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[Dave Chappelle] This... is... surreal.
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[cheering and applause]
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In 1987...
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1987, I moved back...
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from Ohio to D.C.
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And-- and-- and enrolled
in Eastern High School,
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-and did...
-[audience member] Whoo!
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You must not have went there
when I went there, champ.
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Those were tough times
is the way I remember it.
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[chuckles]
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[groans]
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When I had gone, I-- I had
lived with my father for three years.
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I went to middle school in Ohio,
and when I'd gotten back to Washington,
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the crack epidemic was in full swing,
and the city was
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largely unrecognizable to me.
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Now I was an older kid, and-- and--
and kids my age were doing a lot of
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wild things that I-- I didn't know
that kids would do.
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I-- I'd never seen a kid
with a pager before,
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I didn't know anything about
selling drugs, any of that shit.
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All I knew, every day when I went
to Eastern, I didn't feel safe.
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[groans]
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I'm a quiet guy, naturally.
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I'm a shy person, naturally.
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And I used to get my
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hair cut on a barbershop
on 15th Street Northeast.
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And I would go there, and, uh...
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and everyone in the barbershop
would just snap on each other.
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And I'd sit in the corner,
and I-- and I'd watch everybody,
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and just listen to all these jokes.
The guys were funny as shit,
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but-- but one day,
after a few weeks of goin' there
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and gettin' my hair cut,
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they-- they-- they turned the jokes on me.
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I call that day The Barbershop Massacre.
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I lit everybody in that barbershop up,
I had been sittin' in there
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listening to 'em for weeks
talk about each other,
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I knew every inside joke about each
and every one of 'em,
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and they couldn't believe
I knew this stuff.
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I lit their asses up.
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From then on in the neighborhood,
people kind of liked me, like, "Okay...
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he's pretty funny."
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Time magazine released an article
about Bill Cosby.
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The headline said,
"Fifty, Funny, and Filthy Rich,"
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and I read that article and it was
when I was looking at his face,
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before all that disgrace,
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that I looked and I said,
"I could do that."
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I told my father and my father said,
"Well, then just do it."
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I said, "Well, I wouldn't even know
where to start," and he said,
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"Well, look in the phone book."
It's before the internet, if you're young.
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We used to have a book
with phone numbers in it.
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My father found for me the local
comedy club in Washington, D.C.
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I called 'em...
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I found out when Open Mic night was,
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and I started to go there
on Tuesday nights... and just watch.
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And then one night I went on a weekend.
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I would-- I would get my money together
and I would go to this comedy club
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and I would just watch these comedians,
and sometimes...
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sometimes they would talk to me.
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And I told one of the comedians
after the show one night, I said,
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"Man, I really wanna try to do this."
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And-- and he said, "Well..." He said...
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He said, "If you wanna be a good comedian,
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you should know how to act."
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I said, "Why?" And he says, you know...
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He didn't explain it.
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I said, "Okay," and I told my parents,
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and-- and this is how I came to find out
about Duke Ellington. My mother,
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she said, "There's a place you can go
where you can learn to act
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right in Washington. It's a-- It's a high
school." I said, "You mean I would...
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get out of Eastern?"
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The school year was already in full swing
and Ellington has a policy that
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they don't let people just come
in the middle of the year,
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but Lynda Gravatt was the head
of the theater department at the time.
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Very graciously took a meeting
with me and my mother, and...
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I get emotional thinking about it.
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Anybody that went here?
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[crowd cheers]
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Remember what it was first like?
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-[audience members] Yes! Yes!
-When you first walked through the door?
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It was in the afternoon, and everyone
was in their arts classes,
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and the girls had tutus on,
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and everyone was weird, and walking around
the hallway, like, you weren't sure
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where anyone was supposed to be,
and you could hear people
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practicing their horns and shit
all through the hallways.
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There was art bouncing off the walls,
the minute I walked through the door,
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there was a gallery of--
of all these children's work
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and these pictures were amazing.
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My first thought...
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when I walked through that door:
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"I'm not good enough to be here.
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I'm sure."
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And Miss Gravatt sat me down,
she told me about the school,
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and you remember Miss Gravatt?
She was very businesslike.
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But also very warm.
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She was intimidating,
but palpably kind.
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She was a paradox
of a human being.
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She gave me a date
for an audition.
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My mother said, "Okay, Dave,
it's on you." Now...
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Those of you who know me...
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know that I didn't prepare
for that audition.
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That audition was like a-- a possession,
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it was just something
that I was proud to have.
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But as the days got closer, I'm like,
"Oh, my God, I gotta get--
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I gotta get something together." I didn't
even know how to do an audition,
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And I had never done it before, so I went
and I said-- I said, "What do I need?"
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They said, "A monologue," I...
So I looked up "monologue."
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And I went to the library,
the MLK Library, this huge library,
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so I gotta find something,
and I found a piece
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in one of those yellow script books,
it was a monologue by Mark Twain
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called "The Judge's Spirited Woman."
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And I learned it in a night.
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You know, it was not hard
for me to memorize things.
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The next day, it was a Saturday, I think,
and I came to the school,
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and they auditioned in what used
to be this room-- the original...
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theater, Duke Ellington School
of the Arts.
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And all the department heads sat in here,
and the light's in your eyes,
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and there's a bunch of kids who already
go to the school, who come on Saturday,
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just to see...
who might be coming.
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And I talked to all these kids before
I went in, and these kids
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were nothing like the kids at Eastern.
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They were like them, but they were
different, they were weird,
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funny, and self-deprecating,
things like this.
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And I remember
I came out on stage...
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and I did my audition,
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and it was like...
like, terrible.
