He's Dave Chappelle, bitch!

If you have not yet had the chance to check out "Chappelle's Show" on Comedy Central, hop to it, bitches. Dave Chappelle's brilliantly offensive style of comedy reaches heights which few comedians dare to climb, touching on issues of race and poking fun at every ethnic group … even Rick James. The show is worth watching if only to see how far Comedy Central pushes the limits of what's acceptable for cable television, and no one does this better than Chappelle.\nA stand-up comedian from Washington D.C., Chappelle started acting early in his career and played supporting roles in films such as "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "Con Air," "Half Baked" (also co-wrote) and "You've Got Mail," oddly enough. After a long stint acting and touring his stand-up comedy around the country, Dave Chappelle decided it was time for a move to television. \nWith the success of 1998's "Half Baked," the Fox network offered Chappelle a sitcom deal. Initially he showed some interest, however, when the producers recommended he add white people to the cast to draw a larger audience, Chappelle immediately walked away. Following the Fox fiasco, he was determined to stay away from network television feeling it compromised his blatant style of comedy. In an interview with the Boston University Daily Free Press, Chappelle said, "A lot of networks would be like, we'll do a show around you, but they try to change the essence (of my comedy). They'll take Dave Chappelle and throw him in Urkel suspenders. Comedy Central was like, just go on in, do your thing." \nComedy Central not only gave Chappelle his own show, but they gave him the comedic freedom he so desired. In his first episode, Chappelle showed what his comedy was all about when he made a huge mockery of racism. He played a blind KKK grand wizard who was never told he was black, therefore, he goes on leading Klan rallies. In another episode, he put his own spin on MTV's "The Real World." He talked about how there is always a cast full of crazy white people and one black dude who stirs things up. In his version, the cast was all black except for one dorky white guy who had a tough time adjusting to housemates who steal his girlfriend on a nightly basis. \nIn one particular sketch, Chappelle played a milkman from the '50s who delivered bottles to a lame white family named the Niggars. "What's up, my Niggars," he said as he entered their house. "Look at the child, he's got those Niggar lips." \nAnother segment on "Chappelle's Show" is "Ask a Black Dude" where white people can ask comedian Paul Mooney questions about being black (in season two, Mooney evolved into "Negrodamus"). The show usually ends with a performance by artists ranging from Ludacris to John Mayer with Quest Love and Chappelle himself singing. \n"Chappelle's Show" is one of the best things to happen to television. He has already changed the boundaries of acceptable language on cable, and he is openly able to make fun of one of the most serious issues in society today: racism. You cannot help but laugh when Chappelle covers his face with makeup and does his impression of a white guy: "Quiet people. There's a white man speaking. Silencio."\nJust to make sure he hit all the races equally "Chappelle's Show" held the racial draft. Tiger Woods was the first pick taken by the blacks. Doing his nerdy Tiger impression, Chappelle said, "I've always wanted to say something. Foshizzle." The Jews then drafted Lenny Kravitz and the white people drafted Colin Powell, who oddly enough is not white at all. The Asians had the last pick and took none other than the Wu Tang Clan. \nAfter his first season, Chappelle had the second highest rated show on Comedy Central after "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Over two million viewers tune into his show on a weekly basis. Clearly people, or at least his fans, are getting the message. In an interview with The Signal, Chappelle addressed the issue of stereotypes and his jokes about them. "I'm bigger than any stereotype just by merit of what I do. That should shatter [the stereotype]."\nIf you have an open mind and a sense of humor then you probably already watch "Chappelle's Show." If you don't already watch, give it a chance and laugh at yourself for being black, white, Asian, Jewish, Italian, Indian, German … and laugh especially hard if you're French. If we can't sit back and laugh at ourselves every once and a while then we become the butt of Dave Chappelle's jokes, and rightfully so. \nAnd with that, konnichiwa bitches.