This clip comes from an episode of Chapelle’s Show in which Wayne Brady has taken over as host. Chappelle returns, demands his show back, and refuses to co-host with Brady due to the fact that the two “do different things.” To illustrate, Chapelle flashes back to a clip of the two hanging out a few months back. The remainder of the clip depicts Chappelle and Brady driving around and getting into all sorts of trouble, comedically instigated by Brady. Over the course of the evening, Brady pulls up outside a club and shoots several people, drives up to a group of his “hoes” to collect money, forces Chapelle to smoke PCP, breaks the neck of a police officer, and shoots Chappelle in the leg. The clip reverses the persona typically embodied by the family-friendly Brady, and is a response to the characterNegrodamus’previous quote, “White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X.”

discussion

How might we interpret the statement about why “white people love Wayne Brady?”

How are Dave Chapelle and Wayne Brady understood to be different types of black men, and how does this clip complicate or reinforce those characterizations?

What does this clip tell us about black masculinity in America?