Hoard Memories with Loved Ones with Dave Chappelle

He had this thing he would do. And I was everybody with certain people, "Hey, how you doing?" "I'm good," man, and he would look at me and be like, "No, how are you doing?"

And then they'd say what the real thing was. But then it taught me again. Everyone's like a book that I haven't read. - Yes. - And man, sometimes I can get past the cover and man,

I learn so much from so many unlikely people. So, and then, of course, I take those lessons around the world and make millions of millions of dollars. (upbeat music)

- This episode is brought to you by Chase Home Lending. - Hey, little girl, how are you doing? - Well, I'm doing just fine. We've got a special episode ahead. We are out of the studio,

and we are in Ohio in a beautiful town. - Yellow Springs. - I was gonna, you know, our guest is not supposed to be here. He's not supposed to be talking,

but I failed the first test.

He's not supposed to be here. - But good to see you. I haven't seen you in a couple of weeks. - I know, it feels like months I haven't seen you. - It has been now that we've been doing this podcast.

I get to see my lovely sister at least once a month, but I've been really busy the last couple of months, and she's been vacationing in Hawaii. - I've been vacationing, and that's where I live. You know, see, this is how, I mean, dude, you know,

I work almost every day almost to you. - Do you?

“- No, not only, but that's what I thought.”

- But we have a special guest at, we do. - And we should do a proper introduction. - And I know, this will sound familiar, but we've got Dave Chappelle, who is, I am such a huge fan of Dave Chappelle,

and I'm gonna read him his bio, but I want to tell you two things about meeting him

for the first time, is one is, Dave Chappelle

is one of those people who makes me laugh just by thinking about him. - I can think, or someone says Dave Chappelle, and I'll start giggling, and I'm gonna tell, I mentioned this today, even the car, or when we were riding around, everybody knows Dave smokes.

- No, I hadn't smelled smoke since our mom passed away, and it was such, our mom smelled the silence weird, but our mom smoked, and being around Dave gave me this warm feeling. - That big, a team love of being around my mom.

- Yeah, he told me that this morning, and I was like, really, you're really gonna tell that story.

“- I am, I am, because I think people relate”

to something like that. - Okay, all right, well, let's introduce Dave. Come on, Dave Chappelle is one of the greatest comedians this country has ever produced, full stop. (audience applauding)

Multiple Grammy Awards, the Mark Twain Prize for American humor, the highest honor in comedy, a voice that has shaped culture, challenged power, and made the whole world laugh and think at the same time. This man is a legend.

So it is a genuine joy, a personal honor for the both of us to introduce a man

who is not only the most important artist of our generation,

but a true neighbor to this community. - Right. - Oh, age? (audience laughing) - Yeah, y'all thought I didn't know about that.

(audience laughing) - Welcome, Dave Chappelle. - Oh, thank you, Chappelle, wow, thank you. - Dave, thank you, thank you for inviting us here to Yellow Springs, your home, the tour as Craig was saying,

we've gotten our cars, they're about eight of 'em, we drove around and we saw all the wonderful sites had the opportunity to stop by your mom's house. Dr. Cionne, thank you, just a beautiful, beautiful,

“why was it important for you to have us here?”

- Well, you know, being yourself, being Michelle Obama. - I'm sure it's not lost on you that this community to feel seen by the world, if it's seen by you. And unbeknownst to you, maybe you know, this community have an enormous amount of support.

Like, you know, Ohio elected your husband twice

and change resonated profoundly. And I was telling you earlier,

“I think you guys would agree when Obama was running”

for president, felt as if he lived in Ohio 'cause the presence of his ground team was so strong. And this radio station is our communities, like like life blood does, so I connect with tissue. And we got close to losing 'em to date in Ohio.

And, you know, we were able to work things out and get this building built.

And this is the first time I think this from has ever been used

in any actual recording capacity and man, I can't think of a better way to inaugurate any room, but with you and your brother, here amongst us and our friends and family, and it means the world to us. It means the world to me, but all of us,

I can say without a doubt, are elated that you hear. - That there was a... (audience applauding) Driving 'em around, I told you I got this familiar sense. I mean, one of the greatest privileges of my life

was not just serving as First Lady of this country but getting to campaign throughout this country. And what I saw on the campaign trail was very reminiscent of what I felt here driving around your community.

And it is just a decency and an openness and a willingness to connect with people and as Luke said to accept people for who they are.

And I always want to translate that

to people across the country because in a time when we don't feel like we see each other, yeah, I just want to remind people that communities like this one is really the truth of what I saw in America.

It was the America I was representing. And I felt that, you know, I mean, it was oozing in every stop that we made

“and I think it's important for our listeners”

to understand that that America has not disappeared. It is here alive and well and thriving throughout this country. So it's just been a thrill for me to be back on soil like this but you were raised here. This was your community.

- Oh, you had your connection to yellow springs. Can you talk to us about why this community is so important to you? - I think my family's presence in this community is an extension of like my father's life work. He lived here all of my life

and a lot of the ethics of community, you know, and I learned from him, my mother and he are both from Washington, DC. So I would mostly live with my mother. But Christmas time and some of the time I would come out to yellow springs and it was so much different in DC.

And I also kind of prepared me for what my life would be like 'cause I had, I was a kid with two lives. I had friends from out here and I had friends in DC and you know DC is like, you know, it's black. - It's hairy. - Right, but this town is white

and I would come out here and play DC records for them and they'd be like, what is this music? And then I go home play rock and roll seven, DC and they're like, what is this music? But I felt like before there was an internet,

I got a good sampling of culture that way. And that upbringing really did kind of helped me become the type of comedian I am. It made me less afraid of people. And this is gonna sound weird here, but it made me not afraid

of white people. So in comedy, in like, say the '80s, it's really the '90s. Comedy circuits were segregated and people don't know that. The black comedians played one set of rooms and white comedians played one set of rooms

and Washington, which was a majority black city, didn't have any black clubs until a few years into my career.

Not to say that it was to always like that.

But for just like full-time comedy rooms, I started out and what they would call white rooms.

“I can remember one of the owners saying when I started out”

that he didn't like more than one black comic going to show 'cause he said it would offend his audience. It's like, dude, it's Washington. Right, right. But I always played anywhere that anyone would listen.

And I didn't realize that I was a little older when I would see some comedians hit like an invisible wall. They would never play sunset Boulevard or they'd never go play Greenwich Village.

that they just considered white rooms.

They felt safe on Crenshaw or on this place or that place. They thought they wouldn't be understood. And I thought that the challenge of art was no matter where you go. You should try to be understood. And that I don't know, something about that upbringing,

the duality between Ohio and Washington.

“I think made me game to become what I became.”

- What are some of your fondest memories? Yeah, when you think of the time with your father, your friendships here, how old were you? When, what was your age range? When you were spending time here with summers of his holidays?

- My parents split up when I was two. I don't think they actually had divorced till I was five, but they split up when I was two. - What did your mom refer to your dad as the gentleman? - The gentleman that I was in my room.

- My children were my parents. - We went to my mom's house and they said, yes, my ex-husband used to live around here like that. - She was like, she said to the gentleman I was married. - I'm the gentleman, I'm the gentleman, I'm the gentleman.

- It's like, oh, okay, sounds like you're dad. - Yeah. - Let's see where you get those comic shots from, huh? - But you know what's funny, okay? I don't have any memories of the marriage.

We have a couple of memories of them being married, but a lot of memories when they were together.

And it was always very polite.

They never spoke ill of each other. They always found something good to say, you know. And knowing both of you, I don't know why I say this, ma'am. I can see exactly why they fell in love. And I can see why it wouldn't work.

- Exactly like time, time. - Yeah.

