Chapelle Show .. Delayed?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DeToxRoxDVHStyle

It's not that they can't handle it, it's that when they do something wrong, the media makes sure to glorify it more then if a white person does it. Blacks are fighting an awful stereotype that is always brought up whenever something like this happens. It's fucking stupid.

The press certainly had fun with Pat O'Brien, Marv Albert, Robert Downey, Rob Lowe, Hugh Grant, etc. When it's in their best interests and/or the story is sensational enough, it'll make headlines regardless. Chappelle wouldn't be but a one-line back page story if this hadn't occurred right as taping was about to start. Now the network has something to try to explain, the story comes out, and it's news.

I think the biggest (of the many) problem with HA's comment is that there is absolutely no evidence that "money" is what caused this. Couldn't it be the pressure of trying to live up to a huge contract? There was an article in the latest issue of Men's Best Life about people who achieve success and suddenly become self-destructive. The common thread in a lot of these cases is self-doubt and lack of confidence. When you're just a mid-level employee, or a comedian on the road who gets a chance at TV, there's little pressure there because no one expects anything but "ordinary" out of you, and if you shine, great, but there's no big expectation. When you become Executive VP of the company or sign a $50M TV deal, all of a sudden you start wondering whether you really did anything previously that was all that great, whether you just skated by, etc., and now that you're in the spotlight, your lack of ability is going to become apparent to everyone. And when people think like that and try to deal with the pressure, they go off and get caught screwing a prostitute, or get into drugs, or do whatever they do to fuck up their lives.

Happens every day to people of all color.

[Noop]

He is a racist POS...

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Yes. That is all he's famous for.

He did more? He wasn't a groundbreaking comedian in the 70s, too, was he?!

[rafini]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Oh yes, because all the white rock stars out there are model citizens...

Or worse yet, what about those crazy white rappers and those wacky black rockers. It seems the only people who know how to handle their money are the Mexicans.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

Moss, AC Green, Artest, Allen Iverson, Koby, Carmello, Bonds, Jamal Lewis, LT, Michael Irvin, Odom
vs
Peyton, Carr, Novitski, Tom Brady, Favre, Marino, Urlacher

Mr. Atlantic, I have a Mike Danton here to see you, should I tell him you're busy?

[st.cronin]

I would like to see HA interviewed by Ray Lewis about this topic.

[rkmsuf]

I wonder if somewhere a black poster is calling fat white guys sandwich humpers.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

I wonder if somewhere a black poster is calling fat white guys sandwich humpers.

Heh! Exactly. We will apply HA logic to that...


what is it with fucking white people and fucking sandwhiches?!? they can't handle seeing a nice tasty sandwhich without sticking their dick in it.

example:

Hell Atlantic

vs.

Denzel Washington

i see a common theme here. you tell me which group fucks sandwhiches. i'm just kicking the actual factuals.

i live in washington dc, its impossible to be racist here because too many types rub elbows. i just calls it like i sees it.

[Anthony]

techinically i didn't fuck the hero.

there wasn't insertion. the hero was wrapped in plastic, so i merely dry humped it. i didn't want mustard getting into my pee-hole.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

I wonder if somewhere a black poster is calling fat white guys sandwich humpers.

hey - i ain't fat. i didn't drop 28 lbs on the South Beach diet for nothing. i'd call myself "several pounds heavier than svelte"

also, i don't consider myself racist - i'm half Italian and half Spanish. i guess the Italian in me is louder.

[Anthony]

damn, how can i forget....the granddaddy of black men who couldn't handle the riches:

Mike Tyson.

i win the debate.

[judicial clerk]

HA's statement is racist and wrong. It is not like he is calling people niggers and he seems to be playing this sorta toung in cheek, but the connotating race with the ability to handle money shows a prejudiced attitude. And using individual examples is about the worst kind of scientific evidence to prove your point.

Take Mike Tyson for example. I would say that the only way his blackness plays a part in this is to the extent that racism as helped to shape the crazy motherfucker he has become. I would guess that his lack of education, lack of parental support, and his low socio-economic status are what shaped Iron Mike into who he is. Put a person of a different ethnicity into that mix and i think you get a similar result. I think the real taboo question should be, if I drop someone from another race into that situation, would they become heavyweight champion of the world?

