Original subtitles

[people chattering]

[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, the GOAT,

Mr. Dave Chappelle.

-[cheering and applause] -[hip hop plays]

[Dave] Thank you.

Thank you.

[cheering and applause continues]

Thank you very much.

Everybody have a seat, relax.

Tomorrow will be a very significant night in comedy.

I am very surprised to get this award this young,

but I promise you, I deserve it.

[laughter]

[applause]

-[tapping microphone] -[cheering]

Man, you have no idea what this job is like.

I grew up watching the best shit talkers this world has ever seen.

Every opinion in this country

has a comedian that wrecks your point of view.

Goddamn it, I don't wanna live in a country with a brittle spirit.

I wanna live among soldiers.

[cheering and applause]

[playing piano]

[man] How are you so young getting this award?

-I... Well, it took me 32 years, champ. -[laughter]

-All right, now. -[man] Dave, just, uh...

-Dave just... -Be well, guys.

-Ugh! Savages. -All right, baby.

-[stops playing] -I can't remember how it goes.

[continues playing]

Hey, hey.

[Dave] It's very rare that you get to get together with everybody,

and nothing's wrong.

I'm-- I'm appreciating that aspect of it immensely.

[woman] You nervous at all?

[Dave] To get a prize? No.

I am going to be surrounded by artistic genius tonight,

and an audience that has a higher appreciation

for the arts than most, at the Kennedy Center.

[woman] Mm-hmm.

[Dave] This doesn't constitute high pressure, here.

So many people deserve these moments.

[man] An honor to meet you. Thank you, man.

-[man 2] You're the man, Dave. -[Dave] Thank you, bro.

So few people get them.

[cheering and applause]

Any reason for all of us to be together is fine with me.

Should I wear the grills or...

[audience cheering and applause]

[Freeman] Dearly beloved...

we are gathered here today to get through this lifetime prize called Twain,

and celebrate a legend named Dave.

Electric word, "legend."

It means you're remembered forever, and that's a mighty long time.

But I'm here to tell you,

that tonight is more than a celebration of what this legend has done.

It is to rejoice in what he is doing,

and to acknowledge that for Dave, the best is yet to come.

[cheering and applause]

Now, boys and girls...

ladies and gentlemen...

in the immortal words of Mark Twain,

"Let's go fucking crazy!"

[cheering and applause]

From Dave's alma mater,

the Duke Ellington School of the Arts show band!

[cheering]

[band plays "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince & The Revolution]

Yes, it is. It is, sir.

♪ Yo ♪

♪ If you don't like ♪

♪ The world you're living in ♪

♪ Take a look around ♪

♪ At least you got friends ♪

♪ I called my old lady ♪

♪ For a friendly word ♪

♪ She picked up the phone Dropped it on the floor ♪

♪ "Uh, uh," was all I heard ♪

♪ Are we gonna let The elevator bring us down? ♪

♪ Oh, no! Let's go! ♪

♪ Let's go! ♪

-♪ Oh, let's go! ♪ -♪ Let's go crazy! ♪

-♪ Let's go! ♪ -♪ Let's go! ♪

-♪ Let's go! ♪ -♪ Let's go! ♪

-♪ Dr. Everything'll be all right ♪ -♪ Let's go! ♪

[Freeman] And now,

the twenty-second recipient

of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American humor...

Dave Chappelle!

[cheering]

[cheering and applause]

[cheering and applause]

[cheering and applause]

[cheering and applause]

[band plays "Mary Jane" by Rick James]

[cheering and applause]

Hey, y'all!

Hey, y'all! My name is Tiffany Haddish.

This is where you guys should applaud and go crazy.

I'll wait.

[cheering and applause]

Dave, I see why you wear these.

-They are so comfortable. -[laughter]

-I know. -[Tiffany] Look.

Look at this room, y'all. Look at this room.

Look at the people we got here at this party.

-[cheering and applause] -Yes!

Comedians, actors, and musicians

are all here for one man.

We're all here because Dave brings people together

in a way that maybe no one else in the world can.

I met Dave over 20 years ago,

and we've been friends ever since.

Dave, you have always been my mentor, my big brother.

And, uh, every time I step on stage,

every time, I think of you, 'cause, um...

I always wanna make you proud, 'cause you're the GOAT.

You know? You're the greatest.

[cheering and applause]

What I love about Dave is his spontaneity.

Oh, my favorite story with Dave was on Christmas.

One year, after I finished feeding the homeless at the Laugh Factory...

I do that every year because I never forget where I came from.

Not the Laugh Factory.

-Homeless. Homeless. -[applause]

Dave called me

to meet him for drinks.

And when I arrived,

I see him there with Marlon Wayans,

and I was like,

"What are y'all fathers doing here on Christmas?

Shouldn't y'all be with your kids?"

And Dave said,

"Who are you, Scrooge? Bitch, have a drink." [inhales]

[laughter]

[inhales, exhales]

[laughs]

[laughter]

So we laughed and joked till about 1:00 a.m.

And Dave was like, "Y'all wanna go bowling?"

And we were like,

"Ain't no bowling alley open on Christmas this late.

Like, wh-- What you talking about?"

And he started laughing, he said, "Do you realize I'm Dave Chappelle?"

-[inhales, exhales] -[laughter]

He made a phone call,

and then we jumped in his SUV,

and then we started going up this hill,

and then we pulled up to these huge gates.

I mean, huge.

I was like, "Are we finna be bowling at Jurassic Park?"

[laughter]

We get out the car,

go to the door,

and guess who opened the door? Guess who opened it?

I said, "Guess," bitch. Guess.

-[laughter] -Guess.

Eddie Murphy opened the door!

-We was at Eddie Murphy's house! -[applause]

We was at Eddie Murphy's house.

And I was like...

[laughter]

Dave was like, "Calm down. Calm your ass down before we get kicked out."

I was like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe this.

Axel Foley got a bowling alley!"

[laughter]

Well, we must have talked and laughed and shared stories for hours.

And that's the kind of guy Dave is. He's spontaneous.

And he's magical, and he's a horrible bowler.

-[laughter] -[Tiffany laughs]

[applause]

[people chattering]

-Hi. I'm Paul Pelosi. How are you? -I'm Tiffany Haddish.

-Nice to meet you. -We know who you are. My wife, Nancy.

-Hey, Nancy. -Hi!

-You were great. That was great. -Thank you so much.

[speaking indistinctly]

[Paul laughing]

-We were moving with you, babe. -Yeah!

[laughter]

[hip hop plays]

[Dave] I had the first show ever at this club.

-[Chris] What? -That was in '92.

-Time flies, man. -[Chris] Yeah.

Time ain't no joke.

[announcer] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,

and welcome to the DC Improv!

[Dave] No smoking in here, motherfucker.

[Tony] Hey, man. You know how we do it.

[laughter]

It's Dave's night, it's Dave's weekend.

-[cheering and applause] -All right.

Dave, you the man. You bring out everybody.

[cheering and applause]

Dave Chappelle. He got the Mark Twain award.

Give it up for Dave.

-The Mark Twain award. -[cheering and applause]

Making himself a whole bunch of damn...

You know you're making a bunch of money, you're getting the Mark Twain award.

And I don't... I just barely know who Mark Twain ass is.

[laughter]

[people chattering]

[Dave] Man, I cannot tell you

what it is like to get an honor like this

in this very city I started from.

In fact...

Little trivia for you.

The first show in this very room,

I was the first comedian on stage.

It was me, a guy named Brian Regan,

and some dyke named Ellen DeGeneres.

[laughter]

[applause]

We didn't know she was gay back then. We were all trying to get some pussy.

[laughter]

Oh! I'm sorry. I thought this was a comedy club.

[laughter]

Ladies and gentlemen,

this might be America's last safe place

to say what you feel like saying

and laugh at what you feel like laughing.

[cheering and applause]

This is sacred ground.

[Dave] Live comedy is the most incredible thing in the world to me.

You're standing up there like a gladiator.

