Chappelle’s Show:
Season Two Uncensored
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Program: A-
When I first heard about Dave Chappelle getting his own
show I was ecstatic. I had seen his
standup comedy and found it hilarious and entertaining as well as his roles in
a few films like Robin Hood: Men In Tights and Half Baked. It seemed like a perfect match for him to do
some sketch comedy and standup with his own show, but after watching the first
few episodes I was rather disappointed.
That disappointment however, quickly changed once I watched all the
episodes when the first season was made available on DVD, finally available
uncut and uncensored. I am not exactly
sure why having no bleeps would suddenly cause me to become a fan, or perhaps
it was just seeing the show all together and not spread across a whole season,
but I became a big fan.
One reason that the show works great is that Chappelle
understands that there are differences between races and cultures and he
identifies with those and also uses comedy as the common language to break down
the barriers and indifferences between black and white, rich or poor, city or
country. He never claims to have the
answers either for bringing people together, but rather just uses comedy to
help bridge that gap and let people laugh with him. These are precisely the types of shows though that can turn some
people off become they take them too literally, but what other solution is
there really? How else can the war that
rages between races be won?
Season two is also the point where the show really became
strong. The first season was mostly
experimental and was in it’s developmental stage, but by season two the show
knew its formula well and was not taking any prisoners with its comedy and
overtones. Some might even argue that
there are times when the show went perhaps a bit too far, or maybe was not
nearly as sensitive as it should have been for making a particular point, but
who really cares? It’s not like the show
ever really claims to be politically correct or claims to be sensitive to
matters; rather the show is just what it is.
Very similar to what other shows on Comedy Central act upon and that is
the very freedom of expression (i.e. South
Park, The Daily Show, Mad TV, etc).
Season Two is even raunchier, funnier, and more
controversial than the first season, as if that was even possible. Probably some of the best sketches are more
Rick James, Charlie Murphy (Eddie Murphy’s older brother) True Hollywood Stories,
P. Diddy and the making of the band, and the Racial Draft. The first two discs contain the episodes in
their uncut form with a few episodes also containing commentary from Dave
Chappelle and the series creator Neal Brennen.
Some of the best episodes happen to be the ones with commentary so check
those out for sure. The third disc
contains a fair amount of extras, which include some new standup material from
Dave, for those that loved his Killing Them Softly material, and a full hour of
deleted material and bloopers that are downright hilarious! The Rick James sketch also has some extra
footage at the end of the show and also on disc three and there are two Charlie
Murphy stories that never made it to the air, which are must-see material.
Quality is pretty simple with the full-frame 1.33 X 1
transfer looking good and keeping to the original broadcast form. The picture may be a tad sharper than most
people are used to watching it from home, and the 2.0 Dolby Stereo is good as
well, although a 5.1 mix would be nice for some of the musical sections that
Dave has on, like Snoop Dogg, Wyclef Jean, John Mayer, and a few others, but
that might be asking a bit too much.
Daring comedy?
Yes. Controversial? Quite.
Hard to turn off?
Incredibly. Once you get into a
groove you just can’t get enough of Dave going on and on about crack dealers,
the ghetto, R. Kelly, and just a slew of things to rant and rave about, even
politics. Season two is just an awesome
follow-up and the show at it’s best, hopefully there will be many more years to
come.
- Nate Goss