Anywhoo, I do think that the black american experience is different from the white american experience (remember "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us!") and that as a result of these different experiences, people from these groups may tend to do things differently. But to say that blacks can't handle the pressure of money because of what Dave Chapelle does is a little ridiculous.

That would be like saying that Blacks are the most noble and capable human beings in America and they can perservere where other lesser races would fail because of the life Jacke Robinson or Fredreck Douglass led.

[Flasch186]

Question:

Are Black people more apt to share their wealth with family?

to that extent what about other minorities?

I ask because in it has been my experience in new home sales, that when shopping for homes, minorities include their families sometimes extended families, in the process. Sometimes they even tell me that they need a big home becuase much of the family will be living there. I get the impression that perhaps, minorities are "closer" than caucasian(s). Is there something to this? I dont know. But I find it noble and I would do the same thing.

[korme]

Tyson's being from the projects has clearly not helped, but that isn't me saying "he is from the projects because he is black". Put a white guy in his same situation and I'm sure he's just as fucked up in the head.

[miked]

We need Paul Mooney in here.

[Karlifornia]

Crooked white politicians, crooked white CEO's, Mark Chmura. What race are 99% of serial murderers? What about child molesters? Hey bro....you got som 'splainin to do


Anyone can get addicted to vicodin, because they're like whippets? That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. If you say that, you can say it about any drug. And just because it's over the counter doesn't make it any different than an illegal drug.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by RadioFriendlyUnitShifter

Crooked white politicians, crooked white CEO's, Mark Chmura. What race are 99% of serial murderers? What about child molesters? Hey bro....you got som 'splainin to do


Anyone can get addicted to vicodin, because they're like whippets? That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. If you say that, you can say it about any drug. And just because it's over the counter doesn't make it any different than an illegal drug.

funny, that im saying this but

"huh?"

[Anthony]

throw Martin Lawrence in the list. he went bonkers for a bit.


Radio - your examples are bad. someone can be a serial murderer/pedophile regardless of wealth or poverty. those people were crazy with or without the money. and crooked white politicans and CEO's don't count in this arguement. i'm saying you take a regular guy and a regular black guy - turn them into famous athletes or celebs and the money will negatively affect the black guy more than the white guy.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

throw Martin Lawrence in the list. he went bonkers for a bit.


Radio - your examples are bad. someone can be a serial murderer/pedophile regardless of wealth or poverty. those people were crazy with or without the money. and crooked white politicans and CEO's don't count in this arguement. i'm saying you take a regular guy and a regular black guy - turn them into famous athletes or celebs and the money will negatively affect the black guy more than the white guy.

even if you are just joshing you got issues.

take a regular guy and a regular black guy

nice.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

throw Martin Lawrence in the list. he went bonkers for a bit.


Radio - your examples are bad. someone can be a serial murderer/pedophile regardless of wealth or poverty. those people were crazy with or without the money. and crooked white politicans and CEO's don't count in this arguement. i'm saying you take a regular guy and a regular black guy - turn them into famous athletes or celebs and the money will negatively affect the black guy more than the white guy.

[LionsFan10]

This thread just took a turn for the worst. At least I'm in here before SkyDog locks this bad boy down.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

throw Martin Lawrence in the list. he went bonkers for a bit.


Radio - your examples are bad. someone can be a serial murderer/pedophile regardless of wealth or poverty. those people were crazy with or without the money. and crooked white politicans and CEO's don't count in this arguement. i'm saying you take a regular guy and a regular black guy - turn them into famous athletes or celebs and the money will negatively affect the black guy more than the white guy.

Oh, just go away and write David Duke some fan mail.

[Karlifornia]

I will say that black folks put more of a priority on material things when they get any sort of money. If Tyrone Jones gets a check for $1,000, is he going to invest it or buy spinners for his Caddy? It's not because of race, though. White trash people do the same shit. It's just a matter of how you were raised. People in a lower economic class have no idea how to handle wealth because nobody ever taught them how. Parents that want to teach their children how to handle money start by opening them a bank account, and encouraging them to put their allowance in the bank. These seeds can't be planted when the family doesn't have enough to give out allowance. I guess if you had experience in both demographics, you would already know this. The amount of melanin in your skin doesn't seep into your brain and change your decision making, does it? Or maybe they have different science in astoria.