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I-- I froze up in the beginning,
I started, and then I said,
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"Wait a minute, I'm messing up,
I'm gonna start again." [sighs]
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And I was nervous, and I was scared,
and... and...
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in the middle of the audition,
I'm in the middle of the monologue,
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uh, one of the teachers, Fred Lee,
he said-- Fred Lee, he goes,
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"Okay, that's enough."
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I said, "Well, there's still a little
more," he goes, "No, no, no, no, no...
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That is enough," he said.
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And I-- I can't tell you,
like, I-- I was crushed.
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Uh... without saying his disapproval,
I knew it stunk.
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And I was right.
When I walked in here, I knew
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I wasn't good enough
to go to this school.
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And I thought to myself, "Ah, fuck
this school, that's stupid anyway."
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In first-year theater, there's a question
that they ask students from time to time.
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And it's a make-or-break question, and...
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And we ask this question,
you don't know.
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And the question is this:
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They say, "Why do you wanna act?"
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Now...
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if you say anything like,
"I wanna be a star,"
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you're not...
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You're not gonna get in.
I didn't know that.
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And I figured I already blew the audition,
so I told them the truth.
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He said, "Why do you wanna act?"
"I don't."
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That's what I said.
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00:10:06,814 --> 00:10:08,482
And they said, "Well then,
why are you here?"
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I said, "Because I wanna be a comedian and
some comedian told me that if I wanna be
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a good comedian,
I need to learn how to act."
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And the teachers look
at each other and go,
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"Thank you very much," and I left.
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And I was walking down the hallway
kicking rocks.
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It was a kid that already went here,
his name was Ako Handy.
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And Ako said, "Hey, man, I listened
to them talking about you."
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I said, "You did?" He said, "You're in."
I said, "What?" He said, "You're in."
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But it didn't make any sense.
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Somehow we worked it out so that
they gave me an early enrollment,
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and I left Eastern within weeks of that,
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and I came to Duke Ellington and it was
better than I could have ever imagined.
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I didn't have the suspicion
that most new kids get.
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00:11:08,334 --> 00:11:12,004
I was an oddity, a new toy, I was quirky,
I wasn't a snappy dresser,
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I didn't really know
what the fuck was going on, because
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the crack epidemic itself was new to me
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and they were all refugees
from their neighborhood schools.
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In the morning,
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we would have our academic classes,
and then in the afternoon,
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we would have our arts classes.
It was a long school day.
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We'd start at 8:30, we wouldn't leave
here 'til five, sometimes 5:30.
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Whenever they saw fit.
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It's funny walking in here tonight,
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'cause I saw the Pride flags up,
and I remember when I came here
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all those years ago, it's the first time I
ever met a kid who was just, like, gay.
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00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:08,978
-It was never strange to us.
-[woman in audience] That's right.
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00:12:09,061 --> 00:12:11,480
Their sexuality or their gender identity
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00:12:13,149 --> 00:12:15,317
was the least remarkable thing about
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00:12:15,401 --> 00:12:18,696
a person that could dance as well
as Roger Bellamy, or...
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00:12:23,659 --> 00:12:26,036
There was no distinction
between any of that.
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Everybody was weird
in their own way.
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And in a very strange way, because we
spent so much time with one another.
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We helped raise...
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00:12:37,882 --> 00:12:38,966
one another.
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00:12:39,258 --> 00:12:42,219
There's a camaraderie
between these students
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00:12:42,678 --> 00:12:44,680
that I don't know that I've seen since
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I left this school.
I can remember, and I won't say names,
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there was a student that went here
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that used to sell drugs.
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00:12:56,984 --> 00:13:00,029
It wasn't just a student,
but this particular guy...
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00:13:04,992 --> 00:13:08,204
This particular guy did the cardinal no-no
on the streets. He did what they call
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"not making your roll," which meant he
got some drugs on consignment
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00:13:11,957 --> 00:13:14,460
and he didn't pay whoever
gave him the drugs back.
194
00:13:14,543 --> 00:13:16,545
And whoever gave him those drugs
had declared,
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"I'm gonna come to that school,
and I'm gonna kill you," he said.
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00:13:21,300 --> 00:13:23,010
And my man was scared,
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00:13:23,636 --> 00:13:25,346
and word got around,
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00:13:25,846 --> 00:13:27,014
around school,
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00:13:27,473 --> 00:13:29,016
that the goons was coming.
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00:13:30,809 --> 00:13:36,565
And by the time the goons showed up,
every dude that went to this school:
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00:13:36,649 --> 00:13:38,317
gay, straight, whatever the fuck,
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00:13:38,692 --> 00:13:42,947
was all standing out front, they say,
"You'll have to kill all of us."
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00:13:44,281 --> 00:13:46,033
And who was in front of all of 'em?
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00:13:46,825 --> 00:13:49,578
Roger Bellamy with some
leg warmers on like this.
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00:14:14,061 --> 00:14:17,856
I started making friends that are still
my friends to this very day.
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00:14:17,940 --> 00:14:19,441
Life-long friends.
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00:14:23,279 --> 00:14:27,241
As I get older, I appreciate my teachers
more and more.
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00:14:27,324 --> 00:14:30,661
But to tell you the truth,
I appreciated them then.
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00:14:32,496 --> 00:14:36,333
Teacher salaries, you know,
not necessarily what it should be.
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00:14:38,127 --> 00:14:39,837
And when I think about that,
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00:14:41,380 --> 00:14:43,632
juxtaposed to the dedication
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00:14:44,091 --> 00:14:47,219
that the teachers, the time they would
spend with me, the way they would notice,
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00:14:47,303 --> 00:14:50,139
"Are you okay? Is everything all right?
