Netflix just released another Dave Chappelle special, “The Dreamer,” and the big twist is that he really hates trans people. I’m joking, which is more than Chappelle bothers to do in his act. No, Chappelle keeps producing these anti-trans Chick tracts masked as stand-up routines. He’s clearly fixated on a group that has done nothing to him other than ask that he stop dehumanizing them.
But, hey he’s a comedian who’s just expressing himself! His job is to make us uncomfortable and no one has the right to never be offended. At least that’s what annoying people insist. Plumbers perform a vital service, but if one insulted an entire group of people during my bathroom remodel, I’d hire someone else. Yes, we like comedians. We might even need them to make us laugh. It’s a tough world out there. That doesn’t give them the right to be assholes without protest, and negative feedback is what bothers these glorified insult comics the most. No matter how wealthy and successful they are, they can’t bear the most minor scrutiny.
The best humor is an opportunity to embrace our shared humanity. We can all chuckle over our mutual failings and grievances. Yes, a crowd might laugh loud and hard when you single out a marginalized group for ridicule, but there was also a lot of laughter at public lynchings. That’s the darkest part of human nature. It’s not “edgy” truth telling.
Chappelle isn’t even telling jokes. “If I go to jail, I’ll identify as a woman so I can sexually assault the female inmates” isn’t a punchline. It’s a confession. It’s bigoted dad humor that you’d expect from Mike Huckabee or Sen. John Kennedy. These fools announce to the world that they’re sexual predators as if that proves anything about actual trans people.
“Edgy” humor dates badly and usually worse than material that’s simply cheesy. I’d personally rather end my career as the guy who said “Wha’ happened?” than getting some laughs for viciously attacking an entire ethnic group or gender identity.
What I enjoy most about Jim Gaffigan’s work is how he makes weirdness relatable. It’s inclusive not divisive. We probably all like bacon and Cinnabon more than we should. Even when he mocks camping or vegetarianism, it’s never mean-spirited. He makes himself the butt of the joke. Comedians like Chappelle and Ricky Gervais are well-compensated bullies. They invite you to feel smugly superior to others, while a better comedian and storyteller connects with everyone on the same level. No one is left out.
This isn’t to say that Gaffigan is perfect. No one is. Even a well-intentioned performer walks into a cultural rake on occasion, but they don’t spend the next decade hitting more strangers with rakes and acting like martyrs to their petty cause. The problem is that Chappelle and Gervais fully intend to hurt others, and they call it “art.”
Eddie Murphy’s two stand-up specials, Delirious and Raw, feature some awful homophobic material. I don’t blame anyone who can’t forgive Murphy for the childhood abuse they might’ve suffered from other kids who used those routines as ammunition. However, at least there’s more to those specials than the grossness. You remove the homophobic screeds and needless anti-Asian digs and you’ve got about a half hour of solid comedy — ice cream, haunted houses, McDonald’s, “What have you done for me lately?”and Dexter St. Jacques. Ditching the obsessive transphobia and random smears of the disabled from the Chappelle and Gervais specials would just leave you with “Thank you and good night!”
Murphy since apologized for what he describes as “ignorant” remarks. Very dumb people expressed their regret — not that they’d ever laughed at those unfunny jokes in the first place — but that a once “fearless” comic like Murphy would ever express “remorse” for offensive material. However, it takes true courage to admit that you were wrong. Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais aren’t “fearless.” They’re cowards, and I don’t find much humor in their terminal condition.
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