“- Yeah, I mean, and I think one of the funnest,”

most interesting parts about becoming an adult is learning what the adults in your life were actually like, you know what I mean? And getting past the role of them being a senior, just people that came before you

that were trying to figure things out. So I always joked with my wife a leg, and I'm like, you know, I don't feel like I'm getting older, but the kids are catching up, you know? (laughing)

- It's like, where do you get so old?

- Yeah, yeah, it's just, it's just like, but I have incredibly fine memories of living here. And then when I was younger, I should tell you, this place was different, because any of college was a much stronger force than the town.

And if you was not gonna know, any of college, if you think of the most radical leftist politics, go left of that. (laughing) And that's what this town was about.

There was a policy that any of it made years ago that everyone used to make fun of, called Ask Every Step of the Way. And this was 30 years before the Me Too movement. That was like, if you were getting ready, you know?

- Yeah. - We know, we know. - And then you would be like, well, man, I can't see you, or man, I do this to that. The other you would ask.

- Right. - And man, I hope country was laughing at that policy and even I was like, 'cause I'm watching, I was living in New York at the town. I'm watching news like I'm making fun of yellow springs.

And so I came home for Thanksgiving. And I found out that my father's widow wrote the policy. - Wow. - He was alive at the time. And I asked him, "Oh, John, what was that?"

And she explained to me the reasons for the policy. And I'll have everybody now because it's so much like, what Hollywood just went through, all this weird ambiguity. And it's like, how do you teach young adults how murky sexual contracts are?

'Cause if you make one correctly, no one should see a make one. (laughing) And you know, it's out as it sounds, it worked. The problem was that people on the campus were,

there was like an astronomical amount of sexual assault accusations. And she says, it's an administrative by the numbers

“you have to recognize that can't all of these be true,”

but you can't dismiss any of them. So we have to teach them what it is. And it worked. Those same numbers plummeted. So young springs, I say, let's say,

has been on the cutting edge of solving certain types of problems that Americans face all the time. This is a thinking person's town. I love doing all kinds of stuff. But man, and this is gonna sound crazy.

I have the most joy to thinking. I told my wife, years ago, I know you remember, I said, "Baby, if you ever see me staring off in a space, "don't bother me, 'cause I'm working." [ Laughter ]

I've already done the wrong thing.

I'm going to try that with the rock. [ Laughter and applause ] Don't bother me. I'm working. [ Laughter ]

It is like that, I just feel it. Be like, you can blame Dave for that, didn't you? [ Laughter ] [ Music ] My life, pretty hectic right now,

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begin your home ownership journey. Remember, FDIC equal housing opportunity. You know, this is such a wonderful place, I've only been here a couple of days. I went to get coffee this morning,

and I must have seen four or five folks that all said hello as if they had seen me before. Thank you for that. And, but I think our listeners and viewers want to know,

When you're not thinking?

Well, I haven't been saying it. I get up and four of them, and they're all been saying it. They're not. Well, okay, this question is actually at the core of why I like it here, because the days are predictable and they're simple.

I mean, look, the rest of a public person's life, it's like the circus for it, not nearly what I've experienced with you today, because I can't imagine having that many people have to be involved

“in every movie you make, but public life is not an easy life,”

but for me here, everyone's this famous as I am here, we all kind of know each other, we all see each other every day.

So, you know, I know a lot of names, I know a lot of faces.

I have people here that I love. I have people here that I love, not liking. It's something bad what it happened to them. I've missed, not liking. Man, I would love to fight with you personally.

A cold, a cold shoulder person, but it's that kind of culture. And, you know, like, I'm not that old 50 years old, but there's a whole generation of kids that I watch go from nothing to adults to, like, strong, really wise adults. It's just, it's irreplaceable.

It really does remind you of the value of people.

“And I think most people don't, you know,”

I'm lucky because I get to be celebrated for what I do. But I think most people forget how much they influence the people around them. And there's people here that I'll see, and I'll know, from the room and mail that they're going through something terrible,

and I'll see them smile through it. And hey, they're good, good morning, and I admire that. And it reminds me to be the same. And then when I go out in the world, I can be more courageous because I know I have a place

where if I completely white and came back here, they just be like, they don't smile. Good morning, even though they knew I white. And I'm like, hey, and that's just why I love it here. I mean, it's so important to kind of emphasize that point of simplicity

in a time where especially young people are, you know, they're suffocating themselves with so much stuff. And I just want listeners and folks to hear this from one of the most famous men, you know, because I know I feel that way. I know Baroque feels that way is that, you know, we're striving for fame,

for notoriety, for all the wrong things. And the truth of the matter is that life is about that small stuff. You know, it's the small connections that you make with people. It's about relationships with your neighbors and your family members. And you can't get that by holding a phone.

And it is so important when we look at rates of depression, and anxiety that our young people are feeling. It's because they've moved away from the simple, you know, just the, like, you, you told us about how, you know, every morning you walk out of your house and you go over the red bridge and you walk down the bike path and, you know,

you know, your neighbors and you see those rolling hills and the trees. And you take in the air.

“It's like hearing you Dave Chappelle say that that is the key to your”

joy in your sanity is, is powerful.

I mean, it means everything, you know, especially with comedians, right? So, so fame is one of the worst things that can happen to a comedian, as an artist, because you're sequestered, you know, life is, you know, not this is not my case, but it's, it's not authentic your life, you know, yes, people or whatever, the cliches are. But this place, man, this place does not do that.

Like, man, it times, I've really wished that they would. They don't, though, and so. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't trade it. And the other thing is that I do get to just talk to people, which a lot of people, you know, the ambitious people, especially,

you know, you're going to forget how much you need to just talk to people. And I used to shout on my dad around town, he had this thing he would do. And I was everybody was serving people, hey, how you doing?

"No, how are you doing?"

And then they, well, you know, and then they'd say what the real thing was, but then it taught me again,

everyone's like a book that I haven't read and, man, sometimes I can get past the cover and, and, man, I learned so much from so many unlikely people. So, uh, and then, of course, I take those lessons around the world and make millions of millions of dollars. Let's get out of the kit.

You know, it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. You know, Dave, you're not just one of the funniest people out here,

“but do you or one of the smartest men that, that is on the public stage?”

Wait and go, Mom. Do you think so?

So, it's no surprise that your parents are badasses, especially your mom.

Can you talk a bit about her, your relationship with her as you said earlier? What did you say? She, she was, she championed you, you had a, well, wait a. I said, she put that battery in my back. That's from that battery in your back.

My mom is, I call her a greatness whisperer. That's it, a greatness whisperer. Yeah, she would say things that I still meditate on that, that made me, I don't want to be great as much as, and this is going to sound arrogant, but it's not as arrogant as it sounds, almost, but not quite, you, you made me not afraid to be great.

“I think so many people who have greatness inside of them are, are timid or don't shy”

as much or don't want to out exceed anybody. They don't want to be noticed, because there's a target on you that comes with that. And my mom kind of put the soul in my back. Or if someone said, oh, else, my mom would teach me to say, oh, oh, else, what, you know, I mean, just ask or just move or just take the step.

If you feel, but it was very moral. She also gave me lessons and what humility actually is, and, and, and she gave me antidotes for self-loathing. You're like, I feel like people just, just swim in a, in a broth of, like, just shaming and self-loathing a lot.

And, and then she do that. How did she make me not? How did she, how did, what was that antidote? Well, I mean, this one I mentioned, and when I got the twin prize, and I, and I said, it's, it's really moved people, but the sum she used to say to me all the time, she said,

“sometimes you have to be a lion, so you can be the lamb that you really are, because she saw”

me being timid and she was like, so, okay, she's telling me not to be afraid to fight. The shans go, can't win fight, I'll let you in, let's go. Okay, ma'am. Okay. Yeah, she, but for real, she taught me, this is going to sound, it's not going to sound, I can't explain

this, but she, she taught me how to not be afraid of getting in trouble, because she was my authority figure. So, you're his problem, but she was a loving authority figure, and to both my parents credit, they didn't just bombard me with rules, they helped me understand the rules and reasons, and, and we didn't agree. The young people don't we snap for this?

