I felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interest in controlling you.
Dave ChappelleRead
I was doing sketches that were funny but socially irresponsible. I felt I was deliberately being encouraged and I was overwhelmed.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the tension between humor and social responsibility in creativity.
Dave Chappelle expresses his conflict between creating humorous content and the social implications of that humor. He highlights how, while he was encouraged to produce funny sketches, he also felt a sense of guilt and overwhelming pressure due to the potential irresponsibility of the messages conveyed in his work.
In practice
This quote could be used in a comedy workshop to discuss the responsibilities of comedians.
I felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interest in controlling you.
You can become famous but you can't become unfamous. You can become infamous but not unfamous.
I still think people do have racial hang-ups, but I think one of the reasons I can joke about it is people are shedding those racial hatreds.
Everyone around me says, You're a genius! You're great! That's your voice! But I'm not sure if they're right.
If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself.
I don't normally talk about my religion publicly because I don't want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful religion if you learn it the right way.
Life is too short to be taken seriously.
All my humor is based on destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I'd be standing in the bread line - right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.
I think I could be a perfectly decent cat. I've been around cats long enough to know what the rules of being a cat are. When all else fails, wash. And I think I could master the thing that cats do, where they stalk away pretending they meant to do whatever it was in the first place; showing their wounded dignity.
Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.
Do you know what prepares you for the mental hospital? Being a prime minister's wife.
When someone pitches a joke for a character that is just perfect, and you can imagine that actor reading that line at your table read or on the set, it's like the sound of a snap snapping into place.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.