And maybe that's the only time that I feel like myself.

[audience applause]

At 19, he's the youngest comedian in Star Search history.

From Washington DC, here is Dave...

[laughter]

[speaking indistinctly]

-Hey! -[audience applause]

I don't know if Ed mentioned this.

I was recently on Black Entertainment Television. I...

kind of have a feeling most you haven't seen that. I...

-[laughter] -I don't know why.

I used to think all white people...

were happy.

Just to be white.

I thought y'all sit around, "Fuckin' A, I'm white."

[laughter]

This feels great!

Taxi! [imitates tires screeching]

-Just checking. -[laughter]

I was over at my old high school, and I told them kids straight up,

"If you guys are serious about making it out of this ghetto,

you gotta focus,

you gotta stop blaming white people for your problems,

and you... you've gotta learn how to...

rap or play basketball or something, nigga, you're trapped!

You are trapped.

Either do that or sell crack. That's your only options.

That's the only way I've ever seen it work.

You better get to entertaining these white people. Get to dancing."

[laughter]

I used to watch a fuckin' cartoon when I was growing up

called Care Bears.

[laughter]

They were like teddy bears, but they were like people.

And they all fucking just walked around caring.

They cared about each other and everything else.

[laughter]

And when shit got real bad,

they got determined. [grunts]

[laughter]

And the leader would say, "Come on, guys. It's time

for the Care Bear stare!"

-[cheering] -Remember that shit?

[cheering and applause]

And them little teddy bears would lock arms...

[laughter]

-and stare at the problem... -[laughter]

and I'm not even bullshitting,

actual love would shoot out of their chest.

[laughter]

[cheering and applause]

And when we grew up,

we wanted to be like those bears.

And then we got our hearts broken,

'cause we found out that life wasn't gonna let us do that.

And that it's impossible

to shoot love out of your chest.

However...

I have shot love onto somebody's chest before.

[laughter and applause]

November... 2003.

I'm a junior in college at NYU.

I'd been doing stand-up maybe two years.

My mom calls me up and says,

"Aziz, are you coming home for Thanksgiving?"

And I said, "Ma, you know the money I set aside to come home for Thanksgiving?

There's been a change of plan.

Dave Chappelle is doing some shows in San Francisco

at the Punch Line,

and I gotta go see that."

And she was like, "Who is Dave Chappelle?"

I said, "He's maybe the greatest comedian alive."

She says, "Is that the guy that goes, "I'm Rick James, bitch'?"

[laughter]

[laughs] I said, "Yes."

She said, "He's hilarious. Have a good time."

And I went to those shows.

I saw all... It was like six shows that he did at the Punch Line.

And these were those Dave club shows,

where he did, you know, really long sets

that went to, like, four or five in the morning,

and-- and they were hilarious,

and they were thought-provoking,

and it was incredible.

And since then,

uh, I've gotten to know Dave as a friend.

We've-- We've done shows together.

Beyond being an incredible performer,

he is an incredible human being.

I remember a moment one time we were at a party.

Someone came up to him to ask for a photo.

And he said, "Hey.

We're not here...

to take pictures.

We're here to make memories."

And that's a beautiful sentiment.

And that's how he lives his life.

He treats every moment like it has a potential

to be a wonderful memory.

You know? Earlier this year, Dave and I,

we-- we did some shows together in-- in Austin, Texas.

We finish the shows, and we're in the green room together,

and, uh, Dave said, "What kind of night are you trying to have tonight, Aziz?"

And I said, "Oh, you know, I'm probably gonna take easy.

We went hard yesterday. We got shows tomorrow."

And he said, "Well, you wanna eat these psychedelic mushrooms I got?

They're supposed to be amazing."

[laughter]

[laughs]

Sorry, Dave's family.

[laughter]

[laughter]

I said, "I don't know, Dave.

Maybe I'll just take it easy

and get some rest for tomorrow."

And he said, "Well, Aziz, no one knows this,

but tomorrow they're gonna announce that I am the winner

of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor."

[applause]

And he said,

"What are you gonna tell your kids 20 years from now, Aziz?

Are you gonna tell 'em, 'I was there the day Dave Chappelle found out

he won the Mark Twain award, and we ate mushrooms together

and we had the night of our lives'?

Or are you gonna tell 'em you got some sleep?"

[laughter]

[applause]

And I said, "Dave, you got a point. Let's eat those mushrooms.

-[laughter] -To Twain!"

[laughter]

[cheering and applause]

[Jay] This is some real shit.

I think if dogs could talk, neglected dogs,

they would sound like Dave Chappelle.

[laughter]

Like... [laughs]

Like, if you leave him in the backyard too long, he'd be complaining. Like,

"Oh, shit, son. I need somebody to come back here.

Nobody feeds me!

-Ow!" -[laughter]

Yeah, the jacket is fresh as fuck.

-[Ron] Oh! -Hey, Ron. How are you?

[Dave] He looks like you just got back from beating up motherfuckers.

[audience applause]

The first time anyone ever brought me on stage,

a guy named JT Newton.

I don't even know, is JT alive?

Seriously?

-[man] He lives in Long Island. -Well, that's good news.

[laughter]

You ever think a nigga was dead, but he just lived in Long Island?

[laughter]

I went to a comedy club with my very best friend.

We're still friends to this day.

We showed up early, it was five o'clock.

Back in those days,

all you had to do to be a comedian was show up early enough to sign the list.

It was 20 spots.

I came right after school.

I picked seven.

My best friend at the time picked the fifth.

It bombed.

[laughter]

He didn't make it.

[laughter]

JT introduced me.

He said, "Folks, everybody's gotta start somewhere,

and tonight, this young man is starting here."

I remember it like it was yesterday.

He said, "You might be witnessing the birth of a star.

Please welcome Dave Chapel."

[laughter]

I went by myself, but by the time I went on,

my mother, who is here tonight,

[cheering and applause]

and her mother, who is no longer with us,

showed up. I begged you not to come.

Oh, I begged them not to come.

[laughter]

I said, "The only way I can handle this is to confront it."

So I went to my grandmother and I said, "Listen, Nana. Um, listen.

[laughter]

I'm gonna say some things tonight that you...

[laughter]

have never heard me say."

[laughter]

And, Mom, you'll appreciate this.

Do you remember what your mother said to me?

She said, "I've heard worse."

[Dave] No. She said,

"Baby, do this shit."

[laughter]

[applause]

[cheering]

It was on.

I guess what I'm trying to say to you, Mom, not only thank you,

but I told you so.

[laughter]

[applause]

♪ There are times ♪

-♪ When you'll need someone ♪ -[cheering and applause]

Yeah, Dave.

♪ I will be by your side ♪

We love you, brother.

-♪ Oh, darling ♪ -Yes.

-♪ There is a light that shines ♪ -Yeah.

-♪ Special for you and me ♪ -Yeah.

♪ I never knew a luh, luh, luh A love like this ♪

♪ Gotta be somethin' For me to write this ♪

♪ Queen, I ain't seen you in a minute ♪

♪ Wrote this letter And finally decide to send it ♪

♪ Signed, sealed, delivered For us to grow together ♪

♪ Love has no limit Let's spend it slow forever ♪

♪ Your heart is weathered By what studs did to you ♪

♪ I ain't gonna assault 'em I did it too ♪

♪ 'Cause of you Feelings I handle with care ♪

♪ Brothers recognize your light They can't handle the glare, hey ♪

♪ I ain't the type to walk around With matchin' shirts ♪

♪ A relationship is effort I'll match your work ♪

♪ Be the one to make you happiest Hurt you the most ♪

♪ The end is near, come close ♪

-[woman] ♪ To the what? ♪ -♪ To the most high ♪

♪ Regardless of what happen On Him, let's rely ♪

-[woman] ♪ There are times ♪ -[Common] ♪ Yeah, yo ♪

[woman] ♪ When you'll need someone ♪

Say what? Come on.