You look sad today."
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00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:52,725
Any little thing,
like a family member would.
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00:14:53,642 --> 00:14:57,855
And they fostered an environment
of almost absolute trust,
216
00:14:58,480 --> 00:14:59,982
like your parents.
217
00:15:01,317 --> 00:15:05,321
There's two lectures that I got at school
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00:15:06,488 --> 00:15:08,741
that changed the way I do comedy.
219
00:15:09,158 --> 00:15:12,244
That like...
turned the light switch on.
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00:15:12,328 --> 00:15:13,787
It was two teachers:
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00:15:15,539 --> 00:15:16,665
Donal Leace.
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00:15:20,711 --> 00:15:22,922
Donal Leace, may he rest in peace.
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00:15:23,839 --> 00:15:27,718
Maybe one of the single best educators
that I've ever met in my life.
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00:15:29,803 --> 00:15:35,100
He had a demeanor about himself that
demanded excellence from his students.
225
00:15:35,184 --> 00:15:39,438
He would tell us incredible stories
that I didn't believe. He claimed...
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00:15:39,521 --> 00:15:43,651
in one class, the song "Killing
Him Softly" was about him.
227
00:15:45,527 --> 00:15:47,988
I was like, "Nah, nigga, not you."
228
00:15:50,366 --> 00:15:54,411
He told me he knew Donny Hathaway
and Roberta Flack and all these people.
229
00:15:54,495 --> 00:15:56,080
These D.C. legends.
230
00:15:56,497 --> 00:15:59,291
He's a humble man, but he really
demanded excellence.
231
00:16:01,210 --> 00:16:05,714
And he gave us a lecture once
on a concept called polarization.
232
00:16:06,799 --> 00:16:09,093
Polarization meaning the--
the idea that
233
00:16:09,176 --> 00:16:13,347
if you can make everybody
look at the same thing
234
00:16:13,722 --> 00:16:18,268
at the same time, that their
rational mind will decrease,
235
00:16:18,352 --> 00:16:21,188
and their emotional response
will increase.
236
00:16:21,271 --> 00:16:24,775
He said, "That's how audiences work,
that's how mobs work,
237
00:16:24,858 --> 00:16:29,113
that's how you make a person lose
themself in the crowd."
238
00:16:30,489 --> 00:16:31,615
I got it.
239
00:16:32,157 --> 00:16:34,618
As he was saying this, he would hold
a stapler in his hand,
240
00:16:34,702 --> 00:16:36,912
it was a good lecture. He said,
"Everyone focus on the stapler,"
241
00:16:36,996 --> 00:16:38,664
and he would explain to us
what polarization is
242
00:16:38,747 --> 00:16:40,040
as we're all looking at this stapler,
243
00:16:40,124 --> 00:16:42,876
and then he'd scream, "Hah!"
And everyone would jump, "Oh!"
244
00:16:44,336 --> 00:16:47,089
He said, "What're you scared of?"
"Oh, shit, that works."
245
00:16:50,718 --> 00:16:53,512
And ever since he did that lecture,
I listened in his class intently.
246
00:16:53,595 --> 00:16:56,390
He was one of the only guys that I would
always get straight As from
247
00:16:56,473 --> 00:17:02,521
because I worked very hard, not to get his
approval, but to avoid his disapproval.
248
00:17:04,273 --> 00:17:05,607
When we were coming up,
249
00:17:06,692 --> 00:17:09,695
they had a thing called juries.
I don't know, do they still do juries?
250
00:17:11,739 --> 00:17:15,075
Juries is when all the department heads
give you a piece to work on,
251
00:17:15,159 --> 00:17:19,079
and they sit there, and they make you
perform the piece,
252
00:17:19,163 --> 00:17:22,416
and the criticism is brutal.
253
00:17:24,334 --> 00:17:25,627
And we were kids.
254
00:17:26,378 --> 00:17:30,883
We didn't understand that they were
preparing us for a hard world ahead
255
00:17:31,425 --> 00:17:35,345
if you wanted a profession in art.
They would tear us to shreds.
256
00:17:37,264 --> 00:17:38,682
Just the stress...
257
00:17:39,683 --> 00:17:42,895
The stress of a jury.
And man, I never practiced.
258
00:17:46,982 --> 00:17:48,317
'Cause I didn't wanna act.
259
00:17:50,694 --> 00:17:53,363
At an improv class, a teacher named
Geraldine Gillstrap told me
260
00:17:53,447 --> 00:17:56,533
that she should-- I should
stop doing funny pieces.
261
00:17:56,909 --> 00:17:59,369
That I should try to stretch
myself artistically.
262
00:17:59,703 --> 00:18:03,916
And maybe had more in me than comedy.
And at the time, I took offense to that.
263
00:18:04,792 --> 00:18:08,337
So because she said that,
after school that very night,
264
00:18:08,420 --> 00:18:12,007
I went to the comedy club,
and for the first time I signed the list,
265
00:18:12,091 --> 00:18:15,260
and I waited, and I got on,
and I killed it.
266
00:18:16,470 --> 00:18:17,304
Killed it.
267
00:18:21,475 --> 00:18:26,355
Must have been 35 years ago,
night after night, I killed it.
268
00:18:26,438 --> 00:18:29,316
I'd show up with the bag of tricks
that I learned at school,
269
00:18:29,399 --> 00:18:33,195
and I would dominate adults
on a regular basis.
270
00:18:36,782 --> 00:18:38,367
Couldn't wait to get out of D.C.
