ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 I look at the satiric phenomenon of Chappelle’s Show. This chapter opens the book because of the ways in which Chappelle’s Show is fundamental in providing a particular mold for black satiric epistemology in 21st-century satire, including both acknowledging and engaging the varied conditions of black racial madness in America. Discussing several of his most indelible sketches including: “Frontline: Clayton Bigsby” and “The Racial Draft,” I focus my examination on how Dave Chappelle formulated the tragic rage of black subjectivity through his comedy. Chappelle’s engagement with black racial madness is especially sharp in how it deftly portrays the affective labor of being a black racialized subject in an American society determined to deny its entrenched racial character. I am interested in how the psychic effects of this labor are on display in his work for the show, but also in his decision to end production of the show, as well as his lingering impact on black satire, at the turn of the 21st century.