[Anthony]

yeesh. friggin people are so uptight about being PC that no one wants to consider i might be right.

i guess you people wouldn't want to hear my thoughts on people on death row and how they could serve America. oh well, i'll keep my thoughts to myself regarding race issues.

or at least i'll try.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

yeesh. friggin people are so uptight about being PC that no one wants to consider i might be right.

i guess you people wouldn't want to hear my thoughts on people on death row and how they could serve America. oh well, i'll keep my thoughts to myself regarding race issues.

or at least i'll try.

No, it's just that the world already had one Andrew Dice Clay, and nobody's pining for another one.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

yeesh. friggin people are so uptight about being PC that no one wants to consider i might be right.

i guess you people wouldn't want to hear my thoughts on people on death row and how they could serve America. oh well, i'll keep my thoughts to myself regarding race issues.

or at least i'll try.

If you had a cognizant point, we might be able to consider whether you are right or wrong.

[Anthony]

he doesn't ever want to play along with me. this sucks.

king jackoff77: hey, whats up man
KLEW1987: who is this again
king jackoff77: you have OOTP, right?
KLEW1987: yea
king jackoff77: wanna join my league?
KLEW1987: let me see it
king jackoff77: ok, i have to get the game first though
king jackoff77: maybe you can lend me your version
KLEW1987: no
king jackoff77: argh!
KLEW1987 signed off at 5:46:06 PM.

[jeff061]

I'm opening my mind to the whole black man can't handle money line of thought. I am now dumber.

I am not PC, that just makes no god damn sense. The only way you can think that is to have some racist taint in you.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

throw Martin Lawrence in the list. he went bonkers for a bit.


Radio - your examples are bad. someone can be a serial murderer/pedophile regardless of wealth or poverty. those people were crazy with or without the money. and crooked white politicans and CEO's don't count in this arguement. i'm saying you take a regular guy and a regular black guy - turn them into famous athletes or celebs and the money will negatively affect the black guy more than the white guy.

Define "negatively" affect? If you mean, the black guy is more likely to go crazy and have issues, that's because you're more likely to talk about a black person who didn't have any money, grew up with little money - or middle class - and now has tons of it.

But I think what most folks here are trying to say, is that is pretty much across the board for poor whites, too.

If you take a "regular" white guy, who say, comes from money..maybe he's from the poor branch of a family that has SOMEONE in it with some money, then he's less likely to muck it up..is what you're saying.

I don't think that's it. I think it's more the latter is able to cover it up better and people would be more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he's unlikable, then the opposite would be true.

But I think the point you're probably trying to key in on, is that blacks are less sophisticated with money as a whole. Which obviously not being a popular view, certainly has some sort of validity in a historical context.

Mass stereotyping or paint an entire group of people with a broad brush is still screwed up though. And of course, it happens and most everyone does it. Still wrong.

[korme]

Originally Posted by RadioFriendlyUnitShifter

I will say that black folks put more of a priority on material things when they get any sort of money. If Tyrone Jones gets a check for $1,000, is he going to invest it or buy spinners for his Caddy? It's not because of race, though. White trash people do the same shit. It's just a matter of how you were raised. People in a lower economic class have no idea how to handle wealth because nobody ever taught them how. Parents that want to teach their children how to handle money start by opening them a bank account, and encouraging them to put their allowance in the bank. These seeds can't be planted when the family doesn't have enough to give out allowance. I guess if you had experience in both demographics, you would already know this. The amount of melanin in your skin doesn't seep into your brain and change your decision making, does it? Or maybe they have different science in astoria.

I'd say black people as you say are more materialistic because of the term "new money" as opposed to "old money". Shaq is going to buy as many cars as he wants, pimp out his golf cart, etc. But have you ever seen rich people? I'm talking billionaires. They don't see a need to spend it. Why that is, I don't know.. but my English teacher told us this story about a guy he knows who is extremely wealthy, and by extremely, we are talking millionaire, if not billionaire status. He drives a nice car and sometimes my English teacher and his family has gone to dinner with him and his family. But the guy will never buy anyone drinks, never flaunt his wealth. That's just a matter of growing up that way.

