to go watch it one more time. And yes, he is homophobic, racist, transphobic, sexist. misogynist, anti-semantic, etc. All of the above.

But given that I grew up listening to the “party albums” of Redd Foxx, Lawanda Page, George Carlin, Don Rickles, and then later on Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, Chris Rock, and even current social-justice champions Bette Midler & Kathy Griffin before they went totally insane with Trump Derangement Syndrome, guess what? It wasn’t a big deal.

Chapelle tells jokes. He is an equal opportunity offender and makes observations based on behavior and stereotypes. Nothing he said was malicious or based on hatred, something that Griffin, for example, needs to learn about. Chapelle is a comedian and he’s entertaining… period.

But people with the stick up their butts are so offended and so upset. We used to hear worse stuff regularly every night on the Tonight Show, Letterman, or Arsenio Hall’s show. If you don’t like Chapelle, don’t listen to him. Go hide in your safe place and keep thinking that the world owes you everything and see if you can get someone to come to kiss your boo-boo because I have news for you cupcake, it’s going to get worse. A lot worse than this.

Everyone is different and has different ideas, thoughts, ways of life, behaviors, morals, principles, etc. And one of the great things about comedy is how it points out and plays on these differences. We don’t all like the same things, but just because I don’t like someone, it doesn’t give me the right to say that you can’t like them or listen to them. And because you have a stick up your ass and don’t appreciate the same kind of humor that I do, that doesn’t give you the right to say I can’t watch Chapelle and laugh. I like to laugh.

Bottom line, if you don’t like Chapelle and his humor, don’t watch. Go read George Takei level insults against William Shatner on Twitter instead or go listen to some politically correct, woe-is-me wingnut try to do comedy and enjoy the silence. By the standards of just ten years ago, Chapelle is very tame. Go watch an episode of All In The Family, The Jeffersons, or Good Times and see how much your head explodes. But no one ever says a word about Family Guy, Boondocks, or South Park. I don’t get it. Oy vey.

The bottom line is this. If your feelings are going to get hurt every time someone makes a joke, you’ve got issues, my friend. Get some help and go watch Sesame Street. Be careful though because they have scary monsters on there and might hurt your feelings. And if you have a sense of humor and appreciate a place where we laugh with each other, and nothing is sacred, go watch Chapelle. And when you finish, go to YouTube and watch Eddie Murphy, Don Rickles, and George Carlin and laugh a while. You’ll be glad you did.

And now, with that, I bid you farewell. This has been a Dougietorial and comments, thoughts, and any questions you may have are welcome and appreciated. Where the white women at? I’ll see you at the licker store.

Ubuntu!