While a certified comedy legend now, Dave Chappelle was by no means an overnight success. Chappelle put in quite a few years in the Hollywood trenches prior to the launch of Chappelle’s Show on Comedy Central, appearing in more than one failed TV pilot and poorly-received film along the way. The 2003 debut of Chappelle’s Show season 1 changed everything for the comedian, though, almost instantly rocketing him from notable stand-up to A-list comedic icon, and creating amazingly original characters like Clayton Bigsby, a blind white supremacist that is completely unaware of the fact that he himself is actually a black man.
Chappelle’s Show season 2 cemented Chappelle as a force in comedy, gifting the world with hilarious sketches like Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories – which featured Chappelle’s beloved impressions of Rick James and Prince – A Moment in the Life of Lil’ Jon, and The Racial Draft. Chappelle was on top of the world, but right at his peak, he shocked everyone by turning down a $50 million offer from Comedy Central to make more Chappelle’s Show, and promptly retreated from the glare of the spotlight.
In the years since that fateful decision, Chappelle has mostly stayed away from TV, choosing instead to spend his time doing scattered stand-up shows. That was until his recent debut outing as host of Saturday Night Live, which marked the series’ highest rated episode in several years, and served to effectively reintroduce Chappelle’s comedic genius to audiences. Chappelle subsequently inked a big money deal for three new stand-up specials for Netflix, and The Wrap reports that two of those specials have now been granted a premiere date of March 21. A short teaser trailer for the specials can also be seen above.
As reported back when the deal between Chappelle and Netflix was made official, only one of the three specials will be an original production made especially for the service. The other two come courtesy of Chappelle’s personal vault, and will thus still be new to anyone who wasn’t there live when they were taped. These two archival specials will hit Netflix on March 21, with the original special still yet to be dated. The three specials mark Chappelle’s first concert-style stand-up specials since 2004’s For What It’s Worth.
The first of the archival specials – entitled Deep in the Heart of Texas – was recorded in April 2015, during Austin City Limits Live at Austin’s Moody Theater. The second – entitled The Age of Spin – was recorded in March 2016 at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Both specials were directed by Stan Lathan, who also helmed prior Chappelle specials For What It’s Worth and Killin’ Them Softly.
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Dave Chappelle’s first two Netflix stand-up specials premiere March 21.
Source: The Wrap
