Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelleis an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, producer, and actor. After beginning his film career in 1993 as Ahchoo in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, he landed supporting roles in box office hits including The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His first lead role was in the 1998 comedy film Half Baked, which he co-wrote with Neal Brennan...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth24 August 1973
CountryUnited States of America
Whether it means having a show, or a movie, or just being on a stage, I need an avenue to say what I have to say.
Something about New York, man: You can do more comedy there probably than you can anywhere in the world. If you're interested in being funny, New York is the place to go.
Most of the people around me have a vested interest in how much money I make. You know, so a celebrity could find themselves in a position where people could have meetings about their life without them involved. And when I say 'their life' I mean not their professional life either. They could talk about their personal life.
The way the people around you position themselves around you to get in your pockets and in your mind is infuriating to me.
I got a lot of positive people around me.
I would go to work on the show and I felt awful every day, that's not the way it was. ... I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. If I feel so bad, why keep on showing up to this place? I'm going to Africa. The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.
Constantly take inventory of what's important to you.
There's a lot of people who don't want anything from me but to laugh and have a good time. You see them at the show and they like - they dress up to come see your show and stuff. And they pack these auditoriums and it's a lot of fun, man. It's like, this is how I started, and it's still fun for me.
I want to tell my jokes. I want to have time with my children. I want to entertain people. And at one point, I'll walk away from show business. But I don't want to walk away empty-handed.
There's something about doing stand-up that's cathartic.
I want be a guest-star on as many television shows as I possibly can. I love television. The fact that television ultimately made me famous was very gratifying for me.
If someone sits and stares at you while you eat, you won't even eat the way you normally do, because it'll make you so uncomfortable. If I look at my dog when he's eating, he will look at me like, "Dave, I will bite you. What are you looking at? I'm trying to eat." It's something that dehumanizes a person, being on display like that.
My kids look actually happy. And I learned early on that perfectionism and parenthood is a toxic combination for everybody involved. In other words, so many things can flourish naturally. All you gotta do is make sure the soil's right. I view myself more like a guide than a ruler.
My own life is accessible to people still. I could see a guy walking down the street and, even though I'm famous, I got more in common with this guy than, like, Brad Pitt.