Dave Chappelle has long been a prolific figure; not just in comedy but in show business as a whole. He is a man who has mastered his craft and has given the world a creative catalogue such as the iconic Chappelle’s Show, as well as comedy specials such as Killin’ Them Softly, For What It’s Worth, and The Age of Spin and Equanimity.
Sticks & Stones is the latest comedy special Chappelle has exclusively released with Netflix. The name of the special is use of the old adage, “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me”. Clearly a comment on the current ‘political correctness’ culture which no longer views this adage as true.
Here I’ve listed what I believe are the top 10 jokes from Dave Chappelle’s Netflix comedy special Stick & Stones:
Michael Jackson being dead for 10 years and still being charged with crimes, but R. Kelly is still playing live shows
Chappelle takes a unique route when commenting on the horrific crimes of Michael Jackson and claims that the media wants Jackson to be charged for his crimes more than Kelly who is still alive.
School shootings are only committed by young white men
Chappelle once again covers a fairly controversial topic but claims that “shooting up schools is a white man’s game” and that no other race thinks about committing such a horrific act.
The United States is so afraid of African Americans that they will ban guns only if every single African American buys a gun
The deep rooted issue of racism is explored in the premise of this joke with Chappelle commenting on the fear white America has for African Americans.
Likening the current opioid and prescription drug epidemic to the crack epidemic
Dave Chappelle cleverly states that the prescription drug epidemic sweeping the United States and the world, which heavily effects white people is only seen as a health issue in the media because white people are dying. However when the crack epidemic was terrorising black communities it was seen as an African American problem.
Labelling the LGBTQI community as the ‘Alphabet people’
Dave Chappelle has long been an advocate of the LGBTQI community and believes that if a community wants to be normalised we first have to be able to joke about it as it is the easiest way to construct a discourse.
Jussie Smollett setting back race relations
Chappelle jokes that the actions of Smollett are comedic because they were not true at all. Therefore he believes Smollett in turn set back race relations with his actions.
‘Cancel Culture’ being harmful
Dave Chappelle talks about ‘Cancel Culture’ and uses the example of Kevin Hart who was told he can only host the 2019 Academy Awards if he apologises for homophobic jokes and tweets he made 10 years ago. However Dave Chappelle feels we should not have to apologise for jokes and that attempting to cancel Kevin Hart was outrageous because Kevin Hart is a good person.
Being poor is a mentality and a majority of people are just broke in western society
Chappelle uses his childhood experiences when discussing his upbringing, cleverly stating that people are not poor but they are just temporarily broke.
Women are the only ones who can have an opinion on abortion. Therefore men should be able to choose if they want to financially support the child
Another controversial joke which uses comedy as a tool to get a crucial point across that women are in charge of their body and men do not have a say in the topic of abortion.
Heckling the audience for groupthink
Doing an impression of the audience, Dave Chappelle states that he doesn’t do comedy frequently because he has to be careful about what he says.
This list may have spoiled 10 jokes from Sticks & Stones however I did not have any of the comedic prowess and timing of Chappelle. Check out the special now on Netflix and form an opinion on your own accord.