The World Needs Dave Chappelle More Than Ever

At thirteen years old, my life consisted of cutting myself on accident when shaving, being told I was too old to play with my Star Wars action figures, and continuing to be behind on the road to puberty. Today, very little of those things have changed. However, one thing that did change when I was thirteen was that I discovered comedy.

It was a late night, and my dad was flipping through every channel Cox cable had to offer. Eventually he stopped on the Chappelle Show. Over the course of 22 minutes, I saw everything from crackheads eating animal genitals, to Wayne Brady killing a cop in order to get out of a speeding ticket. It was beautiful. It was life changing! Up until then I thought Spongebob was the funniest thing on TV. But Dave Chappelle touched me in ways Spongebob never could (pause). That single episode of the Chappelle Show made it clear what I wanted to do for a living.

But what’s the point of this clearly unfunny article?

The point is that no one will ever have that effect happen to them from any of the shitty shows Comedy Central has been producing this year. Every comedian from the Roast specials does not deserve their own show! The Jeselnik Offensive features a segment called “talking like Latinos” where each guest does their best impression of an uncomfortable person who makes the audience cringe. The Burn with Jeffrey Ross is about as big of a disaster as the events Ross’s brand of shock humor attempts to poke fun at. There’s still hope for comedians as hosts for shows though. Tosh.0, The Ben Show, and sometimes Key and Peele kick ass. But they’re not like Dave. Dave was different.

It’s been 7 years since the Chappelle Show. Recently Dave’s been doing secret shows throughout America. It’s not clear if he’ll be making a return to TV, but if he does, it could make Comedy Central a much stronger channel. Stand-up comedy is in a good place right now with performers such as Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, and John Mulaney, but it needs its mainstream poster child. It needs Dave Chappelle.