Yeah, yeah, the rules and reasons, I know you know about that, I was the, I was, that's the activist in the front row, so I'm just, but that sounds so much like our parents, I mean, we were talking in the car about how blessed we were to have two parents who loved us, mother and her father that poured into us, but a big thing was, I talk about this all the time, our mom loved our voices, you know, I mean, she just loved our dirty draws and loved everything

that came out of our mouths, and she was interested and curious with our parents both were, and it's that pouring into us, but the humility that comes with, you know, you don't just tell

a kid no, you tell a kid why and how, and we got that every step of the way and it's amazing how

that little simple thing of seeing a child valuing their voice, giving them some boundaries, giving them some humility, like that's better than stuff, that's better than iPhones and new cars and the best sneakers and contacts and connections, we didn't have any of that, but we had parents who put that battery in our back. And even if we, this, what I remember is it didn't matter

encourage us to get to the point we were trying to make, and that patience is what I remember,

“and what, what I think gave me the confidence to be intellectual and successful that way.”

And you were a Southside Chicago intellectual, you were you ostracized for, and then no disrespect, but you were now nerds, both of you. Well, you had a learn how to fake the font, you had a talk to languages, you had the talk, the language of I got an A, but let's not talk about it because I got to get home too. And you had to, you know, own your intelligence. Now my brother had basketball to help help him to get out of the house. Oh my God, you just played every sport and

throughout the inward every now and then. Yeah, it works. You know, that, that all show the hard show that

shows that I'm a little hard, but, but don't tell my mom, I said that. Yeah, we didn't have to fight because you were baller, everyone loves baller. Everybody loved ballers, but I didn't become a

“baller until I was about 12. So I had my share of fights before I was 12 years old. Right. And”

unlike your mom, my mom would be like be careful fighting because you're bigger than everybody. Oh man, my mom was like, he better bite, make it even better bite. You're, if your mom was at my house, there would have been a couple of laughs. Yeah, go on. But you know what else it was about your mom that I love? It's okay. My mom's laugh is like music. She, you know, and her mom's laugh is like music. And my grandfather,

her dad's laugh is like music, man. And then think that's another thing that made me want to be funny, just hearing that music, come out of them, it made me feel joyful. At what age did you realize that? Because one of the questions I was thinking about, we're talking about talking to you is you were smart enough and telling enough to pick a whole lot of different avenues, but you picked comedy. So, okay, yeah, or I don't know if I picked it,

okay. So, I can't remember a time when I didn't feel like I was a funny guy. Okay. Or some kind of equipment, I'm like, yeah, I'm just like that was my thing, but I didn't know that was anything. When I was eight years old, my grandmother had a friend come visit, who was a jazz singer, Johnny Hartman, the famous jazz singer, one of the only vocalists that John Coltrane's ever recorded with beautiful voice, smoked cigarettes, his voice sound

like, like velvet, so smooth. And I had, I remember I had just done a book report on Dr. Charles Drew. I was eight, and I was thinking, you know, I was going to be a doctor, and I showed the guy, the book report, and he goes, man, he goes, that's good. I don't want to be a doctor, because

“I was cutting up all day. I was eight, he said, you're going to be a comedian, and I go, what's that?”

He said, you know, like a red fox, a Richard Pride, you know, that is, I'm like, yeah, yeah, why, you know, from San Francisco, I don't know, I'm like, you know, he said, he said, it's a person that, that's funny for money, he goes, you're going to be one of those. And I thought about that. I think about it every once in a while, I think about, because you know, he's long past away, got arrested so well, but whatever he saw in me that day,

he saw it so clear that it scares me to think back at it. I'm like, so, did I choose this or did I?

But when I finally did do stand up, where, you know, to me, it's feel like a lifetime

way, it was only six years from eight to 14 when I started 14, you know, which seemed crazy at the time. Yesterday, I got a text message from a comedian I started out with his kind of thing, it's guy patting on his wall. Yeah, yeah, he sent me a video that one of his fans has sent him. And I couldn't understand it, we're in some like, dilapidated room and then he pans over and I look and it's the stage that we both started on.

Well, it was in, what's it in DC? On 14th and then on Northwest, it's, ironically, drum roll, please, it's a gay club now. Yeah, but it gave me chills just to see it, because it's, you know, having so fast, I can't believe how far

You know, something I love about this show is getting to hear so many different people's stories.

It's so inspiring to research each guest and discover their backstory. All the hard work and big swings that went into their success. Because, and I know this has been true for me,

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This episode is brought to you by Netflix's Remarkably Bright Creatures. You all know I'm a movie lover. And while I usually steer towards your classic crime dramas and high films, I also love a good comfort watch. Remarkably bright creatures, based on the New York Times best-selling novel, is just that. A feel good heartwarming flick about nature, family, and new beginnings. First of all, I love that Netflix is adapting this novel.

There's already a lot of people who love the story and have been waiting for this one for a minute. The movie follows Tova, played by the incomparable Sally Field as she forms an unlikely bond with Marcellus and octopus. And their relationship ends up bringing some real healing and unexpected connection with Cameron played by Lewis Pullman and a few big discoveries that change all of their lives. Also, the octopus is voiced by Alfred Molina, which is just good casting. It's the

perfect watch for Mother's Day weekend. So definitely check it out. Remarkably bright creatures is only on Netflix May 8th. This episode is brought to you by Netflix's Remarkably Bright Creatures. You all know I'm a movie lover. And while I usually steer towards your classic crime dramas and high films, I also love a good comfort watch. Remarkably bright creatures, based on the New York Times best-selling novel, is just that. A feel good heartwarming flick about

nature, family, and new beginnings. First of all, I love that Netflix is adapting this novel.

There's already a lot of people who love this story and have been waiting for this one for a minute. The movie follows Tova, played by the incomparable Sally Field as she forms an unlikely bond with Marcellus and octopus. And their relationship ends up bringing some real healing and unexpected connection with Cameron played by Lewis Pullman and a few big discoveries that change all of their lives. Also, the octopus is voiced by Alfred Molina, which is just good casting. It's the

perfect watch for Mother's Day weekend. So definitely check it out. Remarkably bright creatures is now playing only on Netflix. There are a lot of creative kids in communities across the land. Being a creative being going to show business, I mean, for most black parents, they'd be like, "You better get you a good job." What are you talking about? Yeah, exactly. But your mom did the exact opposite.

I mean, she got you on stage. She thought about the education that you would need. Wasn't she the one that suggested that you go to one of my favorite high schools on the planet? Do Gellington and

“Washington, D.C. Yeah, she was. I think, you know, not just that. She would sit with me, you know,”

after school, she'd meet me. We go to the comedy club. We'd sit there all night. We'd go to the comedy club. After she had been working and doing whatever was she did that day. And I didn't realize it at the

necessarily thought I was going to be a famous comedian. But at that time, the crack epidemic and

everything, all the bad things like could be doing. And I expressed such as earnest interest in being a comedian. And so she shepherded me. She figured out who's trustworthy and not trustworthy.

“And, okay, could you, could you give my baby a ride home if I leave early in that kind of thing?”

And then, by the time I was 16, I was professional. Like, I would get gigs and make money and and I didn't need her to go as much. And then, that was kind of sad because her baby was growing up. But the big one was not going to college because I'm the first person since slave ran our family to make that choice. Like everyone else did. Way to break this. Break the cycle of education. Someone used to break this cycle of learning. But I ended up moving to New York. And honestly,

maybe with the best education that a person could ever get. But the guard rails to that education

was ambitious, ambition, not just like really artistic ambition. I was enamored. I always looked

at the camera like, what else can it do? And I still experiment with it. Which is more dangerous now. But no less rewarding. This job never gets easier. It's never, it's never not fulfilling and it's

“never not challenging. So, at 16, you're a professional on the road, on your own. Who are your influences?”