-[woman] ♪ I will be by your side ♪ -[Common] ♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Let 'em know about the light, y'all Come on ♪

-♪ There is a light, that shines ♪ -[Common] ♪ It shines, so ♪

-♪ Special for you and me ♪ -♪ Ah, yeah, yah, yah, yah ♪

♪ Digga-da, digga-da, digga-digga-da-da ♪

♪ Digga-da, digga-da, digga-digga-da-da ♪

♪ Digga-da, digga-da, digga-digga-da-da ♪

♪ Yo, I tell you the rest when I see you Peace ♪

Dave, you're greatest, baby. We love you, man.

-[cheering and applause] -The greatest, brother.

A beacon of light.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the incomparable John Legend.

[cheering and applause]

[speaking indistinctly]

[cheering and applause]

Hello!

[cheering and applause continues]

Not only am I big fan of Dave's,

but I grew up in Springfield, Ohio,

-ab-- Yes. -[cheering]

About 15 minutes away from where Dave lives now

and spent a lot of his childhood.

I know we're in DC,

and he spent a lot of time here, too.

[cheering and applause]

But Dave is from Ohio, okay?

[laughter and applause]

We're claiming him.

[applause]

Most of the outstanding,

bold-faced names from Ohio become famous after they leave Ohio.

[laughter]

One could argue they have to leave Ohio to succeed.

[laughter]

But amazingly,

Dave still lives in the Buckeye State.

[cheering and applause]

He still lives

in the kind of town that makes people wonder,

"Why does Dave Chappelle live in that town?"

[laughter]

He lives in the so-called "Forgotten America."

Dave never forgot about it.

He has brought the world to Ohio.

His annual musical jam sessions

on a local farm are legendary.

He's brought some of the greatest talents in the world together

to celebrate life there.

And recently, after the mass shooting in Dayton,

to bring comfort after tragedy.

[applause]

And, of course,

the most iconic and unforgettable jam session that will go down in history

was back in 2005.

He took a group from his hometown in Ohio,

including students from our local historically Black university,

Central State,

on a bus to Brooklyn.

-[man cheers] -Yes!

[applause]

And when they got to Brooklyn,

what an amazing pop culture moment Dave created.

He brought together some of the most important

hip-hop and neo-soul artists in the world,

for an epic concert that blended Dave's comedy

and his impeccable taste in music.

Comedians and musicians were like this.

Every comic wants to be a musician.

Every musician thinks they're funny.

Mother's got three titties.

One's for milk, one for water, and another one's out of order. Hit me!

-[plays note] -You see, it's not even that funny,

but with the hit, it just pushes it over the top.

Nobody has three titties. It's ridiculous.

All these people that are coming to this concert before I ever met 'em,

I was fans of theirs.

So to work with these people in this kind of setting,

it's a dream come true.

This is the concert I've always wanted to see.

♪ Well, if this take away from my spins ♪

♪ Which'll probably take away from my ends Then I hope this take away from my sins ♪

♪ And bring the day That I'm dreaming about ♪

♪ Next time I'm in the club Everybody screaming out ♪

♪ Jesus walks ♪

♪ God show me the way The devil's tryin' to break me... ♪

We shook up the world.

We shook up the world!

[cheering and applause]

[cheering and applause]

How're y'all doing?

[cheering and applause]

My name is Q-Tip.

-I'm, uh... -cheering]

I am proud to be

the, uh, artistic creative director of hip-hop

here at the Kennedy Center.

[cheering and applause]

I wanna talk to my bro, my friend.

You my brother.

I love you.

I've known this dude since he first started.

And it was 1992 or three,

and he came on the bus and he's like,

"Hi, I'm Dave Chappelle." I was like, "Yo, you're Dave Chappelle!

I know who you are. I saw Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

And I'm probably the only rapper that was watching Mel Brooks back then.

[laughter]

I bought Dave his first suit when he did Letterman

-in 1995. -Wow.

Might have been '94.

-I took him to Barney's with my cousin. -[man] Wow.

[Jeff] 'Cause he was still wearing, um, Cross Colors.

[laughter]

Now, don't tense up. I don't want you guys to think I'm like an angry Black guy.

-I am an angry Black guy, but... -[laughter]

You know what I mean? I have a right to be an angry Black guy though.

It's different for me.

See, I don't know if you guys believe in reincarnation or not,

but I have been Black four lives in a row.

[laughter]

I need a break.

[laughter]

[cheering and applause]

Please help me welcome to the stage

the co-creator of Chapelle's Show,

the one and only Neal Brennan!

[cheering and applause]

♪ Chapelle's Show ♪

♪ Chapelle's Show ♪

♪ Oh, Chapelle's Show ♪

♪ Chapelle's Show ♪

♪ Chapelle's Show ♪

♪ Chapelle's Show ♪

[applause]

Hi, Dave.

Honestly, I don't know how this night came to be.

Dave doesn't tend to like formal events.

Normally he dresses like a window washer.

[laughter]

I can only imagine his wife, Elaine, said to him,

"Babe, how could I get you to stop smoking for two hours?"

And Dave, assuming it would never happen, was like, "Um...

You'd have to get Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, Neal,

Q-Tip, Tiffany Haddish,

Warren Michaels, John Legend, Bradley Cooper,

and say, Morgan Freeman...

[laughter]

to fly to DC and honor my talent."

Elaine said, "Great. October 27."

And Dave was like, "Shit!"

[laughter]

[applause]

Dave gave me a career.

We met in 1992

at a comedy club in New York City.

We wrote a few jokes together over the years,

but I'd always hoped we could do something bigger.

Then, in 1997, Dave calls me and goes,

"Hey. If Universal reaches out to you,

tell them we're writing a weed movie together."

[laughter]

And I was like, "What weed movie?"

And Dave said, "Don't worry about it."

[laughter]

Next thing I know, someone from Universal calls me and asks,

"Are you writing a weed movie with Dave Chappelle?"

And I was like, "Yes."

[laughter]

And they go, "When can you pitch it to us?"

And I was like, "In 30 days time."

[laughter]

So we had a month to figure the pitch out,

and finally, on day 29, I call Dave and I'm like,

"Dude, we gotta work this weed movie out."

[laughter]

And he goes, "What weed movie?"

[laughter]

Anyhow, the day before the pitch, we outlined Half Baked.

It took the full day, about 16 hours.

And that attention to detail really showed up on screen.

[laughter]

[applause]

I don't know about y'all, but I can't even move.

It's like I feel stuck here, yo.

[coughs]

-["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays] -Oh, yeah.

[Neal] Cut to January of 1998,

Half Baked opened against Good Will Hunting...

[laughter]

Wag the Dog,

[laughter]

As Good As It Gets,

and oh, yeah, Titanic.

[laughter]

[applause]

Right.

It was a critical and commercial flop, and quite frankly, isn't very good.

[laughter]

Couple years later, after the stink wore off,

both professionally and personally,

Dave and I were on the phone again,

which was a thing people used to do.

[laughter]

And he says to me, "Hey, man.

We should do a TV show, like Playboy After Dark."

Now, if you remember what Playboy After Dark was,

get your affairs in order because you're on death's door.

[laughter]

If you don't remember Playboy After Dark,

it was a super laid-back TV show in the 1970s,

hosted by Hugh Hefner, who is a magazine publisher

and mild sex trafficker.

[laughter]

Imagine Jeffrey Epstein with a grotto.

[shocked laughter]

[chuckles] Anyway, Dave and I figured out a rough format

for what would come to be Chappelle's Show.

Went around pitching to a few networks.

HBO didn't go great.

The woman actually said to Dave, and I quote,

"Why do we need you when we have Chris Rock?"

[surprised reactions]

See, back then, there could only be one popular Black comedian at a time.

[laughter]

Unlike today, when there can be three.

[laughter]

[applause]

So then, a few minutes later, we pitched to Comedy Central,

and they bought it.

We made a pilot for Chappelle's Show.

We got picked up to series,

and the show went really well.

Like, absurdly well.

