452. Frame Rate: Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer” (Feat. Adam Tod Brown)
Added 2022-01-18 14:01:02 +0000 UTC
Unprompted by anyone: a podcast about Dave Chappelle’s recent Netflix special! Adam Tod Brown, friend from Cracked and host of Unpopular Opinion joins us to discuss the recent trend of comedians dunking on transfolk! So listen to that. Also, there’s jokes. It’s a weird episode!
Features:
Adam Tod Brown: https://twitter.com/adamtodbrown
Michael Swaim: https://twitter.com/SWAIM_CORP
Abe Epperson: https://twitter.com/AbeTheMighty
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Comments
Chappelle asking trans people to stop punching down at his community is crazy, and I think a conversation point was missed here. Where in the world is he getting the idea that trans people are attacking black people?
James Crosslin
2024-08-18 17:40:33 +0000 UTCI must admit, I’d never heard of that one. I was also a big Louie fan back in the day which is why I thought I knew all his specials, but I guess I not.
Steve Snyder
2022-01-26 08:17:32 +0000 UTCHis first CC special was 2001, I was 16. It tracks!
Small Beans
2022-01-26 07:23:44 +0000 UTCAlso how can you punch down on equally marginalized groups
Drunkn Wisdom
2022-01-26 05:45:51 +0000 UTCInteresting point of views in this podcast. I think to understand Dave Chappelles point of view on the trans issues vs Black issues one has to also understand the amount of frustration African Americans feel from many of the racial problems taking years to just beginning to be resolved and seeing what appears to be trans people getting what black have fought years to get in less time
Drunkn Wisdom
2022-01-26 05:43:29 +0000 UTCI think Micheal has his years mixed up. Louis C.K. didn’t have any specials out back when Micheal was a teenager.
Steve Snyder
2022-01-26 01:31:39 +0000 UTCMy impossible dream has always been to be a comedian, turns out all my heroes fail to respect my humanity. Thank you for another great podcast
Jen tacular
2022-01-22 17:53:35 +0000 UTCGreat episode. Reasonable, balanced, intelligent conversation. Exactly what I expected from you nutjobs.
Chuck Suffel
2022-01-21 21:07:29 +0000 UTCThis recalls my complaint about "petty tyrants" in small organizations and local governments. I just assumed that people wanted to get rid of destructive oppressors for that reason, but I learned that there are a lot of people who want to *take over* as oppressor to have their way. I am of the belief that oppression is not a zero-sum game: you don't have to be an oppressor to not be oppressed. From what I glean from your discussion, Chappelle is fanning the flames of the "zero-sum game" argument, and in that way, his rationale is no different than Pres. Trump (except from a different angle): whether it's "the [foreigners] are taking away your way of life so you have to take away theirs" or "trans people are getting rights, so if you want rights, you have to take them away from trans people."
Jason Olshefsky
2022-01-21 20:44:01 +0000 UTCThanks to all of you! Shout out to Adam from me, I don't think he'll ever forget my name any time soon :D I do find pods with Adam and Michael so strange to listen to given that to me they sound like the same person. The conversation around what or what is not the purpose of comedy was awesome to listen to. I'm also glad to hear, once again, people affirming that multimillionaire comedian Dave Chapelle who, at this very moment has multiple Netflix specials online, has not been cancelled.
Ali Bushell
2022-01-20 17:27:55 +0000 UTCGreat episode gentlemen! I was avoiding his special due to what I'd heard about it, but I watched it in preparation for this. Didn't laugh once. I used to think he was a goat, but once you start referring to yourself as such you lose all credibility in my eyes. Maybe I just value modesty more than most. On one of his old specials he had a great bit about, how old is 14 really? Comparing one of R Kelly's victims to a kid that got charged as an adult for accidently killing a sibling practicing wrestling moves. I always loved that bit, because he was able to ride the line between pointing out hypocrisy and starting a conversation, but not telling you what to think. It feels like he's trying to recapture one of those moments, but he's preoccupied with trying to score an intellectual victory. I don't understand what the end game is for people like him and JK? Are they really trying to argue that chromosomes exist? I've never heard an argument to the contrary. Or do they want trans people to wear some kind of scarlet letter identifying their birth gender? Whatever the case, they are attacking the legitimacy of identity from a comfortable position of power and influence, all the while conflating criticism with being "canceled". George Carlin is one of my favorite comedians, but by the end of his career he just wasn't funny. He was angry and apathetic, and even when I agreed with him it just felt like a rally of the like minded, and they gobbled up whatever he was serving. Maybe it's the fate of the comedian elder statesman? Bill Maher has gone down the same road. Burr seems like he's on the verge like Michael said. Being a creator gets more difficult as time goes on, especially when you can coast on fame.