Who are you? Did you have any mentors? Did you do it solely by yourself? No, no. Okay. So, the local scene in DC was popping. Like I said, pattern who went on to be famous. He was there. Guy didn't tell anyone. He was one of the big guys on the scene. B.T. had just started. There was local in DC. So, Chris Thomas was doing all these things on B.T. Tommy Davidson was on a living color. But he was from my local scene. Martin Lawrence was just getting

big. But these were all local guys. So, I wasn't on the road yet. I would get a road gig here or there. And the principal Wellington used to give me excused absences. If I left on Friday, they're going on the road. Because it was an artistic pursuit. Like cash to train up the eastern seaboard and get a gig here. But it was mostly happening in town in Washington. And the scene was very experimental and very competitive. But there was a lot of camaraderie on that scene. New York

was different. But, man, DC was, I think, the perfect place to start. Because I had enough room to get good. Is there a point in a comedian's development where they determine what kind of comic they want to be? I mean, you are a gifted storyteller in weaving in life and observation.

“And you know, taking us full circle, did you have to be? Come that? Did you know that as a kid?”

That's how I want to make people laugh. That's a very good question. Thank you. No, no, let's say the very good question. There are certain people asking who your favorite comedians. And it's not like that. And my mind, it's a dark real of just different comedians doing different things that amaze me. Some more consistently than others. But, man, any night could be just some guy who just says the thing of that night. But, man, when I was in high school

and I came to remember who I saw do it first. The first time I saw a guy do what we call call back

a joke, make reference to something he referenced before. I'm like, wait a minute. Do the same joke twice. And from then on, man, I'm telling you, I'm like those guys can control perfect circle freehand. If I want to stage with no material, I would just know what to do. But I've been doing this so long and comedy, it's almost like a language that I know how to speak. I can say anything in this language. But there are real parameters and it's like music. You also want to break out

of those parameters. Like a bebop guy. Like I don't want to play the same stuff everybody plays. But that being said, man, in my life, man, I've seen some of the greatest comedy I've done. And I feel so lucky to have seen all of it. But what made me want to be what I'm like, there's a long story going to tell it. Please. This is your interview Dave Chappelle.

y'all. But I'll try. Okay, the single most impactful thing that I've ever seen.

“I was maybe 19 years old. I opened for Richard Prior at New York Symphony Hall.”

And I got there early and I met, I met Mr. Prior before this show and I could see like, I just eyeballing him that he's not, he wasn't feeling well. And by this time everyone knew he had MS and all that. I don't know what MS does to people, but I knew that whatever it does, it was doing it. And so I say to myself, you know what? I want to do good, but let me just take it easy because it's like a legend. So I just did the house keeping job. I got the crowd good and warm and then

didn't want to see me anyway. They wanted to see him. And then I go and I get off the stage. He had the intro where his man goes, ladies and gentlemen, the most two beautiful words in comedy, Richard Prior. Man, man, crowd goes nuts. And he goes out there. And you could tell early on that this was not, this was not his night. And maybe 30 minutes into a set. He stops. And sometimes we didn't even know you could do it. He looks kind of goes, look, he goes, I want to do

this for you guys, but he goes. I'm not feeling well. He said, I'm sorry. He was, I don't got it at me tonight. I'm sorry. Just like that. And man, he could he like, like a pin drop. And then his guy in the back of the room jumps to his feet like that. He jumps up. He goes, we love you, Richard. And the place exploded. Long as loud as Ovation. Like, man, it went on and on. And he stood there. And then, okay, I'm young, right? But then I realized what I'm looking at. That this is his last

show for them. They probably will never see him live again. And people were crying and wiping tears

out of the eyes and he looked a little emotional. And to me, it was the first time I had seen like actual love. Like bouncing off the walls. Like man, they love this person. And if I had never seen it, I wouldn't even know that something to want because no, I've no one has it like, Richard like that. And when I saw that more than any type of style, my man, I went to be like,

“like that. And that notion made me work. I think more patiently than I would have. But that”

was the moment I knew that fame was one of the things I wanted, but whatever the hell that thing Richard had, that moment. So then what does it feel like when it doesn't work? Now, now it doesn't man, okay, it's a good question. You mean if I do a show when it doesn't go well? You know that and when the, when the love doesn't come, and the opposite comes. Oh, okay, well, okay, okay, give me both and. Yeah, maybe it's more like, in my experience, it was both because I was doing

jokes that some people thought were controversial and some people didn't. But that experience from my perspective is much different than what it must have been like watching it. Because you know,

listen, people would think it's me versus the gay community. I never looked at it like that. I always

thought it was corporate interest and culture negotiating itself. So, so, you know, most of those people who were critical of what I was doing didn't seem like they were of it. They had, they, it's like they had their faces pressed against the glass. Comment down what we were doing in

“there, but they weren't in there doing it. And I, I think I spoke to you about this earlier,”

every opinion you can think of is, is represented in a comedy club. Every type of person you can imagine does stand up comedy, transgender, stand up comics, a black, white, age, every kind of

perspective. And we all champion whatever opinion we championed, we would never think the silence

one another. We might do get out on the stage in the sense of like if someone says some racist and I get mad, you know, put me up next because I don't want to say something about what he said, but, but, but, but sign on the thing that person wouldn't be anything. And then after the show, we all get upstairs drinking. And we might still talk about it or argue about it, but that's

to speculate on a comedy show that they won at or misinterpret a joke or like, you know,

“nothing makes a comedian matter than reading his joke wrong in the paper. And reading a joke”

is nothing like hearing one or being one. And the intention of a comedy show was a very unique and tensioner. We are playing with whatever the culture is made of. And we break it down and we get it right or we get it wrong. But in all art, if it's going to be good or even hopefully great, you've got to have a margin of error. And what they were doing was acting like thought or speech was binary. Like there's only everything's either this or that. But all art is in between that.

It's all nuance. So when they take nuance out of words and just think that you're sure what he said he said, say it, but that's not what I was saying. So we talked about, you know,

the first time I realized, oh my gosh, I'm in politics. Was, you know, my husband's running

for president. I was campaigning heavily for him. But my experiences campaigning were in communities like this. It started small. And then it grew from there. And all my conversations would be like this, extemporaneous talking to a group, introducing myself, telling a joke, trying to humanize myself and my husband introducing us as real people, but not unscript. And there's a difference and how you would see the crowd respond right here. You know, we're all in the room together.

You know, maybe the words wouldn't be exact, but we would, we would all be able to feel it.

You know, and that feeling wouldn't just be a small group, it could, it could expand into a stadium, you know, in arena. The people there could feel the intent. But then I realized, oh, it's not about the people here. It's about the people with their faces press against the wall, interpreting what I said without being there. Or even more in cities trying to bend what you say to make it more interesting or salacious or because they have a different, I don't know,

I don't know why they do all stuff they do, but I do know in recent years, it's, you know, you'll hear a lot of comedians complain about that. And what they'll say is, we can't say anything. That's not true. You can say anything that you can get away with. And that's the skill. You know, the negotiation with the audience of what's acceptable is what makes the, the genre so interesting. And it could change from room to room, night from night, like every room's a little different.