Like, "so well, you gotta go to Africa" well.

[laughter]

[applause]

Our top story.

As we all know, Congress recently approved paying over a trillion dollars

to African-Americans as reparations for slavery.

Now I got enough cigarettes to last me and my family

-for the rest of our lives! -[audience laughter]

-I'm rich, biyatch! -[honks horn]

[Neal] When we started the show,

I knew Dave was the funniest person I'd ever met.

By the end of the show,

I knew Dave was one of the funniest people who'd ever lived.

There were times where he would just improvise something

that we'd never talked about before,

maybe never even thought about before.

Clayton Bigsby's entire speeches about breathing the white man's air,

and Will & Grace, all improvised.

If you don't like Will & Grace,

that don't mean there's something wrong with you.

It means there's something wrong with Will.

He's a homosexual.

Tyrone Biggums' speech to the kids about doing drugs with Mickey Mouse,

totally made up.

You!

You know what dog food tastes like? Do you?

It tastes just like it smells!

Delicious.

[Neal] Rick James saying it's a celebration,

and fuck your couch.

Buy another one, you rich motherfucker!

Fuck your couch now!

Fuck your couch!

[Neal] And what did the five fingers say to the face?

Slap!

[audience laughter]

He made it all up.

Writing and directing Dave sometimes

was as simple as me standing on set with my jaw hanging open like...

"Uh, cut?"

[laughter]

The thing that I love about Chappelle's Show

is it allowed Dave to be his entire self.

To express his intellect, his anger, his morality,

his silliness, his hypocrisies, his sadness, his blazing talent.

Chappelle's Show was a rare thing.

It was a fully faceted document

of a human being living in the United States of America,

while having the surreal experience of being born with Black skin.

So, you know...

Playboy After Dark.

[laughter]

Also, the show was personal.

See, I always felt like Dave blamed me for the failure of Half Baked.

So, one day we were shooting a sketch

where, uh, Dave quit the show because he got Oprah pregnant.

And, um...

[laughter]

And we're doing a scene

where he's going, like, rampaging through the offices and he gets to me

and he dumps trash over my head.

And here's why I suspect he blamed me for Half Baked.

As he dumped the trash over my head,

he said, "This is for Half Baked."

[laughter]

All right, as you can see, he claims that I actually wrote that line

and told him to say it.

Yes, you did!

Which is the only time this entire evening

that I'll be receiving any credit for Chappelle's Show.

[laughter]

[applause]

[Donnell] Me and Dave were both from DC, which means that we started our careers

taking the train to fucking comedy shows.

Dave Chappelle is the oldest young comedian in the fucking business.

[laughter]

I'm fucking 44, been doing comedy for 43 years!

[laughter]

This motherfucker was born,

came out, "Wah!

Knock knock, motherfucker!"

[laughter]

[Donnell laughing]

With a cigarette in his hand at the same time.

[laughter]

The Dave Chappelle Show.

Being on that show changed my life.

But one character in particular, Ashy Larry.

A lot of people remember me as Ashy Larry.

[audience cheering]

And when we did that, Dave was like,

"Donnell, what are you gonna do to prepare for the role of Ashy Larry?"

I said, "I'm gonna take a shower, nigga...

[laughter]

and just dry off.

I'll be the ashiest motherfucker in Hollywood.

[laughter]

I'm from Washington, DC.

-[woman] Yeah! -[Chocolate City.

[applause]

For us, "nigga" is a pronoun.

[laughter]

We have very thick skin.

We don't shy away from the jokes.

In fact, humor was our mode of survival.

The only reason I never got my ass whooped on these streets

is because niggas knew...

I'm hilarious.

[laughter]

I was getting ready to start high school.

We had a principal named Ralph Neal.

That nigga had just seen Lean on Me,

and was walking around with a bullhorn like that was him.

[laughter]

I had just gone to middle school in Ohio.

I was gone for three years.

In the three years that I was gone, crack came out.

I came back to Washington.

You guys remember crack, don't you?

[laughter]

You remember what it did to this city.

That's why it's strange to see so many white people

jogging and pushing strollers and things.

[laughter]

It was all these niggas in DC that did the heavy lifting.

We did the hard part.

This is a Black city.

They call it Chocolate City, not be--

Shit has nothing to do with chocolate.

[laughter]

That was niggas.

[laughter]

I met Dave here in Washington, DC.

Uh, yeah.

[cheering and applause]

I was, uh... I was 19.

He was 17.

We were doing a gig at a club called Garvin's.

And I remember Dave and I went to McDonald's

between shows, and we talked about comedy,

and his future, what his future plans were gonna be, and I said,

"Come to New York City."

And after he graduated high school...

-[laughter] -uh...

he did.

And he came to New York, and we worked at the same comedy club,

The Boston Comedy Club.

-And, uh... -[applause]

All right.

I know it's a little confusing.

It was a club in New York City called The Boston Comedy Club.

Look, I don't come up with the names. Cokeheads do.

[laughter]

But in New York,

Dave was immediately beloved by the stand-up comedy community,

and I remember

he got a part in the Mel Brooks movie,

uh, Robin Hood: Men in Tights,

and we were all like, "Dave made it!"

Whoa.

-Who's the man? Who's the man? -Go.

He came back from, uh, LA,

and he got right on stage to talk about his trip out West,

and how he finally went to Compton after hearing so much about it.

And he was, like...

stunned to see that people there had yards.

[laughter]

All the lore of Compton,

and people were, like, mowing their lawns.

[laughter]

And, of course, they were.

But there was just, like, something about that tiny little detail

and that's what he does. He...

He lets himself be surprised by what he learns,

and then he... he takes us with him

as he, you know, looks at it from every angle.

You know, angles that most of us don't even see.

Isn't it weird how this disease just starts in 1980

and it doesn't kill anybody but niggas, fags, and junkies?

Isn't that a... a fucking amazing coincidence

that this disease hates everybody that old white people hate?

[laughter]

I think either God is white,

or the government hid that shit in disco balls.

[laughter]

He's always thinking about stuff, he's examining everything.

And he really, like...

He gets in his own world.

This is when I knew I was in a bad neighborhood.

You only see this in the worst neighborhoods.

Remember, it's three o'clock in the morning.

It's three o'clock in the morning.

I look out the window...

There was a fucking baby standing on the corner.

[laughter]

What's this?

And the baby didn't even look scared. It was just standing there...

[laughter]

[applause]

I mean, it made me sad. It made me sad, really.

You know, because I wanted to help the baby.

[laughs]

I was like, "Mmm, I don't trust you either. I'm sorry." Click. Click.

[laughter]

I remember we were together in Vancouver,

and he came over to smoke a joint.

-And... -[laughter]

And that's exactly what he did.

He came over...

[laughter]

and he smoked a joint.

[laughter]

The whole thing.

[laughter]

Like, by himself.

[laughter]

While pontificating about everything that's wrong with the world.

I'll tell you what's wrong with the world: a lack of sharing.

[laughter]

It's...

I think it's "puff, puff, pass,"

not "puff, puff, puff, puff."

[laughter]

Dave, can you believe this?

You're getting the freaking Mark Twain Prize.

Cannot believe it.

[cheering and applause]

[Sarah] You deserve it.

It's the right thing. It's...

It's actually perfect that you're getting the Mark Twain Prize,

because you both love using the N-word in your masterpieces.

[laughter]

Why is it that I can say the word "nigga" with impunity...

but I can't say the word "faggot"?

[laughter]

And she said, "Because, David,

you are not gay."

I said, "Well, Renee...

I'm not a nigga, either."

[cheering and applause]

[people chattering]

The fact that you're here is all I ever need.

I love Dave Chappelle unconditionally.

I met Dave in... in...

the '90s, the early '90s.

Seventeen year old kid,

coming into New York City,

just out of high school, cutting his teeth

on what were some of the toughest comedy rooms

in the country.

And he was...

shockingly formed

at 17 years old, and you would...