271
00:18:39,827 --> 00:18:41,912
When I was 17,
I moved to New York
272
00:18:42,412 --> 00:18:44,456
and lit that comedy scene up.
273
00:18:44,540 --> 00:18:47,709
I was obviously talented. You'll hear
stories about people saying
274
00:18:47,793 --> 00:18:51,630
that I discovered Dave Chappelle. That's
like saying you discovered sunshine.
275
00:18:53,298 --> 00:18:55,509
I was shining on everybody.
276
00:19:01,431 --> 00:19:06,186
And when I got in that professional world,
I was oddly prepared.
277
00:19:06,562 --> 00:19:09,940
I had a sense of professionalism,
I showed up on time,
278
00:19:10,023 --> 00:19:14,611
I did the things that I learned in school
to do. Just the basics.
279
00:19:14,945 --> 00:19:20,868
My... career didn't have any direction
'cause I was still so young.
280
00:19:22,953 --> 00:19:27,166
And that didn't change for many years.
It didn't change until, uh...
281
00:19:27,249 --> 00:19:30,169
my girlfriend at the time, now my wife,
told me she was pregnant,
282
00:19:30,252 --> 00:19:34,047
and I was like, "You know what? I should
really start taking this seriously."
283
00:19:38,719 --> 00:19:43,307
And when she told me that, before the baby
was born, I'd done my first HBO special,
284
00:19:43,390 --> 00:19:48,020
and then-- and then I went to work on
a sketch comedy show idea I had, and--
285
00:19:48,145 --> 00:19:51,231
and-- and The Chappelle Show came out
286
00:19:51,565 --> 00:19:55,235
when my son was still
maybe 18 months-year old.
287
00:19:58,530 --> 00:20:00,115
And I bet on myself.
288
00:20:01,450 --> 00:20:04,536
I took less money. I took less money,
I remember that,
289
00:20:04,620 --> 00:20:05,996
so I could do what I wanted to do.
290
00:20:06,079 --> 00:20:09,374
I said, "You don't have to pay me
that much, but you can't ever tell me...
291
00:20:09,708 --> 00:20:12,169
You can't ever tell me that I can't do
what I wanna do."
292
00:20:12,502 --> 00:20:16,590
And I did the first season,
I'll tell you, for $300,000.
293
00:20:17,257 --> 00:20:20,761
Which sounds like a lot of money,
but-- but-- but-- but-- but...
294
00:20:27,684 --> 00:20:30,520
It was a rare experience in my life,
because it was the first time
295
00:20:30,604 --> 00:20:32,564
that I did something
that was so successful
296
00:20:32,648 --> 00:20:34,816
that I knew I had exceeded
the expectations.
297
00:20:34,900 --> 00:20:38,403
I was more successful
than I felt like I was supposed to be.
298
00:20:38,487 --> 00:20:39,738
They didn't plan on that.
299
00:20:40,155 --> 00:20:41,490
The second season...
300
00:20:42,532 --> 00:20:46,078
came out, and it was a juggernaut,
and-- and-- and...
301
00:20:46,161 --> 00:20:49,539
and then, I remember this was
the single best day of my career,
302
00:20:49,623 --> 00:20:53,043
the Rick James episode of Chappelle Show
had come out...
303
00:20:58,674 --> 00:21:01,843
People were going crazy about
the Rick James episode at the same time
304
00:21:01,927 --> 00:21:06,431
the-- the DVD for Season 1 of ChappelleShow dropped. It was the first time any
305
00:21:06,515 --> 00:21:09,559
television show had ever
been sold off air.
306
00:21:09,643 --> 00:21:12,896
And it sold a million copies
in the first day. It was unheard of.
307
00:21:12,980 --> 00:21:16,858
To this day, nothing has sold more
than Chappelle Show.
308
00:21:16,942 --> 00:21:20,821
It's still on the Top Ten in Netflix.
309
00:21:22,406 --> 00:21:25,951
All those great things happened,
and my contract was up.
310
00:21:26,034 --> 00:21:29,997
Clearly...
Clearly, I was about to be rich.
311
00:21:35,961 --> 00:21:38,630
I'll spare you all the details
of why it didn't work out.
312
00:21:40,215 --> 00:21:41,508
But it didn't work out.
313
00:21:42,968 --> 00:21:46,638
And I ended up doing something that no one
had ever seen before, including myself.
314
00:21:46,722 --> 00:21:49,975
Maybe Prince is the only other guy
that I've seen do this,
315
00:21:50,058 --> 00:21:55,314
where you just quit something that was
popular when you're at the very top of it.
316
00:21:56,315 --> 00:21:58,608
Lucky for me, when I quit,
I went to Africa,
317
00:21:58,692 --> 00:22:01,194
so there was a media storm
that I didn't hear.
318
00:22:02,154 --> 00:22:05,449
By the time I got back, everyone
was just lookin' at me crazy.
319
00:22:08,243 --> 00:22:10,454
That was a very difficult
decision to make.
320
00:22:10,871 --> 00:22:14,708
The entire world told me I was crazy,
but I-- I was sure...
321
00:22:14,791 --> 00:22:21,715
I was sure I was being true to myself and
to something that I learned at Ellington.
322
00:22:28,430 --> 00:22:31,641
I'm one of those comedians
that thought of himself as an artist.
323
00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:35,103
I was enamored by what the genre could do.
324
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,982
It was like... the pictures
that I could paint with words, and
325
00:22:39,066 --> 00:22:42,027
the way I could engage with audiences.
I understood as it was happening,
326
00:22:42,110 --> 00:22:45,113
I was very lucky to be able to do this.
327
00:22:45,655 --> 00:22:46,907
And I protected that.