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try any of Aloha's protein bars. Grab one at your local grocery store or head to Aloha.com. You said younger comedians are a little bit different, because they're not, they're audiences in their room. They're internet people, and it goes back to the whole point of community. Sharing a space with people is really important to connection and understanding, and it's no wonder why we feel so divided, because all of our interaction is happening. Without this heart

heart feeling, even seeing somebody's face nod, or you get it, or maybe you don't. We're losing that, and you said young comedians nowadays have a different ethos, because they're not in room, negative too. Let's get some more engagement. If they talk bad about somebody, they'll get more clicks and more engagement. So everything's a diss record now, and it used to be, it's not like that. Can we talk about the Chappelle Show? You whole yeah. Oh yeah, sure. Yeah, really. I just

“think about what I think about you doing that show. I think about how much fun it must have been”

just sitting around with your friends and your boys. Thinking up ideas to be on the Chappelle Show. Man, that's the truth. I had one guy that I primarily wrote the show with Neil Brennan, and we're still friends, but one of the things we would do is we would take submissions. We'd

always rewrite the submissions, but the guy gives an idea, man, that's funny. We'll write it up,

and if we use it, we'd ban you. But it was a thing. I would have been submitting. Man, it was fun, but it was my first time being corporally funny, and it got me ready for the next time, because there's always the negotiation with the network. But our life in hindsight, because we

because at that time they had the Chris Rock show, and they felt like they were invincible.

“Man, but we went on Comedy Central and shot lights out. And I think the show was better on Comedy”

Central, because it wasn't air of, you shouldn't be able to say these things. HBO looked like you just doing anything anyway. But on Comedy Central, that dance around, standards and practices was joyful. And shot out to South Park, because I remember one time I did a time-roll bigum character playing a show who had a addiction probably. He, he, he, he, he, well, there's no nice way to say it. Greg, he takes a shit now. Yeah. And, and, and, and the

related standards and practice lady calls me upstairs, and she's like, "Look, you can't have time-roll take a shit in the audience." It's, and it was gross too, because we took like a baby roof bar and like melted it. And, and he just dropped it in the frame. It was really gross.

“And it was really funny. She goes, "Can't do that. They can't do that. They can't do that."”

And I go, "I don't know, how about this, Renee? What if I put a Christmas hand on it and make it sing a Christmas Carol?" And, and then she goes, "Okay, okay." So, we got to weigh with a lot of stuff, because South Park push boundaries and, and people got to weigh with stuff, because we pushed boundaries. But I was all about just kind of, you know, making room for everything. And, and, and to their credit, especially at that time, at that time, the television was

governing the opposite of the internet. It was called least objectionable programming. How do we make sure everybody likes everything everyone says? And that's, there's some, obviously impossible. But, but they were brave in the sense that they would, they would let us

“challenge a lot of convention. Shepel show was, was fun, uh, uh, Charlie Murphy.”

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. You know. May you rest in peace. Yeah. Uh, you know, I used to see Charlie Murphy in Hollywood at parties. I shouldn't say this, but one night, I was, man, sorry, I was how mushrooms. And, and I went to, uh, someplace. It's okay now, though. Yeah, and I'm, I'm fine. I'm fine. But, uh, but I say that to say, if you will have mushrooms and ran into a personality as intense as Charlie Murphy, it's like, don't. He's got a, he talks to his teeth and he was going on it.

And he, he, he's real gangster. He got that grow. But, man, this one night, I ran into him. And the whole night just, became about watching this guy, Charlie Murphy. Now, I didn't know in the near future, we would work together in such an intimate capacity, but, but that night, I could see

something great about him. And he would always talk about Eddie, but he always go, my brother,

my brother this man. And if anyone said anything bad about Eddie, at any point in his life, he'd smack the shit out of movie. He, he loved his brother so much. And, uh, but what I learned at night, that I, because he was always a villain in movies, he was hilarious. He was like a, like a, an artful story teller. His story said all this texture. And then one day on the set, we were doing some sketch. And, uh, Charlie's telling us all these stories about coming with Eddie, and then,

and the middle of the last year goes, someone said something about Rick James, and he said, "Man, I fought Rick James, on five different occasions, who would I?" What? And, man, he started telling us all the times he'd been in every story. He beat up Rick James and all these. And, man, we would die in laughter. And, and, and, and we put on silent, like, man, can we do that on the chili? They would, like, win me to beat up Rick James,

I'm actually like, I really like, and, and we just had them tell the stories. And, and we dramatize them. Now, now, and now you think, you know, and then as we're shooting it, I can't let this slide. Well, because we want to set time laughing. And then here's the kicker. And we're on the set and try goes, I bet you I can get Rick to come for this. And he did, he did, he ended up doing one sketch for Rick James, and then another sketch

about Prince. Yes. And, and, and I asked Prince to do the sketch, and he was like, "No." But then when he saw it, he said he wish he had. And by all accounts, like, by his own account, he loved that sketch. So, it was just, it's one of those things where it's like, uh, and the other

thing about that Rick James sketch. Last thing about it is Charlie made us show it to Eddie first.

Eddie has his big screen and ruminant downstairs, and he's sitting in like a big armchair with his back to us, and no one's seen the sketch. So, there's no lab track on it. She felt like a real abstract. And man, he didn't laugh once. And it's sketched like 10 minutes long. And, man, I'm sitting behind with the picture on something. And then the sketch goes on, and he doesn't even turn around but from behind them, I see him raises arms like this. Oh, oh yeah. And then he turns around and goes,

"It was a red couch and Rick had on capizeos." And it gave us a green light. And he let us do it.

“And to me, it's one of the greatest sketches ever. I mean, I think I watched that once a month,”

at least once a month. But being from Chicago, the player's ball is lights out and so accurate. You know what's funny, but when people asked me to me, that was my favorite day of shooting. Really? I laughed more on that. That's not necessarily my favorite sketch, but those characters are the ones I revisit the most. And it's not as fun to do without Charlie. But it's still fun to do. And, man, that was like Patrice O'Neill, who was a great, great comedian. He and I used to,

like, like, hate each other. Because he's an asshole man. And I only said because he's dead, but he and Kevin Hart and everyone get mad when I say that because they love Patrice so much. I love him. I got there. But at that time, I was the guy to beat. And Patrice was new in town.

So we would always, he was, like, before an internet, he was a perfect troll. And there's a few

people I've met in my life just to do how to push my buttons. And man Patrice could play me like a keyboard. He just knew how to make me mad. And then one day I snapped and when I finally yelled at him about it, he was a day, day, day, day, day, day. Think about it, think about it. I talked to everybody this way. And I'm like, ah, it's true. And I thought, like, get over yourself. Yeah. And he was that guy. And then, and then, that same week, I'm like, you know, we wrote the sketch and I'm like,

yo, that's called Patrice. And he was great. And one of the things that made me love him for doing the sketch is that when he showed up, he was nervous, which was very, was a huge honor that he cared as much as I care. And man, that we were good, up until they died, we were good. And are you guys, and am I say, guys, men and women, comedians? How do you train yourselves to be such good actors? Well, I don't know if everyone can do it. I'm not gonna say any names, but

“move, well, I think for me, it was definitely Elington. Okay. You know, there's a vulnerability”

that an actor has to have that I don't know, the comedians that necessarily vulnerable the same way. And with the mercy of a script, like, you know, unless you're working on something flexible,

you got to service the writers' words. But acting is an amazing skill. Now, this has nothing to do with

me. But this fact that it's one of my favorite performers that I've ever seen. And I think I told you about this. I saw you once in Mars. Denzel Washington in training day is like watching the most technical, technically perfect. It's like everything I learned in school, he executes perfectly. If you know what you're looking at, it's amazing. And then the Academy Museum in LA, they have his script with the marked up Martians and I saw it. And it just reminded me of how much work

this guy puts into acting and how serious he is. And I don't think a lot of comedians would be that serious. But Richard Prior was a great actor because he was vulnerable. Cat Williams is a guy every time I see him acting like, man, he should do that more. Because he's like, he's graded it.