Old, grizzled, comedy veterans from there,

you would think we would have nothing but anger

at this young prodigy, this...

young Mozart.

And yet, you loved him...

because of the kindness of his spirit, and...

Even back then, I knew how hilarious he was, and how,

uh, insightful he was. I remember...

we worked together in the 2000s.

We were both at Comedy Central. I was at The Daily Show.

Dave was at Chappelle's Show.

And Chappelle's Show was this rocket ship that he had created.

And it became this cultural...

phenomenon.

And Comedy Central would do anything to keep it going.

And they offered Dave

fifty million dollars...

to just give them one more. "Just give us one more."

But Dave, at that moment, was conflicted,

because of the difficulty of how the show was to do,

because he wondered about its impact

on the audience that he meant it for.

And he walked away.

And it was that moment...

that I remember thinking...

"Comedy Central has 50 million dollars?"

[laughter]

Oh.

These motherfuckers won't even let us have snacks at The Daily Show.

[laughter]

They have 50 million dollars.

[laughter]

Well, at that point, Dave,

he left.

He was done. But I knew...

that money was going to need a home.

[laughter]

Dave, I want you...

I'm sorry.

[laughter]

I want you to know tonight...

[voice breaking] that I raised that money like it was my own.

[laughter]

This man is unbelievable. I'm not talking about just his stand-up.

How he interacts with people.

Random people, random fans.

We were in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

White kid just freaks out,

"Oh, my God!

Dave Chappelle!"

He just loses his shit.

And I'm like, "Hey, man. Relax, relax."

People think 'cause I'm so big, I'm his security and shit.

I'm like, "Relax." He's like, "Come on, man.

Oh, my God! Dave Chappelle!

Please come up to my apartment. I have some weed."

[laughter]

And Dave looked at me, and I looked back at him.

I was like, "I am out of weed, bro. Let's...

[laughter]

at least check out what this situation is...

[laughter]

and let's see where it takes us."

You know what I mean?

So we go up to his apartment.

I go in, I see this giant jar full of weed just like white people have.

Then I take one nugget. I was like, "Thank you so much."

And we're about to walk out.

And the entire time, he starts pounding on his roommate's door.

[imitates pounding]

"Wake up, bro! Wake up!

We got fucking Dave Chappelle in our apartment!"

But he won't wake up to save his life.

And we're leaving. He's like,

"Please take a picture.

Please take a picture with me."

And Dave was like, "Hey, man. We're moving in the night right now.

For security purposes...

[laughter]

we can't be doing it."

We start walking down his stairs,

and he's up on the top of the stairs.

He's like, "No one is gonna believe me!"

[laughter]

[man] You murdered it, man. You murdered it.

Shout-out to Washington DC's Mayor, Muriel Bowser.

[cheering and applause]

I gotta tell you,

you're a very special person to me.

We're only a year apart,

and you run our city...

-[woman] Yeah! -...wonderfully.

I walked into my old high school.

Mayor Muriel arranged

a 150-million-dollar renovation

to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

[cheering and applause]

I was so jealous of the students there.

You really mean the world to me,

and you really did a blessing to this city.

And thank you, thank you, and thank you. Sincerely.

-Thank you. -[cheering and applause]

I've never voted in Washington,

but goddamn it, if I did...

[laughter]

I'd vote for you. And you know what?

If you smoke crack, I'd still vote for you.

[laughter]

I know you wouldn't.

But if you ever want to,

indulge yourself. You got that kind of wiggle room with me.

[laughter]

I first became aware of Dave Chappelle

right around before the first Nuttty Professor,

'cause I was supposed to play that role that he played.

And then, I kind of saw him, and I was like,

"Hey, that guy right there, that kid,

that kid would be funny playing that role."

I tried to be peaceful.

But now it's time for Reggie to "karatarize" your ass.

Whoo!

Dave is so much smarter than everyone.

Like, Dave is...

one of the most, maybe the most, intellectual comedian ever.

It took us 400 years to figure out, as a people,

that white people's weakness the whole time...

was kneeling during the national anthem.

[laughter]

That's a brittle spirit.

That's right, nigga.

♪ And the rockets red glare-- ♪

[screaming]

What are you doing, niggas? Stand up!

[Eddie] He stretched the art form,

and, uh, his impact on the culture.

Uh...

He is the voice of his generation, without question.

Nobody's even close to him.

[audience applause]

[cheering and applause]

Wow.

All right. Okay. Okay.

My daughter's back there, and I'm just so grateful, Dave,

that I got to meet you before I had my daughter.

No, that's a good thing. [chuckles]

Because you taught me how to be a better man.

You teach me how to be a better man.

-And so, I just... I just realized it. -[applause]

[Jack] That's him, right? That's your boy?

Jay.

He's as old now...

-as you were when I met you. -[Jack chuckles]

Saw you on YouTube.

-That video with the girl. -[sniffs]

Yeah.

[Jack exhales]

It made me happy, man.

You looked like you. You were just...

Just doing it, bro.

I gotta say, I'm not kidding,

probably the best scene I've ever done with another actor.

Really.

[applause]

I wrote it for you.

It took two years,

but you gave your soul to me in that day.

And the fact that you showed up...

I mean, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe you did me that favor.

And, uh...

And I'll never forget it, man. It was--

That was-- And I love that it's locked forever on screen,

because it was so beautiful.

And the whole set was just crackling with what happens

when you're around Dave Chappelle.

So this is a very, very, unique individual.

[laughs]

The other thing I wanna say is I don't know how it happened.

I don't know the genetics,

and growing up in DC, the Duke Ellington school,

first doing stand-up at eight years old. I don't know what combination occurred

to make you who you are,

but I'm just so lucky I'm alive at the same time you are,

so I can watch you be a human and an artist.

[applause]

And...

And we throw this term...

We throw this term around. "Genius."

When I think about genius, you think, like, maybe aloof, socially unaware.

You're even unique as a genius because you have a trait

that is... It's empathy.

You know, you treat everybody the same.

That's my favorite thing about you.

So, thank you, my friend.

I'm still mad about SNL.

In the monologue, you did say, you know, you were at the White House...

And there was a huge party.

And everybody in there was Black,

except for Bradley Cooper, for some reason.

-[laughter] -[Bradley] And you saw a sea of faces.

There was one white guy, me. Like, "Oh, Bradley Cooper's here."

We went together, motherfucker. What're you talking about?

-[laughter] -[Bradley laughing]

[applause]

[cheering]

I love you, bro.

I love you.

-[chuckles] -[applause]

["Other Side of the Game" by Erykah Badu plays]

[cheering and applause]

♪ Do I really ♪

♪ Want my baby ♪

Most of my friends are from the bottom of the socio-economic ladder,

and made it to the middle and the top.

♪ What to do ♪

So we all had a long trip. [laughs]

♪ I know you got to get your hustle on ♪

♪ So I pray ♪

♪ And I understand the game ♪

♪ Sometimes, yeah ♪

♪ And I love you strong, mmm ♪

[Dave] I love coming back.

I've been back here many times, but not...

to celebrate me.

♪ On my own ♪

♪ Summer came around And the flowers bloomed ♪

♪ He became the sun I became the moon ♪

♪ Precious gifts that we both received ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

♪ The moon ♪

[Erykah ] Dave, I love you.

[applause]

We're here for you.

Always been there for you 'cause you've always been here for us.

And I love you strong, brother.

[cheering and applause]

[Lorne] Richard Pryor was the first recipient of the Twain Prize.

When I started SNL, he was the first person I asked to host.

In the summer of 2016, with the election looming,

there was another person who I was just as determined to have.

I knew that for the November 12th show,

after the election, it had to be Dave Chappelle.

-[audience cheering] -Thank you.

I knew I needed someone to explain

what had just happened.

[laughter]

I had to have Dave for the same reason I had to have Richard.

He's a truth-teller,

and the funniest person working today.

This was going to be a big moment for SNL and for him.

I knew when the moment came, Dave would be ready for it.

Well, America's done it. We've actually...

