Fading Impression » Dave Chappelle

Uncle Ruckus Realizes He’s black

Azeem — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:32:41 +0000

The first thing he does is quit all his jobs. Then he puts on a long white tee and asks if now he’s supposed to be somebody babby daddy. Hilarious.

Aaron Magruder the creator of Boondocks is amazingly self critical of his own people while not hating his people. Often people compare his success to the success of Dave Chappelle. Dave always wondered if he was reinforcing racist stereotypes. Magruder through the various characters can touch on these stereotypes and in some cases he’s criticizing his own people quite strongly. For example look at how he portrays BET in this clip (Boondocks airs on adult swim, not BET – Ruckus’s reality show is on BET in this episode). But then again he can criticize self hating black people like Ruckus who are brainwashed. The Barber shop scene is a perfect example.

Season 2 of the Boondocks had its moments. I can’t wait for Season three.

Dave Chappelle says Eid Mubarak in not so Halal Stand Up

Azeem — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:10:27 +0000

I had previously reported on Dave Chappelle becoming Muslim, and even posed a question and had it answered on Time Magazines Website. Amir blogged about Dave becoming a co-executive producer for a future Allah Made Me Funny DVD.

Well now Recently Dave was in the UK and did a short stand up bit. Watch Then Read my commentary (Warning!: Its Dave Chappelle! – not appropriate for all audiences!)

As you can see, he was smoking on stage (yuck), curses a little bit and he made jokes in reference to Marajuana. But hey at least he said Salaam and Eid Mubarak!

My question about Dave Chappelle answered on Time.com

Azeem — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The author of last weeks TIME magazine article, Chris Farley is answering questions about his encounter with Dave on TIME’s Question of the Week Section; The question is: What’s Up With Dave Chappelle? and that page is here –> http://www.time.com/time/question/farley_question.html

My question is the second one on the page. (read below)

Did Dave mention either wanting to change, or being pressured to change his acts to be more Islamically compliant? Or did he mention which type of sketches he’s received flak for by other Muslims? One Muslim youth who met him at the mosque told him that he loves his show, and in response [Chappelle] told him “You shouldn’t be watching that”.
Azeem Khan
Brooklyn, N.Y.

CHRIS FARLEY: Dave is now a practicing Muslim. I think his religiosity does have something to do with his misgivings about his show’s possible direction. His show is a comedy show after all, and he’s serious about his religion.

Dave Chappelle spotted in NYC today! + Update, He confirms being a Muslim

Azeem — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

According to this post on the Islamica website. Dave Chappelle was spotted making Jummah (friday prayers) at a mosque today in NYC. Although all over the web it was being said that he has gone AWOL and had checked himself into a mental health institution in South Africa in late April.

When I first heard the news I thought:
I hope he’s doing okay. The fact that he became Muslim shows that he is looking for solace in his life, trying to get away from the Madness of it all. He is being paid $50 million for Season 3 of his show…. he gets 3 times the ratings of Jon Stewart.. just to show you how popular he has become.

UPDATE: Dave spoke to time magazine, read the article. Here are some excerpts from it:

He turns to his faith for help in that regard. Says his friend Salim: “If he wants to talk religion, then I’m there as someone to talk to.”

Yet Chappelle is low-key about his beliefs: “I don’t normally talk about my religion publicly because I don’t want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is a beautiful religion if you learn it the right way. It’s a lifelong effort. Your religion is your standard,” he says. “I want to be well rounded, and the industry is a place of extremes.”

The show had been postponed in December. During that break, Chappelle, who developed an interest in Islam in high school and became a practicing Muslim in about 1998, tried to perform the hajj—the pilgrimage to Mecca. (He got only as far as Turkey, he says, because he couldn’t get a visa for Saudi Arabia.)

I also found the following quote on Kamran Riaz’s Xanga:

“A soft-spoken Muslim, Salim seems also to be something of a sounding board to Chappelle, who converted to Islam several years ago… The crux of his crisis seems to boil down to his almost obsessive need to “check my intentions.” He uses the phrase a few times during the interview and explains that it means really making sure that he’s doing what he’s doing for the right reasons.”