It's surprisingly graded. And he never studied a day in his life. I don't know how he knows how to

do that. I went to school. I was read books and I can do it like, you know, but some people can

“cite music, some people can just play. Do you feel like you tap into that vulnerability?”

Well, I do. I think I'm more vulnerable on stage and most comedians. You know, I'll say anything when people feel like they can't say anything. But it was just a vulnerable position to put myself in. But some Joe, it's like I just got it. I just want to see

that's more forgiving than most people's, than a casual comedy observer would be. These people

“I think I was come to experience the danger, because the audience is also vulnerable if you're”

taking it out of bounds. Yeah. I don't know. So there's much talk about you walking away from the show. It's been discussed. But I find it, I was reading something where you said, you know, you just went out the country for a week or so. That's just like, you know, what do you think it was about that time that made people lose their minds over you making a decision that was preserving yourself? I think at that time, it was the idea that the money, you know, comedians want

getting $50 million checks that I had heard of them. I think it was the money and that time the show was wildly popular and it was all of a sudden it was just gone. And, you know, I gotta tell you the truth, when I quit, I thought, you know, maybe I'll go back and, but it took some time for me

realize like, oh, now I'm never going back. Maybe like a year. And then I thought my career was over.

“I believe that for a few more years. So I went through the whole process of mourning the narrative”

that I had in my head of being a big star. And at that time, I was just backing out with friends, you know, I held friends as welcome back superstar. I was like, oh, man. But, it's like, no, how are you really dead? No. Tell me, I don't know anything like, maybe four years to get over it. But, but man, imagine how liberating that is to believe that it's over. And I got over it and then I just went back to work.

I still needed money. And I could still fill rooms up, because people like the show and like, I started back in comedy clubs. And then I did this big tour. And the tour was tough for me, because the show was like, it's a festival thing. It was like a five hour show that I'd have to close. And it was tough. But it got me back out there. And then when I left that big festival thing, it just did my own thing. I was just in the pocket again. And then like a few years after that,

someone would call me and be like, congratulations, what? You just got tour of the year. I'm like, I did. I would never even pay attention. And one time somebody called me and said, congratulations. I was like, for what? You just made Forbes this. And I was like, what? And I looked. And because I don't just count the money that comes in. And I looked and said, like, they should

tell me, I don't know what it was that year. I've never, I've made eight million bucks on it.

Now I looked at, I said, well, who? I was 10th in the top 10. And then I looked at the other nine names and I'm like, I should come back. It's like, I think I can do this. Yeah, I think like, I wish Elaine was Mike up now, because I want to be like, what was he like during that period? Were you staring off in the space and telling them, don't talk to me now? What were you like then? Because Elaine does

not have a like. She was the person that really helped me get over myself. Let's give a round of a

“plod to the way. And I'm going to tell you, especially if you want to move, by the way.”

But you know what I think at that time, maybe I did, you know, you almost have to fight the urge to feel sorry for yourself, if you're morning and career, and she's not that kind of

person. She just always keeps it moving. Almost, I mean, it's like too much sometimes. Like,

well, you're still now, but she just, you know, and I kids were young. And so she was just like, come on, man, get over that. And I got to tell you a friend of mine that was famous, passed away recently. And one of the things that he said as he was nine. And man, he knew he was dying.

Man, that really resonated with me because that's such an easy trap to fall for. And nobody says that trap for you better than yourself. So it's good to have somebody that, you know, I mean,

“not to say she didn't let me mourn my career, but she also helped remind me that my life is about”

more than myself. And for someone that's like, you know, your wife ideally, the best of times, she's at your shoulder. And for someone that's your shoulder to remind you of that. And it's like, you know, and then I had to think about it, like, well, I guess technically, she lost the money, too. You were. I bet she knew what number you were on the Ford list. Yeah. She's like,

eight million, okay, check. You know, and you know what, we also always have what we need.

I, you know, and never really worried about money. Now what happens is, when the guy gets famous, they upgrade everything. That's when they get a new wife and a new house and a new this and a new that. Man, we, we, everything the same. Uh, wish a lot of us to do stuff like this when we did get money, it's like, you know, why upgrade our house when we can upgrade the town we're living in? Yeah. Yeah. You said something really lovely about Elaine. Um, because Elaine, you grew up in

New Yorker. You're not from Yellow Springs. This is, this is, this was new, but I asked you how she felt about moving here. Um, and why you chose here. Can you talk a bit about, do you remember,

“do you remember that conversation Dave? Yeah. I said something to the effect. And this is true.”

At that time, my idea was we should build a lifestyle that that I can feel more secure in maintaining. So that I can, you know, be courageous. And, you know, she's from Brooklyn. She didn't have any friends.

I feel like that and everything that stuff. And we moved on here and I'm, you know, at first it was

just me and her and our kids. Uh, and that's, I'm sure that's tough to give up your social life and, you know, and New York City in and of itself, if you live in New York, it's hard to live. I mean, I'm from here and it was hard to come back here after living in New York. But man, but she did it, man. She learned away around. She found everything that she wanted and eventually,

“as the years went on. She made her life here. We have, you know, she has friends and I have friends,”

but, you know, she, she was, she was applying there. And even now, like, like, I'm, I'm more insight and, you know, a lot of people in the community don't reach out to me directly. They, they go through her because she's not a hit-shaken here. Everybody, yeah, they, you can't count on date but nothing. No, no, you can't. But when she's outside and, you know, she's a very kind person, but she's also, she can, she can hold a line because everybody asks us for everything.

And, and, you know, it's part of being in a community, everyone's like that, but, but she's been

amazing and helping me do all of the things we've been doing in the community and, you know,

having a relationship with the community. When I go travel, she's the one that tells me what's going on in town. Yeah. Yeah, well, you're a father of three. Oh, yeah. What's, what's Dave, the father like? Hmm. We get the mic too. You know, if my kids were vegetables, they'd be organically grown. I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, that's, it got a big definition in the organic community. Okay, well, meaning number one is with the soil, which would be yellow springs.

It's the place where they can independently learn to be courageous and, like, I learned before them, though, fencing in, to not be afraid of white people. My kids are, I'm like me, they're, they're mixed race, right? Their, their mom is Asian, their dad is black, but their generation, I don't think things of anything like that. In town like Yellow Springs, a young person, can use their time more the way they want to, because there's not so many immediate dangers.

kid doing this or that, correct. But, you know, my parents weren't like having on rules. In fact, they're looking back and I hope this doesn't upset you, my, I look at my parents' reference books. You get the most out of them, if you, if you're interested, my mother has some

amazing stories about her life. My father, you tell me amazing stories about, about his life,

but they also gave me a weird context about my life. They didn't police me as much as they

“guided me. A horse with me. I would think it was my deal, but it was them. And I think a”

parent and a similar style. I'm, I'm the invisible hand dad. You know, I'm there. And, you know, I think my oldest son has figured out that everything he figured everything out first. But he's, I think he uses the resources of me. It's like a, a wise or person than him, the most. He's the one that calls me just to, to chew on something. I'm trying to figure something out. What do you think

of this? What do you think of that? Um, I don't know. But we're all happy. We, we laugh together

of all, you know, what do you learn about yourself being a parent? Yeah. That's a great question. Another one. Yeah, man. It's like, I think I'm, I'm keeping count. That was three. Yeah. No, that is, and I don't mean it in the me the press. Thank you for your question.

“What am I learning about myself? Probably that I, I'm more courageous than I believe myself to be.”