328
00:22:47,616 --> 00:22:49,242
And I knew that if I took the money,
329
00:22:49,326 --> 00:22:51,244
they would expect me
to behave differently,
330
00:22:51,745 --> 00:22:55,457
and I wasn't willing to accept that,
so I quit.
331
00:22:56,833 --> 00:23:00,253
And when I quit, it was a very difficult
time in my life,
332
00:23:00,337 --> 00:23:04,091
that I'll spare you the details, but man,
fuck show business. It was tough.
333
00:23:05,592 --> 00:23:08,470
And then one day I was
in Panama City, Panama,
334
00:23:09,221 --> 00:23:11,014
and I was in a hotel,
335
00:23:12,182 --> 00:23:16,436
and I looked at the lobby, there was
a-- a painting of Abraham Lincoln.
336
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:20,732
Was-- And then-- I would look closer,
it wasn't a painting, it was all pennies,
337
00:23:20,816 --> 00:23:26,071
just pennies on a black canvas,
arranged into the face of Abraham Lincoln.
338
00:23:26,154 --> 00:23:28,698
And I asked the guy, I said,
"How much is that painting worth?"
339
00:23:28,782 --> 00:23:30,826
He said, "$600,000, sir."
340
00:23:31,493 --> 00:23:33,787
And I looked at the pennies
that made up the painting,
341
00:23:33,870 --> 00:23:36,331
and I was like,
"That's like, $300 worth of pennies."
342
00:23:42,504 --> 00:23:44,339
Lightbulb went in my head.
343
00:23:44,798 --> 00:23:47,592
I realized the value of art.
344
00:23:48,260 --> 00:23:52,430
Some of the biggest wars and crimes
and scams in history
345
00:23:52,514 --> 00:23:54,599
were financed through the theft of art.
346
00:23:54,683 --> 00:23:58,603
Art is a powerful commodity.
347
00:23:58,895 --> 00:24:05,527
An artist, if you're good at it,
should never behave as a commodity.
348
00:24:06,194 --> 00:24:07,571
It's a tough one.
349
00:24:16,788 --> 00:24:18,165
And then I gave up.
350
00:24:19,332 --> 00:24:22,627
'Cause it-- I said, "Oh--
you know, this is probably it."
351
00:24:22,919 --> 00:24:27,007
I accepted the fact that the career
I thought I was gonna have was over, but,
352
00:24:27,340 --> 00:24:31,553
I started to rediscover just my art
for its own sake.
353
00:24:31,928 --> 00:24:35,307
I would go to comedy clubs and I'd work
for way less money than I ever had,
354
00:24:35,390 --> 00:24:38,351
and I enjoyed it more
than any of the work I ever did.
355
00:24:38,435 --> 00:24:41,730
It was probably the best work
I'll ever do.
356
00:24:41,813 --> 00:24:43,607
'Cause it was so honest.
357
00:24:44,232 --> 00:24:46,151
It was so sincere.
There was no media,
358
00:24:46,234 --> 00:24:48,737
there was no studio,
there was no scrutiny,
359
00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:53,116
just me and the crowds. And I did it
night after night, and slowly but surely
360
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,746
the crowds got bigger and bigger, and then
suddenly people started to notice.
361
00:24:57,829 --> 00:25:00,749
In post, I would say, "Dave Chappelle
has the tour of the year."
362
00:25:01,291 --> 00:25:06,171
And again, and then the year after that,
and then the year after that.
363
00:25:09,424 --> 00:25:10,675
And then,
364
00:25:11,885 --> 00:25:13,303
Lorne Michaels
365
00:25:14,679 --> 00:25:16,848
asked me to do Saturday Night Live.
366
00:25:17,515 --> 00:25:19,643
And it wasn't just like he asked me,
367
00:25:20,393 --> 00:25:23,104
he was courtin' me, I didn't even know it,
he gave me this whole long speech,
368
00:25:23,188 --> 00:25:26,441
and I was like, "All right." And then
I read some book about Lorne Michaels
369
00:25:26,524 --> 00:25:30,362
starting Saturday Night Live, and I read
the speech that he gave Richard Pryor
370
00:25:30,445 --> 00:25:33,281
when he wanted him to host the show,
and I said, "Holy shit,
371
00:25:33,365 --> 00:25:35,492
that's the same shit he said to me!"
372
00:25:39,204 --> 00:25:40,372
And I did it.
373
00:25:40,705 --> 00:25:43,750
And that was an enormous amount
of pressure, it had been 12 years
374
00:25:43,833 --> 00:25:47,295
since I'd been on television,
or since I'd even talked to the media,
375
00:25:47,379 --> 00:25:52,634
and I remember I signed my Netflix
contract on my way to my mark
376
00:25:52,717 --> 00:25:56,680
for the monologue. If you do live
television, they count down every second,
377
00:25:56,763 --> 00:25:58,932
"30 seconds..."
"Are you sure this contract is good?"
378
00:25:59,015 --> 00:26:01,685
"It's good, just sign the papers..."
"22 seconds..."
379
00:26:01,768 --> 00:26:03,687
"Aw, nigga, you better not
be trickin' me."
380
00:26:06,773 --> 00:26:09,651
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one,
381
00:26:09,734 --> 00:26:12,654
I walked out on that stage,
and I killed it.
382
00:26:12,737 --> 00:26:16,783
It was natural. It was nothing.
It was easy work.
383
00:26:18,201 --> 00:26:19,911
Got an Emmy for that one, too.
384
00:26:20,704 --> 00:26:25,000
First Emmy I won.