This isn't really a point, just telling a story I thought made sense and was interesting.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

I'd say black people as you say are more materialistic because of the term "new money" as opposed to "old money". Shaq is going to buy as many cars as he wants, pimp out his golf cart, etc. But have you ever seen rich people? I'm talking billionaires. They don't see a need to spend it. Why that is, I don't know.. but my English teacher told us this story about a guy he knows who is extremely wealthy, and by extremely, we are talking millionaire, if not billionaire status. He drives a nice car and sometimes my English teacher and his family has gone to dinner with him and his family. But the guy will never buy anyone drinks, never flaunt his wealth. That's just a matter of growing up that way.

This isn't really a point, just telling a story I thought made sense and was interesting.

This is generally true. I think that's what causes indigiance from some people who they think have "too much" money should give it around. Shoot, they didn't get rich giving money away, that's for darn sure.

[superbama]

Didn't Chapelle do a skit about black poeple not being able to handle their loot? "Reperation Day"

[INDalltheway]

My views are like many on here. It is the way people are raised. These "darkside" members probably all grew up not having shit. So when they get this money they think they can get anything they want. It isn't a matter of their skin color, it is all up in their head.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by superbama

Didn't Chapelle do a skit about black poeple not being able to handle their loot? "Reperation Day"

thank you.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Define "negatively" affect? If you mean, the black guy is more likely to go crazy and have issues, that's because you're more likely to talk about a black person who didn't have any money, grew up with little money - or middle class - and now has tons of it.

But I think what most folks here are trying to say, is that is pretty much across the board for poor whites, too.

If you take a "regular" white guy, who say, comes from money..maybe he's from the poor branch of a family that has SOMEONE in it with some money, then he's less likely to muck it up..is what you're saying.

I don't think that's it. I think it's more the latter is able to cover it up better and people would be more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he's unlikable, then the opposite would be true.

But I think the point you're probably trying to key in on, is that blacks are less sophisticated with money as a whole. Which obviously not being a popular view, certainly has some sort of validity in a historical context.

i'm talking once they get a little money, they start acting like they own the place, makes them do silly things that regular people wouldn't do.

if i'm a millionaire athlete, sorry, i love my boyz, but i'm not rolling with an entourage. i'm not doing crazy choreographed endzone dances, like pretending i'm mooning the crowd. i'm not shaking off the fine from doing that gesture by saying "what's $10,000 for me? $10,000 ain't nothing, next time i'll whip out my [beep]". i'm not getting arrested for having a ton of cocaine on me during the season, and screwing up my teams chances of competing. i'm not firing my agent even though i don't need him to negotiate my maxed out contract and replacing him with my inexperienced high school friends. i'm not gonna quit on my team before the season starts and after all the good players at my position have been snatched up so that my team can't get a replacement, just so i can spend the rest of my days travelling the world and getting high. i'm not gonna be the ambassador to the game, it's most valuable player, and act like a prick to the media cuz i don't need them, legacy be damned. i'm not gonna get arrested for having cocaine orgies with hookers. i'm not gonna employ all my family and friends and hangers-on and have everyone on the payroll, just to watch them leave me hanging once the money runs out as i go bankrupt. i'm not gonna make millions and cheat the fans out of their hard earned money by giving 50% effort, then puttin in MVP-type numbers as i get traded.

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i'm talking once they get a little money, they start acting like they own the place, makes them do silly things that regular people wouldn't do.

if i'm a millionaire athlete, sorry, i love my boyz, but i'm not rolling with an entourage. i'm not doing crazy choreographed endzone dances, like pretending i'm mooning the crowd. i'm not shaking off the fine from doing that gesture by saying "what's $10,000 for me? $10,000 ain't nothing, next time i'll whip out my [beep]". i'm not getting arrested for having a ton of cocaine on me during the season, and screwing up my teams chances of competing. i'm not firing my agent even though i don't need him to negotiate my maxed out contract and replacing him with my inexperienced high school friends. i'm not gonna quit on my team before the season starts and after all the good players at my position have been snatched up so that my team can't get a replacement, just so i can spend the rest of my days travelling the world and getting high. i'm not gonna be the ambassador to the game, it's most valuable player, and act like a prick to the media cuz i don't need them, legacy be damned. i'm not gonna get arrested for having cocaine orgies with hookers. i'm not gonna employ all my family and friends and hangers-on and have everyone on the payroll, just to watch them leave me hanging once the money runs out as i go bankrupt. i'm not gonna make millions and cheat the fans out of their hard earned money by giving 50% effort, then puttin in MVP-type numbers as i get traded.