And, and, and, and also being a parent, uh, you got a, again, like, you got to forgive yourself or get over yourself. And, and I think that being a parent for anybody is, is very humbling. But if you have all the money in the world, it doesn't make you a good parent, you know, like, it's the beginning I think I got to provide for my family and all that stuff. But, but I've realized my time was, it was way more valuable than I have understood, uh, when I had three people that

needed it, you know, I mean, somebody that and I learned that, uh, well, I learned that I'm a happy or a person that I thought. And, and really COVID was when I really learned that because because we were all like trapped in our choices. Yes. And I remember one point, it's been in the house like, this is not that bad. Like, I like these people who everyone's comfortable with safe and and I could walk around town and we all, we're going through COVID together and I recognize

everybody. And, and then all those choices that made like moving to a lot of stuff that people laughed at me about, now I felt vindicated about each and every one of them because, 'cause the world shut down and, and just full-mitted them, I'm absolutely right. And I felt great. Do your kids find your humor? Engage, uh, do they think you're funny? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, they'd be not around a house,

but like, like, uh, I remember when they were kids, we taught my time on big ones earlier,

and that was the first time I was, they were in the back seat, like cracking and laughing,

watching some of my iPads, but you're all laughing at it. And it was the time on big ones,

“and I, and I, and I was thinking, my mind, I told you that poop was funny. It was spam, didn't it?”

Renee. Renee, told you that joke would work. Yeah, I don't know. It, it, it is I'm going to have in kids, and, you know, I see time on them, you know, as they grow and become, and it, it is just like, it's so precious. Isn't it fun watching them become people? Yeah, it is. You're very eyes. And scary. Yeah. Oh my God. The most terrifying thing.

So I tell people, it makes sense not to have kids. Absolutely emotional sense. Don't do it. Yeah, that's right. And you know, it's funny. I think now with AI and all these things, I don't know what you would tell a kid about how to prepare for the next 10 years. Like, what kind of jobs there will be or how those jobs will be done, what does the lawyer do in the AI, or any of us? And I think, I don't know, it's, it's interesting. But I'm amazed at how

sophisticated the kids minds are, that they can sift through an avalanche of information.

yeah, and we saw a week. I think you know, I'm getting that a lot. I am so foolish. I believe all this stuff is the same. But it's also a reminder of why we have to train them up and move out of the way. I mean, it's the organic parenting piece of it. We've got a trust that they have to find the courage now to figure it out. It's not our courage anymore. We can't supplant our courage for theirs. And these times are going to be, that's going to play itself out. I mean,

we're moving into something that we don't understand. We don't know AI, we're not. We can't figure it out. And then it may seem scary now, but we have to have faith that they will figure this out and be able to tap into the values that we've instilled in them in communities like this that

“they'll remember humility and boundaries and love and trust and all of that. That compassion”

has to go into whatever the solution is. That's right. You know, in the last, you know,

a big part of their lifetime, my kid's been my, my daughter's entire lifetime. I was trying to explain to somebody, you know, my daughter's 16, so Donald Trump was like, the first white president she's ever seen. I know, right? Yeah. I know, right? Yeah. And my baby's like, oh, no, they're not good at it, baby. It's a hard job. It's hard job. I'm trying to tell the people. It's a hard job. It looks hard from the outside. But to that end, just so I make sure I say this, you, your family was so incredibly

graceful. This is the long way ago, but you know what remind me of seeing you guys is that black dude on that Artemis ship? Uh-huh. You remind me of that, you, you, you experience something, you're like, uh, in a, in a social space program. And, and, and it's so sequested and, and you see

all these amazing things and come back and you share all that information, but yeah, if you had

to go through, to get in that spacecraft and apply it through all of that, you know, as, as, as I go on in public life and see more, I have a greater appreciation of what I saw during the

“presidency, and, and you use the word I always think of it. You in particular, uh, I believe”

did more to humanize what a presidency is than maybe anybody ever, that, that you're the first person that I feel like I, I could know that's been in that space and, you know, survived it and came out as gracefully as you went in. So I really, really, really appreciate you, and your family and your friends. Well, I wanted to ask. Go ahead, you, you ask them and I'll go. What, what do you think, how do you feel about where we are now in society? You know, just some

Dave Chappelle thoughts about. And while you're thinking, please know that your voice means a lot to a lot of people, our age and younger, because, you know, I've got four kids and they range from 34 now down to 14. He's the head of the ODC, the old dads. I'm, I'm the head of the, actually, I am, I am the vice chair. So there's one guy who is above me, but your voice carries a lot of weight.

“I personally could hear it every night. Oh, man, thank you, bro. Like, you know, it's funny. I think,”

you know, last, last week, I was in LA and I, I performed at a nightclub on Venture Boulevard.

I'd never been to this for me, it's a big treat. If I get the test drive, if I could

move any, and I love to club things called, what's it called? Big Katie's, I think it's called. So shout out to Katie, this, this, this, great, great room. But, but I bring it up because,

mad and with with people are. And you hear right, people snap at my voice important, but now it's

like somewhere the crowd is coming almost like church. They're not coming to hear me say anything

“important, but they're coming to lay down a burden, so to speak. And so a show like that”

was was incredibly fun to do. But what it tells me about with people, I remember this is in North Hollywood, so everyone's doing pretty good out there, is that these times are uncertain, that there's an emotional content or pain, or some people come to counteract a numbness,

they just want to laugh so they can feel something. But it's never really been quite

like this before, where everyone feels like one, the precipice of some amazing change. And every day, the new cycle and it's more pulling than the last day, and it seems like it's ever

“going to end. And every week, I learned some new word, like straight of hard moves or bubblebub.”

And it's such an avalanche that it is fun, even for me now, to watch comedians contextualize this stuff. Someone asked me about my transgender, and I said, you know, you got a lot of trouble for those transgender jokes, and I go, I have the good old days. There's so much, so much has happened so quickly. But okay, I'm hopeful. As a matter of practice, this building opening up and being

completed makes me hopeful. Having my own comedy club finally after all these years, that makes

me hopeful. You guys being here with us, like a dream come true. It makes me hopeful. My community coming together in tough times, or, you know, our family, we have tremendous losses recently, people in our family passed away. And the community, you know, picked us up. That made me hopeful. The little things mean so much more now. And I would want to remind anybody that's listening

“to this show, man. Man, that smile that you must have when it hurts to smile, this is priceless,”

right now. Anything you can do to let each other know you're safe with it, that you're okay. It means everything right now, because otherwise, this is intolerable. It's insufferable. What's happening right now? Thank you. Thank you. But, you know, I'm hopeful too. And this this day, with you, with this community here in this space, gives me a whole lot of hope. You know, I mean, as my husband says, we have overcome worse. But we overcome it by pulling together and

not feeding on each other. That's just the thing that we have to remember. We have to remind our young people, because this internet kind of conversation we're playing in that space a little bit too much. And I don't want young folks to get comfortable with that, that dising mentality. What do you say? Just everything's a disc. Everything's a disc. Yeah, you just play in that space. And you mistake those for real feelings and truth. And this is what's real. You know, what you feel

in the room when you're with people, you know, you were showing us the videos of the Duke Joint gatherings and the, you know, the cornfield, you know, people of all races and ages and with different cultural proclivities, all dancing to the same beat and smiling and moving together. It's like, that's the power of gathering. You know, the power of gathering is that we were a reminder of our similarities and we forget the minor little stupid differences that is tearing this country and this

world apart. And I want more young people to fight for the gathering, you know, fight for coming all from your phone, finding the unity, being reminded of who we are as people and do not

that's, that's, that's, you know, but that's in our control, you know, that's something we built.