And when I walked on the stage
385
00:26:26,501 --> 00:26:28,420
after being in the cold for so long,
386
00:26:28,503 --> 00:26:30,297
for the first time when I walked
on the stage, I'm like,
387
00:26:30,380 --> 00:26:33,675
"Damn, nigga, I just made
60 million dollars."
388
00:26:33,758 --> 00:26:35,176
That's what I thought to myself.
389
00:26:36,386 --> 00:26:38,138
It's been great ever since.
390
00:26:45,061 --> 00:26:48,523
And really I could do these specials like
Steph Curry, I be shooting from inside,
391
00:26:48,606 --> 00:26:52,152
outside, all night.
It's been great ever since.
392
00:26:54,863 --> 00:26:57,991
A lot of my friends are athletes,
and I never could understand
393
00:26:58,074 --> 00:26:59,492
what it would feel like
394
00:27:00,201 --> 00:27:05,206
to only have a limited amount of time to
be great. You got 20 years to be the best,
395
00:27:05,290 --> 00:27:09,836
or 30 years to be the best,
but when you do art, you could be great
396
00:27:10,545 --> 00:27:13,673
whenever the will decides
that you're great.
397
00:27:15,508 --> 00:27:17,761
And I feel very lucky for that.
398
00:27:18,636 --> 00:27:20,472
And I never forgot this school.
399
00:27:20,805 --> 00:27:22,182
I've always come back,
400
00:27:23,266 --> 00:27:27,604
checked in. One of my favorite honors
was doing the commencement at Ellington.
401
00:27:28,188 --> 00:27:30,398
Listen, I can't even remember
what year it is.
402
00:27:31,358 --> 00:27:34,944
I just remember they cheered for me
when I came out, I wasn't a big star,
403
00:27:35,028 --> 00:27:39,032
but I was their star,
and I felt like I was home.
404
00:27:44,871 --> 00:27:46,498
After I did Lorne Michaels,
405
00:27:46,915 --> 00:27:49,376
I mean, after I did Saturday Night Live,
Lorne Michaels said something that
406
00:27:49,459 --> 00:27:52,712
I gotta share with you. He goes,
"You went to Peggy Cafritz's school,
407
00:27:52,796 --> 00:27:57,342
didn't you?" That's what he said.
I said, "I did," and he said... he said--
408
00:27:57,425 --> 00:27:59,219
I wanted to say this on
Saturday Night Live. He goes,
409
00:27:59,302 --> 00:28:00,887
"Tell her I owe her money."
410
00:28:07,060 --> 00:28:08,061
You know,
411
00:28:09,104 --> 00:28:12,857
I never asked
to have this theater named after me.
412
00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:15,360
Peggy asked me.
413
00:28:16,236 --> 00:28:18,947
She was ailing, and I went
to her house to visit her.
414
00:28:19,030 --> 00:28:22,075
And she said, "I want you to put your name
on the school," she said,
415
00:28:22,158 --> 00:28:24,786
"It would help us raise money
for the school," and to me, it was like,
416
00:28:24,869 --> 00:28:28,289
I felt like I'm a little young for that,
and I'm still kind of using the name,
417
00:28:28,373 --> 00:28:29,416
you know what I mean?
418
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,629
Let's see what I do with it first!
You never know...
419
00:28:34,712 --> 00:28:37,757
Like, imagine if O.J. had named
his son O.J. Junior.
420
00:28:38,716 --> 00:28:40,093
"Oh, Dad!"
421
00:28:48,935 --> 00:28:54,107
And around then, I was receiving
the Mark Twain Prize. Huge honor...
422
00:28:54,649 --> 00:28:56,693
-And...
-[audience applauds]
423
00:28:58,987 --> 00:29:02,490
And the next day, all the artists
that came to honor me,
424
00:29:02,574 --> 00:29:05,201
the Bradley Coopers and Chris Tuckers,
and all these great people who
425
00:29:05,285 --> 00:29:08,872
came to Ellington and they taught
master classes for the students.
426
00:29:13,418 --> 00:29:15,962
And Peggy Cooper Cafritz,
427
00:29:17,255 --> 00:29:19,007
as sick as she was,
428
00:29:19,883 --> 00:29:23,803
got out of her bed,
so she could be with her babies.
429
00:29:24,512 --> 00:29:25,889
She never left us.
430
00:29:26,723 --> 00:29:31,936
So I did it. So, you know, whatever you
wanna do, if I can help,
431
00:29:32,812 --> 00:29:33,897
I'll do it.
432
00:29:35,356 --> 00:29:36,649
Now I have to tell you:
433
00:29:37,025 --> 00:29:39,277
if you quit a show like Chappelle Show,
434
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,614
I don't know if you know what
happens to you professionally,
435
00:29:42,697 --> 00:29:44,491
but I'll tell you what doesn't happen.
They don't just say,
436
00:29:44,574 --> 00:29:46,785
"Well, good luck
in your future endeavors."
437
00:29:49,370 --> 00:29:51,414
With that media, they beat me up.
438
00:29:52,123 --> 00:29:55,084
With their power,
they tried to make me behave, it's--
439
00:29:55,168 --> 00:29:58,213
-it-- it takes a strong person...
-[audience member] Yeah.
440
00:29:58,296 --> 00:30:02,175
...to stand out in the cold like that,
and I swear to God,
441
00:30:02,258 --> 00:30:07,138
so much of the strength I got to do that,
the inner warmth I got to do that,
442
00:30:07,222 --> 00:30:10,016
I learned in this school,
443
00:30:10,308 --> 00:30:13,645
and from my friends
who helped raise me.
444
00:30:18,399 --> 00:30:21,444
So why wouldn't...