Joylesstiger
2022-01-20 17:20:26 +0000 UTCI defended the special before I heard it, because I had faith in him... the hardest part is going, seeing the special and realizing not only was it mean spirited... it wasn't that good. He sold out trans people for some cheap laughs and jokes that felt like they'd be more comfortable coming from an open mic in the 1980's. It's hard as a fan because we gave him the good faith to ride the line. To say "Look at the wisdom he speaks, he understands society"... and then he just decides to squander that good faith. It's really hard, and it's gonna be tough to go back to watching him. I hope he waits a long time to do another special, maybe does some research and comes back with something meaningful to say.
Harry Moore
2022-01-19 04:42:13 +0000 UTCI think a huge part about his old specials is he felt supportive while he made jokes about trans people. Like, they were part of the joke. It was the difference between joking with your buddies and bullying the different person. What's sad is the moment he felt it was safe to be mean spirited... he chose that.
Harry Moore
2022-01-19 04:38:30 +0000 UTCmy timeline has been refreshed
Jordan
2022-01-19 04:31:58 +0000 UTCIt's strange to know that Pride started as a riot against police brutality, and to see so many more parallels between how society treats LGBT people and how they've treaded black folk and it's hard to understand how he can be so deep in it and not see the parallels. He's becoming the thing he hated.
Harry Moore
2022-01-19 04:31:26 +0000 UTCI'm dating a trans man, and Dave Chappelle is my favorite comedian. A lot of feelings about what ya'll said and his special in general I'll try to put forth better in a bit. The one thing I thought to point out about Chappelle is he's not just one of the best comedians of all time, but he's a very good storyteller which is much rarer. It's one of the things I've always loved about him. I didn't see a lot of storytelling in this special. I saw a person stringing together justifications and anecdotes no one was allowed to challenge. The difference was before he would challenge things, it was a reply but it was also a vindication for a people who he felt had no voice, but now he is answering challenges in a medium where the people challenging have no voice. He used comedy to insulate himself from challenge, and it's antithetical to the purpose of comedy.
Harry Moore
2022-01-19 04:21:52 +0000 UTCThanks for covering this. I didn’t watch it because I am tired of being disappointed by people I used to admire. And at the end of the day that sounds like what The Closer was - disappointing.
Christine Allen
2022-01-18 23:54:30 +0000 UTCThanks guys. I watched his special today so I could listen to the pod. My contribution is it just wasn't very funny, nor was it very mean to trans people. Chappelle has reached that point Bruce Willis reached a few years ago were it seems as though he's stopped trying because his mere presence is a gift to us all in his mind.
James Hamilton
2022-01-18 23:30:27 +0000 UTCGreat conversation. I don't remember The Chapelle Show being very political ,but I do remember it being funny the Rick James, Prince, black klansman, black reparations, N word family, and marrying Oprah funny not that political.
minefreak555
2022-01-18 22:03:19 +0000 UTCMore of this please this episode was amazing
Murphthemurph
2022-01-18 21:10:37 +0000 UTCDo you think maybe that the decline of the 'truth teller comedian' might stem from how the internet and social media have taken over the role of giving a voice to the disenfranchised? I don't like social media particularly, but it has undeniably provided a platform for activists to share their ideas and opinions. Things like BLM and MeToo spread through social media. Maybe there's not as much for a funny man with a microphone to add to the conversation?
Michael Vincent Bramley
2022-01-18 20:42:51 +0000 UTCThe whole collection from Acaster was fantastic. And I completely forgot Swaim was visible in that first Chappelle standup. Don’t worry about not seeing the second one, Swaim. It was shit. He barely told a joke. He just laughed at what Louis CK got in trouble for and gave an extended lecture on how people need to ignore “trivial” things like that when there’s more important things we need to work together to solve. I can’t remember if he alluded to cops killing people or if he kept it vague, but it was disheartening.
FancyShark
2022-01-18 18:23:41 +0000 UTCI do love that James Acaster *challenging comedian" bit
red sands
2022-01-18 17:12:21 +0000 UTCThis one is so awesome. Thank you.
Runch Tuntipaiboontana
2022-01-18 16:03:49 +0000 UTCThe Acaster bit referenced: https://youtu.be/adh0KGmgmQw
Bryan Hartney
2022-01-18 15:57:41 +0000 UTC