Funny that you think you've got a sniff as to how you'd react if you had millions being throw in front of you. Money talks, bitch. The many heroes that you've made into dirty play toys don't.

[Pyser]

entertainment weekly is reporting the show is dead...and the staff members are all looking for new jobs. crazy.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

if i'm a millionaire athlete, sorry, i love my boyz, but i'm not rolling with an entourage. i'm not doing crazy choreographed endzone dances, like pretending i'm mooning the crowd. i'm not shaking off the fine from doing that gesture by saying "what's $10,000 for me? $10,000 ain't nothing, next time i'll whip out my [beep]".

i would so do this

[Anthony]

how did Barry Larkin win the MVP in '95? i clicked on that "11" link of yours, and i'm not impressed with those numbers in that season.

[Pumpy Tudors]

You guys step into the trap every time.

[Young Drachma]

Chapelle is in a story featured in Time, talking about why he went to South Africa. It's members only, so I can't pull the story up. But that should clarify things a bit.

[SackAttack]

you sure? I'm not a Time member, and I read the story earlier.

[Easy Mac]

The Dave Chappelle story continues to grow. The funniest man on television previously shut down production on the third season of his Comedy Channel show and disappeared. Speculation as to what the heck happened to Chappelle ran rampant – he was on a Rick James style crack binge, he was flying randomly around the country, he had flown to South Africa and locked himself in a mental institution.

It turns out the last part was at least partially true – Chappelle is in South Africa, but he says he was never in an institution. According to an interview with Time Magazine, which hit their website this morning, Chappelle is just chilling in South Africa with a friend of the family, getting some time to think.

"Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can't at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh. I'm an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I've been doing a lot of thinking here."

Chappelle says that his retreat is because of the 50 million dollar payday and the way it changed not him but his closest friends. "If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself," he says. "Everyone around me says, 'You're a genius!'; 'You're great!'; 'That's your voice!' But I'm not sure that they're right.

"You got to be careful of the company you keep," Chappelle says. "It's hard to know how much to say. One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change.

"During my ascent, I've seen other people go through that wall to become really big. They always said that fame didn't change them but that it changes the people around them. You always hear that but you never really understand it. But now that I'm there that makes a lot of sense and I'm learning what that means. You have to have people around you that you can trust and aren't just out for a meal ticket."

He goes on some more to talk about his search for integrity, and spends some really troubling time talking about his religion. In the end he doesn’t say when he’s coming back, if he even is. And he doesn’t say what the status of his show will be, although he makes a joke about seeing whether he has a job.

I can’t imagine that he doesn’t have a job. Comedy Channel must be torn about all this – on the one hand they desperately want a new season of Chappelle, but on the other the publicity is incredible, and Season 2 is coming to DVD soon. Still, the real question is whether this guy is going to be funny again.

Frankly, there just isn’t much less funny than a very religious person, and Chappelle is in South Africa visiting a religious friend. Is this some sort of deepening of his new Islamic faith? If he had converted to Judaism I would be psyched – those Jews are funny. But your average Islamic dude has the reputation of being about as funny as a Southern Baptist, except you can comfortably laugh at Southern Baptists.

This interview is going to convince a lot of people that Chappelle is doing OK. And maybe that’s what it shows; maybe in 2005 you don’t lie about your big problems to the press. But I’m definitely old enough to remember a time before the confessional style of celebrity, and it’s easy to imagine Chappelle subscribing to that form of celebrity. Only time will tell.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

you sure? I'm not a Time member, and I read the story earlier.

Maybe I had a bad link to the story. Thanks Easy.

[Young Drachma]

From Time

Dave Chappelle shows up to our interview in a red t-shirt, blue jeans and shiny white sneakers. He lopes around in his usual style, pacing a lot, but does not seem like a man struggling to speak or to order his thoughts at all. He's lucid and thoughtful and a couple of times asks me to give him some time to think about answers. He concedes that he is dealing with a lot of issues and mentions that he had consulted a psychiatrist about a week ago for a forty minute session. He is also quite fastidious about keeping his new sneakers clean and stops at least twice to wipe smudges off their toes.