I'd do anything I could
445
00:30:22,946 --> 00:30:24,364
to help my benefactor.
446
00:30:26,157 --> 00:30:27,992
And the last time I came back,
447
00:30:28,910 --> 00:30:30,370
after The Closer,
448
00:30:31,621 --> 00:30:33,540
when the kids were mad at me,
449
00:30:36,292 --> 00:30:38,503
I got to tell you,
that was quite the day.
450
00:30:40,046 --> 00:30:42,715
All the kids was screaming and yelling,
I remember, I said to the kids, I go,
451
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:45,051
"Well, okay, well what do you guys
think I did wrong?"
452
00:30:45,134 --> 00:30:46,719
And a line formed.
453
00:30:57,146 --> 00:31:01,276
These kids said everything about gender,
and this and that and the other,
454
00:31:01,359 --> 00:31:04,237
but they didn't say anything about art.
455
00:31:04,571 --> 00:31:06,614
And this is my biggest gripe
456
00:31:06,698 --> 00:31:10,535
with this whole controversy with
The Closer: that you cannot report
457
00:31:10,618 --> 00:31:15,707
on an artist's work, and remove
artistic nuance from his words.
458
00:31:20,795 --> 00:31:23,381
It would be like if you were reading
a newspaper and they say,
459
00:31:23,464 --> 00:31:27,969
"Man Shot in the Face by a Six-Foot Rabbit
Expected to Survive," you'd be like
460
00:31:28,052 --> 00:31:31,556
"Oh, my God," and they never tell you
it's a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
461
00:31:44,777 --> 00:31:49,032
I took a lot of cold shots...
in show business.
462
00:31:49,324 --> 00:31:52,952
And I gotta tell you, as the years go on,
you feel the shots less and less.
463
00:31:53,036 --> 00:31:55,288
"Ah, it's just the business,"
is what you say.
464
00:31:55,371 --> 00:31:58,041
But that one, that day,
465
00:31:58,499 --> 00:32:00,335
boy, that day they hurt me.
466
00:32:00,793 --> 00:32:04,923
When I heard those talking points
coming out of these children's faces,
467
00:32:05,006 --> 00:32:08,134
that really, sincerely, hurt me.
468
00:32:08,217 --> 00:32:11,012
Because I know those kids didn't
come up with those words,
469
00:32:11,095 --> 00:32:13,806
I've heard those words before.
470
00:32:20,063 --> 00:32:25,276
The more you say I can't say something,
the more urgent it is for me to say it.
471
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,696
And it has nothing to do
with what you're saying I can't say.
472
00:32:28,780 --> 00:32:32,700
It has everything to do with my right,
my freedom...
473
00:32:33,409 --> 00:32:35,119
of artistic expression.
474
00:32:36,579 --> 00:32:38,539
That is valuable to me.
475
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:40,959
That is not severed from me.
476
00:32:41,709 --> 00:32:44,003
It's worth protecting for me,
477
00:32:44,087 --> 00:32:47,048
and it's
worth protecting for everyone else
478
00:32:47,131 --> 00:32:51,177
who endeavors in our noble,
noble professions.
479
00:32:51,594 --> 00:32:53,137
And these kids...
480
00:32:54,430 --> 00:32:59,143
And these kids didn't understand
that they were instruments...
481
00:32:59,894 --> 00:33:01,771
instruments of oppression.
482
00:33:01,854 --> 00:33:05,441
And I didn't get mad at them.
They're kids. They're freshmen.
483
00:33:05,525 --> 00:33:06,693
They're not ready yet.
484
00:33:07,777 --> 00:33:08,987
They don't know.
485
00:33:10,113 --> 00:33:11,614
What made me mad...
486
00:33:12,949 --> 00:33:14,242
and I am this petty...
487
00:33:20,540 --> 00:33:21,874
I ain't sayin' names.
488
00:33:23,167 --> 00:33:26,462
One of the kid's mother went on Fox News,
489
00:33:27,714 --> 00:33:30,550
and she used to be a student here,
I remember her face
490
00:33:30,633 --> 00:33:33,511
but I don't know if she was
particularly popular. Anyway.
491
00:33:43,688 --> 00:33:46,149
She was in
the Literary Media Arts department.
492
00:33:47,692 --> 00:33:51,070
She said a lot of things
that I didn't like, lot of things.
493
00:33:51,154 --> 00:33:53,239
But, you know, that's her right.
494
00:33:54,490 --> 00:33:57,618
The thing she said that got to me,
495
00:33:58,202 --> 00:34:02,165
she said, "At Duke Ellington, that theater
was a sanctuary for students.
496
00:34:02,248 --> 00:34:05,334
I used to sit there and meditate."
Well, of course you'd meditate.
497
00:34:05,418 --> 00:34:08,129
You were a Literary Media Arts student.
498
00:34:10,590 --> 00:34:14,177
We didn't meditate in here.
We got to work. But, okay, fine.
499
00:34:15,178 --> 00:34:17,472
"I would sit in there and meditate,"
she said.
500
00:34:26,647 --> 00:34:29,984
And then she scrunched her face up.
She's a beautiful woman,
501
00:34:30,068 --> 00:34:33,029
but her face looked hideous,
the way she scrunched it up,
502
00:34:34,030 --> 00:34:36,657
and she said, "And just to imagine...
503
00:34:36,991 --> 00:34:41,621
his name...
on that theater.
504
00:34:42,705 --> 00:34:45,666
How could you do that to those kids?"
505
00:34:53,007 --> 00:34:53,841
Listen.
