A Tale of Two Chappelles

Dave Chappelle
Originally uploaded by Mattitude.

Like most of America, I was excited to watch Dave Chappelle's two recent television interviews on Oprah and Inside the Actor's Studio. Caught them both, and I'm left begging the question; did Oprah drug Dave?

I kid, of course, but it's hard to view both of the specials and not come to the conclusion that Dave was f&$%#d up when he visited the mighty Miss O. I was really let down by the Oprah appearance, as he didn't elaborate on several very interesting issues, such as his feeling that his comedy had become "socially irresponsible." Boy, how I would love to build with Dave on that topic for a few hours. Break out the Johnny Walker Black, homey!

Fortunately, his appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio was fantastic. He was charming, funny and insightful, and even had fun with the much-parodied James Lipton. If trolling for re-runs, definitely catch the Lipton special, and skip the Oprah one.

Speaking of my fellow Negroids, I just found out I'll be covering the NAACP Image Awards for a news organization next weekend. Funny, but I didn't think anyone even covered the Image Awards. Shows how much I know. I've scanned the sight to educate myself about the "nominees" (hard not to laugh at that one, because I don't think anyone votes for the awards). My guess is that Everybody Hates Chris is a shoe-in for best TV series, and Crash is going to continue its roll of accolades. I'm much more interested in who will actually show up. Should be a fun red carpet. Better dig out the steamer for my blazer jacket.