Did Too Much Success Drive Comedian David Chappelle Crazy?

Chappelle – when he was poor and funny: Come on guys, show me the money!

Many of us have probably made joking references to the notion that too much success can drive a person crazy. But now the joke’s actually on funnyman David Chappelle. Because even his Hollywood “friends” are snickering with schadenfreude over reports that Chappelle was committed to an insane asylum in South Africa yesterday!

Just last year his fellow comics were scratching their heads over the blockbuster contract Chappelle signed with the Comedy Central Cable Network to extend his critically acclaimed variety show for a few more seasons. And, he seemed to have earned it. After all, the critics loved him and the popularity of his show brought unprecedented levels of profit to the network’s bottom line.

Nevertheless, people were no loner talking about Chappelle comedic genius. Instead, he was being feted in the press as the jokester who pulled a fast one on Comedy Central (…if they only knew). Moreover, Chappelle himself was leading the chorus of his cynical praises. In fact, he seemed eager to tell anyone who would listen how suddenly rich he was and how, because he was so damn good, the network would’ve paid a few million dollars more as “slave reparations” just to keep him in their line up.

But that was then…

Chappelle – now rich and paranoid: Hey, goddamnit! I was performing fine before yall gave me $50 million in crack money. Now I done smoked all the funny brains outta my head. Shit man…yall might as well come arrest me cause I can’t even buy a joke.

It now seems that even before the ink was dry on his contract, Chappelle began losing his wits and comedic timing. After all, when Charlie Rose profiled him on the news program 60 Minutes (soon after his contract extension), Chappelle came across more like a street thug who’d just won the lottery than the heir apparent to the king of comedy, Richard Pryor – as billed. And, things only got worse….

Pretty soon all public references to the nouveau riche Chappelle degenerated from jokes about his contract to jibes about his failing, repeatedly, to show up for work. And, the stereotypical lines his colleagues worked into their acts to explain this turn of events were vintage Chappelle:

Just like a nigger: here he was working his ass off for years for nothin, now he got that big damn contract and he don’t wanna work no mo’…ain’t that a bitch!

Indeed!

After Chappelle’s absence over the past few months forced a series of halts in the production of his show, Comedy Central finally announced last week that the show would be delayed indefinitely – but gave no reason why. Some people speculated that the money shocked Chappelle into a profound bout of writer’s block and that he was too embarrassed to admit it. Others claimed that more money simply meant more drugs for Chappelle and that he and his crack buddies were strung out somewhere doing their best to smoke and snort away his millions. (But perhaps Chappelle just got stuck in character after one too many performances of his dead ringer impression of dope fiend “I’m Rick James, bitch”.)

Whatever the case, it’s no laughing matter when instead of showing up for work in Los Angeles, the truant Chappelle shows up at an insane asylum in South Africa (or is that the Looney bin, or funny farm?).

One hears about self-conscious men suffering performance anxiety, but this must rank as the most extreme and costly failure to perform….

News and Politics