The first thing Chappelle wants is to dispel rumors—that he's got a drug problem, that he's checked into a mental institution in Durban—that have been flying around the U.S. for the past week. He says he is staying with a friend, Salim Domar, and not in a mental institution, as has been widely reported in America. Chappelle says he is in South Africa to find "a quiet place" for a while. "Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can't at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh. I'm an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I've been doing a lot of thinking here."

The picture he paints—and it seems a fairly honest and frank assessment— is of someone struggling to come to terms with a new position and power who's still figuring out how to come to grips with how people around him are reacting to the $50 million deal he signed last year with Comedy Central. Without naming specific characters, he seems to blame both some of his inner circle (not his family) and himself for the stresses created by last year's deal.

"There were things that overwhelmed me," he says. "But not in the way that people are saying. I haven't spent any of the money. All that stuff about partying and taking crack is not true. Why do I live on a farm in Ohio? To support my partying lifestyle?"

The problems, he says, started with his inner circle."If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself," he says. "Everyone around me says, 'You're a genius!'; 'You're great!'; 'That's your voice!' But I'm not sure that they're right." And he stresses that Comedy Central was not part of the problem and put no more than normal television restrictions on what he could do.

"You got to be careful of the company you keep," Chappelle says. "It's hard to know how much to say. One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change.

"During my ascent, I've seen other people go through that wall to become really big. They always said that fame didn't change them but that it changes the people around them. You always hear that but you never really understand it. But now that I'm there that makes a lot of sense and I'm learning what that means. You have to have people around you that you can trust and aren't just out for a meal ticket."

The breakdown in trust within his inner circle seems to have led him to question the material they were producing. He seems obsessed with making sure the material is good and honest and something that he will be proud. "I want to make sure I'm dancing and not shuffling," he says. "What ever decisions I make right now I'm going to have live with. Your soul is priceless." The first two seasons of his show "had a real spirit to them," he says. "I want to make sure whatever I do has spirit."

But Chappelle also says that he must share the blame for the stalled third season. "I'm admittedly a human being," he says. "I'm a difficult kind of dude." His earlier walkout during shooting "had a little psychological element to it. I have trust issues, things like that. I saw some stuff in myself that I just didn't dig. It's like when I brought a girl home to my mom and it looked as if my mom really didn't like this girl. And she told me, 'I like her just fine. I just don't like you around her.' That's how I feel in this situation. There were some things about myself that I didn't like. People got to take inventory from time to time. That's what this [coming to South Africa] is for."

This is Chappelle's second trip to South Africa. He first came to Durban, and visited Salim, in 2000. Chappelle won't tell me exactly how he met Salim but describes him as a family friend. A soft-spoken Muslim, Salim seems also to be something of a sounding board to Chappelle, who converted to Islam several years ago. While Chappelle is not doing a formal religious course in Durban, says Salim, who wore a simple cotton robe and hung back through the interview and photo shoot and only spoke when I asked him a question, "if he wants to talk religion then I'm there as someone to talk to." Says Chappelle: "This is kind of my spot where I can come to fill my spirit back up. Sometimes you neglect these things if you are running on a corporate schedule." 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.

His family, he says, has been a huge support over the past eight months. "They've been phenomenal really, just incredible. What beautiful people. Everyone loves their family but it's good if you can like them too."

His religion is also crucial. "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. Coming here I don't have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I'm interested in the kind of person I've got to become. I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced. I've got to check my intentions, man."

That includes planning for the future. When I ask him if he would ever buy a place of his own in South Africa, Chappelle replies, "First of all I've got to make sure I've got a job."

He says that he's only been recognized five or six times in the two weeks he's been here. "It happens so sporadically that when it does it freaks me out because I have to remember, 'Oh, yeah, I'm famous.'" At the end of our interview/photo shoot an American woman does recognize him. "Number seven," he cries. "Wow, I'm not that big in Africa. I've got to do an action film here."

During most of the hour and a half that we talk, Chappelle is serious and introspective. But he still has his sense of humor, which comes out as we near the end of our conversation: "Is that enough to prove I'm not smoking crack or hanging out in a mental institution?"

[Young Drachma]

Apparently, that's just a teaser to the real story that'll be in Time this week. That's linked here and what I couldn't get to.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/articl...061418,00.html

[Ksyrup]

Just watched this episode last night and thought of this thread:

Cleveland: "You're the white version of a black guy that's not good with his money."