506
00:34:56,052 --> 00:34:57,887
No matter what they said
about The Closer,
507
00:34:57,970 --> 00:35:00,556
it was still the most-watched
special in the world.
508
00:35:06,729 --> 00:35:10,483
And I am still of the mind,
and I say this with all humility,
509
00:35:10,566 --> 00:35:15,571
it is a masterpiece, and I challenge
all my p-- my peers-- to make its equal.
510
00:35:15,947 --> 00:35:18,741
They cannot. I am sure.
511
00:35:24,205 --> 00:35:29,752
It will be decades before you ever see
someone in my genre
512
00:35:29,836 --> 00:35:34,715
as proficient as me.
I am maybe a once-in-a-lifetime talent.
513
00:35:35,383 --> 00:35:36,884
I am telling you the truth.
514
00:35:44,308 --> 00:35:47,145
About three weeks ago I saw
in the newspaper that a man,
515
00:35:47,228 --> 00:35:49,689
they said a man that was dressed
in women's clothing,
516
00:35:49,772 --> 00:35:53,442
threw a-- a pie at the Mona Lisa
and tried to deface it.
517
00:35:53,526 --> 00:35:56,362
And-- and it made me laugh,
'cause I'm like, "It's like The Closer."
518
00:36:05,872 --> 00:36:11,460
I said it to the kids that day: if you
have a better idea, then express it.
519
00:36:11,878 --> 00:36:15,214
And you can beat me. It's that easy.
520
00:36:15,298 --> 00:36:17,300
If you have more talent than me,
521
00:36:17,383 --> 00:36:20,386
then display it and you can beat me
522
00:36:20,469 --> 00:36:24,015
with certainty.
This is what our genre is about.
523
00:36:25,474 --> 00:36:30,021
The idea that my name will be turned into
524
00:36:30,479 --> 00:36:34,775
a-- a-- a instrument of someone else's
perceived oppression
525
00:36:34,859 --> 00:36:36,944
is untenable to me.
526
00:36:37,361 --> 00:36:40,156
The fact that if my name was
on this theater, and a kid
527
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,910
that walked through that door would feel
anything other than pride in his school
528
00:36:43,993 --> 00:36:47,205
and in their endeavors,
that's untenable to me.
529
00:36:48,372 --> 00:36:50,124
So on Friday, I decided...
530
00:36:52,043 --> 00:36:54,170
that I don't want my name on the school.
531
00:36:55,046 --> 00:36:56,088
Hear me out.
532
00:36:57,423 --> 00:37:00,384
The Ellington family is my family.
533
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,888
When this controversy came out,
and students were angry,
534
00:37:03,971 --> 00:37:05,348
at the height of their anger,
535
00:37:05,431 --> 00:37:07,850
they said, "We still wanna name
the theater after you."
536
00:37:08,309 --> 00:37:12,188
They taught the kids about the nuance
of art and activism.
537
00:37:12,939 --> 00:37:17,401
And to-- I feel a great deal of success,
and it came around.
538
00:37:17,652 --> 00:37:21,781
So it's not that they did not wanna give
this to me, they're still my family.
539
00:37:22,114 --> 00:37:24,617
And, I'm not gonna say I don't want it.
540
00:37:25,576 --> 00:37:27,411
I'm gonna say I'll defer it.
541
00:37:28,037 --> 00:37:30,206
Rather than give this theater my name,
542
00:37:30,498 --> 00:37:33,960
I would like to give these students
my message.
543
00:37:34,835 --> 00:37:35,920
To them.
544
00:37:37,797 --> 00:37:44,428
So it is with great honor, that I unveil
the new name of this theater,
545
00:37:44,512 --> 00:37:47,306
the Jerrod Carmichael Theater.
I'm just kidding, I'm just kiddin'...
546
00:37:47,390 --> 00:37:50,142
I'm just kiddin'.
I'm totally joking.
547
00:37:51,352 --> 00:37:53,521
Uh, let me see if I can get this here.
548
00:37:54,021 --> 00:37:56,190
This theater should be called...
549
00:37:59,568 --> 00:38:02,905
The Theater
for Artistic Freedom and Expression.
550
00:38:04,407 --> 00:38:06,242
I want that for myself,
551
00:38:06,325 --> 00:38:09,620
and I want it for every student
that's educated at this school.
552
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,417
And when and if you are ever ready,
553
00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:18,254
you can put my name right on top of that.
554
00:38:18,629 --> 00:38:22,383
I love you, Duke Ellington, thank you
very much. Thank you very much.
555
00:38:23,426 --> 00:38:24,719
Thank you very much.
556
00:38:27,430 --> 00:38:32,393
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure
to bring off his new album Leace Renewed,
557
00:38:32,476 --> 00:38:36,188
the first single "Flow to You,"
give it up for the best-hitter
558
00:38:36,272 --> 00:38:38,941
history teacher in the world, Mr. Leace.
559
00:38:39,317 --> 00:38:40,735
[laughter from class]
560
00:38:43,904 --> 00:38:47,491
[Mr. Leace and students singing]
561
00:39:06,469 --> 00:39:09,889
[students begin clapping]
562
00:39:22,818 --> 00:39:24,111
Come on! Here we go.
563
00:39:32,912 --> 00:39:39,543
[all clapping]
564
00:39:40,753 --> 00:39:43,756
That's the show!
I'll see you next year!
565
00:39:44,256 --> 00:39:48,344
-[whispering] Bitches.
-[all laugh]
566
00:39:48,928 --> 00:39:54,725
[announcer] This is protected by the red,the black, and the green
567
00:39:54,809 --> 00:39:58,187
at the crossroad with a key!
47841
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