Chappelle's Show - TV-MA

Edgy, brilliant comedy that's best for adults.

TV Rating: TV-MA Network: Comedy Central Cast: Dave Chappelle, Charles Q. Murphy, Paul Mooney Genre: Comedy
Available on: DVDDownload

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that, above all else, this wildly popular sketch comedy series is uproariously funny. Adults will laugh themselves silly at Chappelle's edgy satire and knowing social commentary, but it's the kind of humor that pushes the proverbial envelope to the absolute. It's only for the fearless, and despite the fact that many teens love the show, it's really not appropriate for most kids.

Families can talk about the issues that Chappelle chooses to satirize. What is the state of race relations in this country? What are the stereotypes the show chooses to skewer based on? Does the show reinforce or dispel those stereotypes? How? Could another comedian do the same skits and get the same response? Why do issues that are, on the face of it, not very funny, play for such great laughs?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: S. Jhoanna Robledo

Fasten your seatbelt: If you're tuning into CHAPPELLE'S SHOW, you're bound to fall off your chair laughing. There's no question that star Dave Chappelle is a comedic master with a finger on the pulse of society.

For starters, he knows how to pick his victims so that he's not easily pinned down. Anyone is fair game: white supremacists, anti-drug programs, even PBS. The result is that you never know quite what to expect, with bits whizzing from a parody of the popular MTV show Cribs to a fiercely funny stab at Chappelle's own identity crisis (at one point, he was MIA from his own show, fleeing production for a retreat in South Africa).

It's like stand-up comedy on acid (a drug Chappelle also pokes fun at, by the way), with re-enactments and skits perfectly honed to drive home his very salient points. In one bizarrely funny piece, for example, he plays a guy pondering his various options for how to react after another guy says "hello" to his "woman." Should he give him a "whooping" to maintain his dignity?

Recurring characters include cheerful crackhead Tyrone Biggums, clueless rapper Lil Jon, feisty Rick James, and more. Stand-out moments have included Chappelle's turn as a blind Ku Klux Klan member who doesn't realize he's black and a guest appearance by Wayne Brady (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) in which the normally squeaky-clean entertainer goes on a pimping, shooting rampage.

Chappelle's genius is that he's able to mine the current, the political, the seamy, the gross and -- best of all -- the taboo for humor. In doing so, he makes viewers think, even when they're busy holding their sides from laughing too much. It all makes for exhilarating, thought-provoking TV -- except, of course, when kids are in the room. As appealing as Chappelle is to teenagers, his comedy is of the edgiest, adults-only sort.

Fans may also enjoy The Daily Show and The Boondocks.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Some sketches feature scantily clad women (often as strippers and prostitutes). Plenty of sex talk to go around. Skits have mocked sexual fetishes, and one character talks a lot about swapping sexual favors for drugs.
Violence Chappelle's biting commentary cuts like a serrated knife, and some sketches feature faux murders and gun shots.
Language No holds barred. "Damn," "d--k," "bitch," etc., plus rampant bleeping that barely masks words like "motherf___er." Plenty of derogatory racial terms as well (the n-word makes frequent appearances), though they're often used to draw laughs.
Message
	Social Behavior Racism, sexism, alcoholism, affluenza, ignorance -- no stone is left unturned in the name of comedy. The intent is to mock society's foibles, but some of the messages may be too subtle for younger viewers to catch.
	Commercialism Some, but nothing too blatant, unless, of course, the situation/sketch warrants it.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Considering one bit features a funny how-to on scoring drugs, vices aren't off-limits. One of Chappelle's recurring characters is a crackhead.