I could text messages argue with an AI box all day. Like, and by and by and by, I thought it was a person, I was fuss with thing all day. It feels, it does feel good to be outside. You know, my son told me, it's a trend with him and his friends, like, they ditched their phones just so they can be outside. My daughter got a CD player for her birthday and went through the roof because she couldn't believe it, she could hold the music in her hands. The kids are nostalgic for something that they haven't

“really lived through or seen. And I think, you know, the old geez got a little, no, what an animal,”

how good and a long life feels. Yeah. And I do think that that pension will swing back,

at least in the culture somehow, as an elective. But yeah, the technology that I'm going to invite. And I think the point that you, the decisions that you made to live in a way that allowed you to be courageous, you know, another way of saying is that is to, you know, start out living small, you know, if we're a culture where everybody is promoting, you start our big, you know, even watching HGTV, everybody wants to big trade ceilings, they want the, they want the man

K, they want everything now. So I get your starter home. You know, why does everybody think they

“deserve a grand account of top, you know? We just, we lost the script. It's like, you know,”

we grew up in a, one and a half bedroom apartment over our aunt's house. My father got a new car occasionally. You know, we, we got three gifts at Christmas, you know, our, our parents didn't believe in stuff. And now everybody's promoting the bling to this to that and look, there is nothing wrong with making a good living with, you know, living well. But I try to tell my kids, learn to live small, because that's, you know, you're happier if you can, you live within a thing you can

control, you know, you're not reaching for something that's not even that important, that is not the thing that's going to make you happy. You asked what was it like living in the White House, you know, it was a house. Because that's all a house is what made it a home was what we brought to it. You know, I love the people we brought in it. How we opened it up, how we shared it with other people,

how we made sure that we got every black entertainer that would never get invited back in there,

“how we brought in Duke Ellington school, how we touched young people. That's what made that house”

a home. It wasn't the size of it, the color of it. And that's, you know, what I want, you know, people to understand in this pursuit of fame and fortune, it's a lie. You know, it is, you know, we've lived it. That is not the thing that is going to bring you joy. That's right. Yep. To that end, I once got to go to one of your parties there. Yeah. And it was your birthday. Yeah. We would tell them about it. Yep. And one of the things that, okay, you know, obviously,

I love smoking cigarettes. It's my mother. Obviously. I asked somebody, I go, "Where can I smoke a cigarette around here?" And one of the buttlers took me down by the kitchen. And I saw your dog bow, like getting walking like, "Oh, there's that dog. That's the dog on TV." And I'm like, "Can I get his autograph?" He's like, "Be bites." And the dog went by, and the kitchen was like a jukebox kitchen that I'm like, "Man, it's the kitchen of the

house." And I said, "Why's the one with that cooking in it?" And I looked, fried chicken. I said, "Man, it does go like this." There was some greens, some fried chicken going, I said, "Man, I'm a bacon." And one of those stuff was Filipino, I'm like, "Man, this is just like home." He used to call those white house parties. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was so good though, man, and that particular night was one of the last, actually, that weekend was the last time I'd ever seen

parental life. And he was playing, and he was a surprise guest, I didn't know he was there, and he came out. And as soon as he saw me standing out there, he was like, "I should have done that

But one of the, I forgot to tell you, is one of the greatest highlights of my life is I'm standing, I'm like, "Man, I can't believe it." And I'm shy, I was just standing in the corner, and I feel this hand on my show, and I look over and it was you, and you have a good time, and I was like, "I'm working." Oh, man. Well, Dave, talk about joy, man. You and this community have brought us a lot of joy, so thank you so much for inviting us. I do have one more question.

I know. This is what she does to me. One more question. I know, but we talked about this. It's like, you know, we're on this, you know, you have invested so much in supporting this community, you know, and we're in the process of opening up our Presidential Center in June on June 5th, by the way.

“So, I know, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what is legacy, what does it mean?”

I don't know. How do you think about legacy, and you're legacy in particular?

Well, okay, first of all, that's not Apple's apples. But, but the goal is the same. I mean,

we're opening up this center on the South Side of Chicago for a reason, because it is our community. It is our place in the same way we're making that investment, you know, so I think maybe it's red apples to green apples. I think, recently, because I'm getting older and I lost friends, like, you know, the worst part of getting older is you start, you get those phone calls more often. And, uh, I don't think he would mind me saying this, but with last week when I was in LA,

“I hit up Eddie Murphy out of the blue. It's not something I do often, but when I do it,”

it's almost just because I feel like, "Could I just call Eddie Murphy?" And it turns out I could. And, and I said, "You might have just stopped by, I wanted to just talk to you for a little while." And he was like, "Sure." And I went by and I didn't realize it was his birthday, or the day before it had been his birthday. You know, Eddie's a beautiful house, obviously. He's a family guy, so it was, you know, we're sitting on his back patio. And the music in the

background is his grandkids, the joyfully playing in his pool. And he was wistful. And we're talking.

And I realized that it's the first time since his brother passed, do he and I had just spoke about

Charlie, or things like that. And this is the legacy part, and I said, "Can he still rest when I walk into the rest room?" You know, I saw a picture, you know, Eddie, the homeless marketing prize, with your husband, and it was probably featuring his home. And then, I'm like, "Man, I was aware that it's a t-shirt, I'm thinking of myself." And then, it's going to sound weird, but it don't want me, like, "I am Dave Chappelle hanging out with Eddie Murphy on his birthday."

It's just two of us. And that's important. Another time, I chased Bob Dylan down for a meeting. And when he got there, he don't know me at all, but I guess someone told me,

“"You should meet with Scott." And he said, "Yeah, so he goes, "Yeah, man, what are we talking about?"”

Anyway, he was like, "He's like, "He's like a real thing, I know vision. I just kept asking him questions." And it took him a while to realize, "Oh, man, you just said you want to know him, that stuff?" And I'm like, "What about the 60s?" He was like, "Man, I want to talk about the 60s, man," he'd say. But by the end of it, you know, Bob Dylan was explaining Dave Chappelle,

what, and he Bruce was like. And so when I think about legacy, it's always in these moments

where I meet the first black, first lady of the United States and her brother. And you know, it's simple as these meetings are. They're important. They happen. Credit Scott King with the college here. And then she went off in Mary Martin Luther King. And a few years after she graduated from any young, her husband came back with the, and they did the commencement dress at any college. And at the time it was just another day in the old springs. But now,

So I think the buildings encapsulate the message of what our lives have been, that you,

“you know, I've got to spend all day with Mr. Robinson and Miss Obama. And I feel like I've known”

you for years. I feel like when you speak your mother, I can just see her vividly, and it makes me want to smoke. But it's simple as that all is what you've accomplished with your life. And

how you've gone about it is, is you know, very well will live far beyond our bodies.

And so for me, more than money or anything, I, I hoard memories. Today is like a memory, like I'll close my eyes and I'll treasure the day for the rest of my life, even if we became the best friends of this time with such a special time to be together. So, you know, I also look at it

“like when I meet people, I try now. And you cannot be like this, but I try to remember that”

by myself, because I've made fun of a comedian once, who's younger than me. It's just bus and balls. But he got really hurt and he did all this press about how the band I was. And I was mad at first and then I called him up like, "Why are you selling those things about me?" He said,

"Well, you forgot that you said this and the other one." And then he said, "Oh, I've never

“occurred to me that this person might look up to me." That's just another person I'd see at the”

comedy club. So now I'm more mindful in that regard. So, I mean, you know, one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, I look back only at the places where the treasure is buried. Well, I look back at all the shadows and the scary faces. And I just try to get this, you know, I'm just hoping that my legacy is something like that applause break which a pride got in the work. Well, you're well on your way. But sure. Thank you. Thank you.

Man, what an honor. Thank you. It's been a special visit for us, really. It really has. You all should be proud of the community you built. All of you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, man. Thank you. Yes, I have to officially close it out now. So, we really appreciate it, man. And it's been, it's been a wonderful couple of days. And thank you all for being so welcoming and to me and my sister

and our colleagues. It's been absolutely wonderful. Man, Craig. Don't be freaked out because I know you don't know what I will, but you'll see in time. I love you, Craig. I love you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. I love you, Craig.