We've actually elected and Internet-trolled our President.

[laughter]

The whites are furious.

Never seen anything like it.

Haven't seen white people this mad since the OJ verdict.

[laughter]

There's a split screen with white people on both sides. [screams]

[laughter]

I'm not saying I'm enjoying it.

I'm just saying it's just that I've never seen this before.

I watched a white riot in Portland, Oregon,

on television the other night.

[laughter]

That Wednesday, the day after the election,

we had our read-through for the show.

The mood was pretty bleak.

The people were feeling tense and very vulnerable.

It was a mess.

Dave sat down beside me,

looked at everyone, and sensed the emotion in the room.

He asked if he could read a quote by Toni Morrison.

The quote read,

"This is precisely the time when artists go to work.

There's no time for despair,

no place for self-pity.

No need for silence,

no room for fear.

We speak, we write, we do languages.

This is how civilizations heal."

I knew then that we'd be okay.

The show opened with Kate McKinnon singing "Hallelujah" as Hillary Clinton,

and then, out walked Dave.

I had no idea what he was going to do.

[laughter]

I'd like to think he did, but I'm...

[laughter]

I'm not even sure about that.

He was breathtaking. He was brilliant.

It was a landmark show.

I'm wishing Donald Trump luck.

And I'm gonna give him a chance...

and we, the historically disenfranchised,

demand that he give us one, too.

Thank you very much.

[cheering and applause]

[Kenan] Your ability to speak your mind,

regardless of how anybody feels about it...

That fearlessness

to entertain the way that you want to,

has definitely pierced my life,

to the point where I played

a werewolf choreographer last night.

[laughter]

And I was very proud to do it.

[laughter]

And I learned all of that from you.

You know...

I hold your first two seasons of the Chappelle's Show

up against any sketch comedy show, I would say, in history.

It's just brilliant.

Good evening, and welcome to the first, and maybe only,

racial draft here in New York City.

[cheering]

And I'm excited to see who's gonna be drafted by which race.

And the Blacks have actually won the first pick.

Wow. That's the first lottery

a Black person's won in a long time, Billy.

Yes, and they'll probably still complain.

[all laugh]

Man, fuck you.

The Black delegation...

choose Tiger Woods.

The richest and most dominant athlete in the world

now is officially Black.

So long, fried rice.

Hello, fried chicken.

I love you, Dad!

[applause]

I had no idea you had so many old white fans.

-But... -[laughter]

[applause]

I feel like I died and went to Brooks Brothers, but...

[laughter]

I think honesty gets thrown around a lot.

People talk about honesty and comedy, but...

a lot of great comedians don't always tell the truth.

I mean, Rodney Dangerfield, I looked it up,

was actually very well respected.

[laughter]

He lied the whole time.

[laughter]

When we talk about honesty, we talk about not being afraid

to tell people the truth about how we feel,

because that's the connection that comedians can have with people.

And I think nobody does it better than you, ever.

And that's what we learn from,

because we all know that we're a part of the joke.

Dave makes it...

[exhales]

He's willing to make fun of everybody, whether you're...

whether you're white or gay. End of list. He's...

[laughter]

Everybody loves me, and I love everybody.

I got friends who are L's, I got friends who are B's,

and I got friends who are G's. But...

the T's hate my fucking guts.

[laughter]

And I don't blame 'em.

It's not their fault. It's mine.

I can't stop telling jokes about these things.

[laughter]

I don't wanna write these jokes, but I just can't stop!

[laughter]

It's weird for me to even talk to you about comedy,

'cause you can tell everybody in this room everything there is to know about comedy,

but there's one thing that you'll never know about comedy.

And that's doing comedy

with a Dave Chappelle to look up to.

So, I thank you for that. Thank you so much.

Word.

[applause]

And I'm here to celebrate Mark Twain.

[laughter]

[applause]

[cheering]

To me, that's comedy.

[laughter]

If you don't believe me, that Mark Twain is hilarious,

I would just like to read a brief passage

from Huckleberry Finn.

[laughter]

Okay.

All right.

Tighten up.

"Huck... [chuckles]

Huck Finn turned to his friend, Jim.

or as we called him..."

You know, I don't have to read the whole passage.

[laughter]

[applause]

Yeah, I'm so happy.

Y'all see that?

Are we gonna make love tonight?

As friends!

[Tiffany] Oh, you smell delicious.

'Cause I love him so much, I'm like emo-- I'm a very emotional person.

You know this. Imma cry for you.

[imitates crying]

-[man laughs] -[Tiffany laughs]

[Dave] I swear to God, I've never seen an art form

purer than stand-up comedy.

It puzzles me that people are confused if this is an art or not.

Man, talking shit is an art.

[laughter]

Talking shit is an art.

Ain't that right, Muriel?

[applause]

All the stand-up comics in the room,

I just wanna remind you,

I promise you, and I've always said it,

we have the best genre.

We don't have to know anything but what we know.

And everything we know is valuable

because of what we do with it.

Stay true to yourself.

Fuck the game.

The money will come.

Most of you won't make it.

[laughter and applause]

I'm gonna be honest.

[laughter]

I heard an interview with Patton Oswalt, famous comedian.

He started one week apart from me.

Patton says in the interview with Terry Gross.

You know how Terry goes, "And, yes..."

[laughter]

Patton said to Terry Gross, he said,

"Terry, nobody does good their first time doing stand-up."

They stopped. I was driving the car, listening to this interview.

Then he goes... [inhales]

"Okay. Dave Chappelle did good...

[laughter]

his first time doing stand-up."

I had a smile from ear to ear.

What Patton didn't tell Terry

is the next seven or eight times

were fucking terrible.

[laughter]

But the first time...

was so motherfucking good.

A bit like the first time you had sex.

And then the second time you were having sex,

somebody hit you in the head with a sledgehammer.

[laughter]

No, this is not nearly as good as the first time.

But you know what? Maybe someone won't hit me in the head

with a sledgehammer the ninth or tenth time.

[laughter]

I don't even necessarily believe in politics.

But I think that trust in politics

is something that the country desperately needs.

[woman] President Bush continues to make his case for an invasion of Iraq.

After carefully examining the region, uh, me and my cabinet agree

that that area is definitely ripe for regime change.

All right.

-That nigga tried to kill my father! -[laughter]

Man, Lincoln is fucking up.

Damn. Truman is fucking up.

Man, Carter is fucking up.

[audience laughter]

George Washington is the worst of the worst.

Yes, I said it.

We hold these truths to be self-evident.

"All men are created equal."

"Go get me a sandwich, nigga, or I'll kill you."

[laughter]

"Liberty and justice for all."

I watched Donald Trump in a press conference.

"I am going to bring back coal."

Coal?!

[laughter]

I'm not even exaggerating.

I have never,

in my life, even seen a fucking lump of coal!

[laughter]

If you're gonna have motherfuckers

digging around in the dirt looking for shit,

find me some truffles, nigga.

-That's what I'm about. -[laughter]

This is a fucking election year. We gotta be serious.

Every able-bodied African-American must register

-for a legal firearm. -[laughter]

That's the only way they'll change the law.

-[laughter] -[chuckles]

Although America is the greatest nation in the world,

we still face many modern problems.

Healthcare is in shambles.

Medicaid doesn't work.

Meanwhile, our neighbors in Canada have free healthcare for all citizens.

So what am I suggesting?

Fake Canadian ID cards for all Americans.

I'm Dave Chappelle.

And I wanna represent you.

[applause]

People always say to me,

"Man, Chappelle's Show looked like a blast. Was it fun?"

It wasn't.

[laughter]

It wasn't fun at all. It was hard.

We'd have to stay awake for 48 hours at a time,

just to keep up with the schedule.

We were bombed out and depleted. We were lumped up.

We both had erectile dysfunction.

[laughter]

I told Dave about mine and he goes,

"It's because we're using laptops too much, man."

[laughter]

True. That's true.

And then-- And then he goes, "Plus, we're not as young as we used to be."

Meanwhile, there's no causal link

between laptop use and erectile dysfunction.

And also, we were 29.

[laughter]

Dave Chappelle completely transformed my life.

He lent me $1,000 so I could move to LA.

He asked me to write a movie with him when I had zero experience.

Dave Chappelle believed in me

at a time when absolutely nobody did.

We all have a friend who will hit us up out of the blue sometimes

for something funny.

Imagine what his texts and phone calls are like.

[laughter]

One time, he called me on a Tuesday afternoon, and he goes,

"Hey, man. I just finished watching 12 Years a Slave.

Anyhow, you think slaves ever whipped their kids?"

[laughter]

On a Tuesday afternoon.

[laughter]

In closing,

if you remember only one thing from my speech tonight,

I hope that it's Chappelle's Show was not fun.

[laughter]

But it was great and it'll be near impossible to beat.

And it's because of that guy right there.

[cheering and applause]

[Dave] Well, this...

has been fucking wonderful.

[laughter]

[cheering and applause]

I don't know what to say, man.

I don't even want this night to end.

[cheering and applause]

I promise you,

whoever cares the most,

I care at least as much as them.

I know what I got,

'cause I lost it all.

I got to tell you something.

And I don't talk about it often.

Have you ever worked all your life for something

and have it not work out?

That happened to me.

It was tough.

Think about it.

I was gone for 12 years.

It's not a little bit of time.

It was hell.

I watched other niggas that I knew become very famous.

I watched the world go on without me.

I mourned the loss of it,

and after a while,

I didn't care.

Coming back was terrifying.

I understand what I am.

I really do, more than anybody.

Like, when they write about me in history, I'll...

I'll be dead, reading it, like, "Yeah, I knew they'd say that."

[laughter]

They say that a person can't dream of a face

they've never seen.

I can't believe that it's true.

But it's probably true.

Boy, I got a long bank of faces.

Thirty-two years,

I could close my eyes, I could think of any night,

so many faces.

Every night...

Most nights, they're all looking up smiling.

[laughter]

They have no idea what the world looks like from there.

All different races, all different colors, all different kind of beliefs.

Just looking at me, smiling for 32 years, night after night.

[laughter]

No comedian take that for granted.

I swear to God,

this might be the noblest of professions.

Robin Williams had a barb that I loved.

He said, "Comedy is the only job you can have

where you can use everything you know."

And that's true.

You can use more than you know.

You can use what you think.

Use it.

Don't be afraid,

don't let these bitch-ass niggas button your lip.

[laughter]

Say it anyway.

[cheering and applause]

If you're at home watching,

not knowing what to make of this

because you haven't checked Twitter yet to see how you feel...

[laughter]

Um...

you can... [laughs]

[cheering and applause]

No. It's okay, trust me.

I already looked. You think it's delightfully refreshing.

[laughter]

All right, here's the thing about Dave. Dave didn't, like, get funny eventually.

He was always funny.

And he remains at the top of his game.

Why? Because he's constantly evolving, he grows.

Or sometimes it's a slightly more lateral move, but...

[laughter]

always with some kind of new perspective, you know?

His critical thinking

is his art.

His stand-up blows my mind, you know?

It-- It changes the way I think.

And sometimes, I wholeheartedly disagree with him,

but that's what I love about Dave.

It's what I love about art.

[Dave] The only way you know where the line is is to cross it.

And I think that what is life if nobody's crossing the line?

Ladies and gentlemen, man the fuck up or you're not gonna make it

-through the end of this show. -[laughter]

Just man the fuck up.

[laughter]

"Just because I'm dressed this way...

does not...

[laughter]

make me a whore."

[laughter]

Now that would be like me, Dave Chappelle the comedian,

walking around the streets in a cop uniform.

Somebody might run up on me. "Oh!

Thank God! Officer, help us.

Come on, they're over here. Help us!"

I'd be like, "Oh!

Just because I'm dressed this way...

[laughter]

does not make me a police officer."

[applause]

I am what's known on the streets as a "victim blamer".

[laughter]

"Damn! Michael Jackson was molesting children!"

"Well, what were those kids wearing at the time?"

[laughter]

The only reason everybody is talking about transgenders

is because white men wanna do it.

That's right.

I just said that.

[laughter]

If it was just women that felt that way,

or Black dudes and Mexican dudes being like,

"Hey, y'all. We feel like girls inside."

They'd be like, "Shut up, nigga. No one asked you how you felt.

Come on, everybody. We have strawberries to pick."

[laughter]

It reeks of white privilege.

You never ask yourself why it was easier for Bruce Jenner to change his gender

than it was for Cassius Clay to change his fucking name?

[cheering and applause]

Everybody gets mad because I say these jokes.

But you understand that this is the best time to say 'em.

More now than ever.

You have a responsibility to speak recklessly.

Otherwise, my kids may never know what reckless talk sounds like.

The joys of being wrong.

I didn't come here to be right. I just came here to fuck around.

The courage

that it takes as a performer and an artist,

to stand up for who you know you are,

to take a chance on yourself...

[applause]

is just one more reason why we all just love and respect

and admire this man.

And, you know, it was until we started touring a couple years ago together

that I really got a chance to watch him walk through life.

I always imagined him on a tractor,

you know, out in Ohio, listening to Prince.

Um...

But because it was Dave, obviously, I just imagined that-- that Prince was there,

because that's just how...

Dave's life... was.

Things happened in Dave World that just don't happen...

anywhere else.

In fact, the last time-- This was in...

2008, I think, and I was in DC.

In the back of a...

this little restaurant,

was a gentleman that-- that I recognized as--

as Dave Chappelle.

And I thought...

"Why is Dave Chappelle here?"

[laughter]

I said, "Dave, what--" I hadn't seen him in a long time.

"How are you? What're you doing?" And we caught up, and I said,

"Dave, I'm down here. I'm running over to Walter Reed."

It was in the height of the Iraq War, and I was gonna run down to Walter Reed,

and I had a stack of Chappelle's Show DVDs

that I would bring with me.

'Cause they love those, And The Daily Show, eh.

[laughter]

So I have these, uh, Chappelle's Show DVDs,

and I say to Dave,

"Dave, I'm gonna head down and I'm gonna see these guys,

these wounded warriors, and I have your DVDs.

What're you doing right now? What'd you say?" He's a spontaneous guy.

"Let's go. Let's really blow their minds."

And he looks at me, and I'll never forget it...

He looks up and he goes, "No, I'm good."

[laughter]

I respected that so much.

[laughter]

I don't know of anybody who cares

more deeply,

and anyone who gives less of a fuck.

[laughter]

[applause]

Dave is-- is a touchstone,

because he's a seeker of knowledge.

He's a man that seeks out people

and experience and knowledge,

and he wants to touch it and feel it and be with it on the ground,

so that he can then channel that through his art

and redirect that back to you as something completely different and new.

I can only tell you this.

There's only one person that can say,

"Hey, man. I need you,"

and I will be there

no matter what,

no matter where.

And when he called me just recently and said, "I need you,"

a week later, I stood with Dave

on a stage in Dayton, Ohio,

one hundred feet

from the site of one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

And I watched this man

help a city...

heal a wound born of violence...

[applause]

and born of pain.

But as we sat and watched Stevie Wonder sing "My Cherie Amour,"

and the crowd going crazy

and reclaiming their city,

he turned to me on stage and he said,

"This is their memory now.

This is their memory."

[applause]

♪ Wake up, everybody No more sleepin' in bed ♪

♪ No more backward thinkin' ♪

♪ Time for thinkin' ahead ♪

♪ The world has changed so very much ♪

♪ From what it used to be ♪

♪ There is so much hatred ♪

♪ War and poverty ♪

♪ Oh ♪

[Dave] I say this every time I come to Ellington,

I hope you guys remember this.

-You are very necessary now. -[man] Oh, yes.

This is a season for artists.

Secretly, I'm building an army of artists.

I want all you guys to get out there and fight in the army.

It's not a violent fight,

but it's a revealing one.

You gotta reveal people to themselves by exposing yourself with your art.

♪ The world won't get no better ♪

♪ If we just let it be ♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ The world won't get no better ♪

♪ We gotta change it, yeah ♪

♪ Just you and me ♪

Honestly, looking at y'all inspires me.

I feel like I was just you.

[cheering and applause]

If I could go back and talk to myself,

I would tell myself what I'm telling you guys.

"Be nice and don't be scared."

-[cheering and applause] -Thank you!

The Mark Twain Prize was created in honor of a great satirist

and irreverent observer of the world in which he lived.

In honoring Dave Chappelle this evening with the Mark Twain prize,

we are honoring a comedian at the top of his game.

Someone who already has a lifetime of achievement behind him,

but promises to have another lifetime in the coming decades.

And for these reasons, the Kennedy Center is proud to present Dave Chappelle

with the nation's highest comedic award,

the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize.

[cheering and applause]

[Dave] Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

I like not knowing what's gonna happen.

I like making memories.

Sometimes I do all this crazy shit around my colleagues

just so that they can tell their friends I did it.

[laughter]

But rather than talk about myself,

just briefly, I wanna just talk about my genre.

Stand-up comedy

is an incredibly American genre.

I don't think any other country

could produce this many comedians.

And unbeknownst to many people in this audience,

I don't think there's an opinion that exists in this country

that is not represented in a comedy club

by somebody.

Each and every one of you

has a champion in the room.

We watch you guys fight.

But when we're together, we talk it out.

I know comics that are very racist.

And I watch 'em on stage, and everyone's laughing,

and I'm like, "Mm, that motherfucker means that shit."

[laughter]

Don't get mad at 'em, don't hate 'em.

We go upstairs and have a beer,

and sometimes, I even appreciate the artistry

that they paint their racist opinions with.

Man, it's not that serious.

The First Amendment is first for a reason.

The Second Amendment

is just in case the first one doesn't work out.

[laughter]

[applause]

We gotta let some air out of the ball, man.

The country is getting a little tight.

It doesn't feel like it's ever felt in my lifetime.

So, tonight,

I am honored

that my colleagues are here,

in comedy,

and in music.

[applause]

And I want everyone in America right now to look at me.

Look at me smoking indoors.

[laughter]

I didn't ask anybody, I just did. What are they gonna do?

Kick me out before I get the prize?

No, nigga, this is called leverage.

[laughter]

[cheering and applause]

The thing that I liked best about tonight

was that I saw so many people from different parts of my life.

Like friends that I grew up with here in DC,

friends of mine from Ohio, then and now,

friends of mine comedy clubs,

all the fucking musicians that blew my mind.

You guys have no idea

how you inspire me.

I-I-I wanna give a special shout-out to my OG, Tony Woods.

Miles Davis has a quote.

[applause]

Uh, it's one of my favorites. Miles Davis said so much cool shit.

But-- But one of the things he said, I always loved.

He said, "It took me years to learn how to play like myself."

You know, he would watch other musicians,

then he would try to play like Dizzy or Bird,

all the guys who were great.

Tony Woods was my Dizzy and Bird if I was a Miles.

I was trying to play like you.

You were the first person I ever saw

do it absolutely right.

You were fearless and you told the truth.

There's something so true about this genre,

when done correctly,

that I will fight anybody

that gets in a true practitioner of this art form's way,

'cause I know you're wrong.

This is the truth,

and you are obstructing it.

I'm not talking about the content.

I'm talking about the art form.

-Do you understand? -[woman] Yes.

Do we have an agreement?

[applause]

What I really wanted to say tonight, and I'm glad I get to platform to do it,

I'm gay.

[laughter]

I am gay and...

I can't wait to see what this does for my career, being gay like this.

[laughter]

[Dave laughs]

So many special shout-outs.

One of the main architects of the comeback of the century,

my brother and my mentor,

the mighty Stan Lathan.

[cheering and applause]

I never dreamed that I would be able to work with someone as great as you.

These last five specials,

straight fire.

I wouldn't want to do another special with anybody else, but you.

So eat your motherfucking vegetables

and live as long as you can,

'cause we're doing a few more of these bitches.

[cheering and applause]

Neal Brennan, your speech made me cry

because it reminded me

of all those hard days of work,

and all that money I never got for it.

[laughter]

The other real special shout-out I gotta make,

'cause none of this would have been possible on any level,

uh, without this person, is my mother.

-[audience] Aww. -Mom.

[cheering and applause]

My mother.

[applause continues]

Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom.

You have no idea what I put this woman through.

[laughter]

If you had just given birth to me,

that would have been more than enough.

But the fact that you raised me and raised me well...

We had a real oral tradition in our house.

I knew the word "griot" when I was little boy.

A griot was a person in Africa

who was charged with keeping the stories of the village.

Everyone would tell a griot the stories, and they would remember 'em all

so that they could tell future generations.

And when they got old, they'd tell 'em to someone else.

And they say, in Africa,

when a griot dies, it's like a library was burned down.

And my mother used to tell me, before I ever thought about doing comedy,

she said, "You should be a griot."

And she'd fill me with every story of Black life.

You know, she's educated in African-American studies.

And she would let me understand the context that I was being raised in.

That I'm being raised in a hostile environment

that I have to tame.

By the time I was 14 years old, I was in nightclubs,

mastering an adult world.

I was terrified.

The crack epidemic was going on,

and my mother would hear gunshots outside and be scared to death.

"Maybe it's my son."

But early in my career,

if you remember, Mom, you used to sit in the club with me.

She'd do a full day of work.

You'd be back there falling asleep, just waiting for me to go on.

She would watch my show every night.

Do you know how long that car ride is home?

[applause]

How many of you have ever heard your mother say,

"Pussy jokes were a little too much tonight, son"?

[laughter]

I was a soft kid.

I was sensitive, I cried easy,

and I would be scared to fistfight.

And my mother used to tell me this thing.

I don't even know if you remember, but you said this to me more than once.

You said, "Son, sometimes you have to be a lion

so you can be the lamb you really are."

I talk this shit like a lion.

I'm not afraid of any of you.

When it comes word to word,

I will gab with the best of 'em,

just so I can chill and be me,

and that's why I love my art form.

'Cause I understand every practitioner of it.

Whether I agree with them or not, I know where they're coming from.

They wanna be heard, they got something to say,

there's something they noticed.

They just wanna be understood.

I love this genre.

It saved my life.

So tonight, Mom, I would like to honor you

in a very special way that I cannot do on my own.

But because now I'm a man with great and influential friends,

I'd like to ask my man Thundercat to come out on stage. Thundercat.

The mighty Mos Def.

[cheering and applause]

Washington DC, thank you very much for giving me a home and a place to start.

Today is officially, uh, Dave Chappelle Day in Washington DC.

The mayor declared it last night.

[cheering and applause]

So, in the future,

on Dave Chappelle Day, I ask everyone who wishes to celebrate it,

to make one incredible memory for themself,

and/or somebody else.

Thank you very much.

Good night.

[cheering and applause]

["Umi Says" by Mos Def plays]

♪ Tomorrow may never come ♪

♪ For you or me ♪

♪ Life is not promised ♪

♪ Tomorrow may never show up ♪

♪ For you or me This life is not promised ♪

[speaking indistinctly]

♪ I ain't no perfect man ♪

♪ I'm trying to do the best that I can ♪

♪ With what it is I have ♪

♪ I ain't no perfect man I'm trying to do the best that I can ♪

♪ With what it is I have ♪

♪ Put my heart and soul into it all ♪

Thank you, brother Dave.

♪ My Umi said Shine your light on the world ♪

♪ Shine your light for the world to see ♪

♪ My Abi said Shine your light on the world ♪

♪ Shine your light for the world to see ♪

♪ I want my people to be free To be free ♪

[Dave] The mother of my children,

who helps me and empowers me to do everything I do,

Elaine...

Thank God for you.

[applause]