Dave Chappelle - This Industry is a Monster | UNFORGIVEN

Alright, here's the story. I started doing stand-up comedy when I was 14 years old. I will never forget the first time I went on stage. The guy who introduced me was a guy called Jt Newton. I am 47 years old. I can close my eyes. and remember the intro like it was yesterday, it went like

this

, ladies and gentlemen, the next young man to take the stage is starting his comedy career tonight, who knows, we may be witnessing the birth of a star, please welcome him to David Chapel since the first time I ever held a microphone. I was sure

this

was it.

He knew he was home. I knew he had found mine. My God. My God. He was a boy. I became good. In fact. I was good from the moment I started. I'm not saying this is a parenthesis, I'm telling you the truth, these old men were amazed at me, how was this kid so calm that they used to say like that? I mean, you know I got better, but it started well about a year ago. When I was 15, I had written a joke during the AIDS epidemic about having a good year condom. Something I don't even remember the joke.

Something about a Goodyear industrial condom. I just remember that all the comedians really liked that joke. and there was an older comedian who came to me one night after the show after seeing the joke and he said, listen, I have an audition at another comedy club and I was wondering if you would mind if I do that joke. I only want. to borrow it now I'm a kid I don't know any better I say well I guess if it will help your career I let him make the joke and then weeks later I was waiting to continue. the comedy club and he walked past me and made the joke and after the show I took him aside and said hey man I don't mind you borrowing my jokes but you have to give it back to him he said oh I forgot to ask You, him, let me buy that joke from you for fifty dollars and I said, man, I would do it, but I'm just getting started.

I need all the material. It occurs to me that the more material I can accumulate, the faster I can make money with my work. I said I can't do it. I want my joke back. I will never forget this. Remember that he was a 15-year-old boy. This guy was a grown man. He stood over me. I could see how great he was and he told me I can really take it and he did. I was scared because he was a child, but I never forgot it. I never forgot that he was 15 years old. I'm 47 now, I think.

About this guy all the time, when I look at my own kids and see how young and innocent they are, I can't believe someone did that to me and I don't think about it every day because that was the worst thing that ever happened to me. For me, I think about it every day because it was the first time someone did that to me, but in my career it has happened many times since then, where someone would bully me or scare me and take something that I think was mine. story now I'm 18 years old I live in New York City and I just finished my first road tour which was a very difficult tour.

I'll spare you the details now that I'm back in New York but my rent is paid. thank god and i have 60 dollars to my name and a woman i met in pittsburgh a bad dominican was coming to new york she was going to spend the weekend with me i couldn't wait for her to get there she was coming that night i remember i just had 60 hours over an entire weekend to entertain someone bad. Now I'm walking through Greenwich Village and I see something I've never seen before. Three monthly cards. Do you know what that is? Yes, the guy had everything on the table. he got ready and he had the three cards and the crowd was screaming and screaming and he was like find the red card find the red card and people played sometimes they win sometimes they lose but it was really exciting and I was there watching it and I realized as I was watching them play this game that the red card that you're trying to find had just a little curve in the corner and I'm looking and I'm like, this guy doesn't look like I know the red card is a little bit.

I'm going to get through this and I walked up to the table and said let me play a hand and I put my last sixty dollars on that table and he started shuffling and found the red card. He finds the red one. card and I kept watching that folded card go around the table, I made sure to keep my eyes on that folded card and when he stopped shuffling and said, look for the red card, I confidently pointed to it, here it is, right here and he turned it over. and he was black and he took my money.

I couldn't believe how he did this. That was magic or sorcery. He was confused, so you know what I did. I sat there and watched him for a long time play the game and I realized that all those people who were screaming and shouting and betting, my God, who were his friends, were involved in the whole thing. I felt so wronged, I felt so stupid and then the next fool came up to the table and was about to put his money down and I told him man, don't put your money there, this is all involved, it's a trick and when I said the guy who was negotiating and this was huge grabbed me by my spine, feel how strong he is.

It was when he grabbed me, I was a skinny little guy and he was going to mutilate me, the only reason he didn't do it, I'm sure, is because he saw the fear in my face and that fear, he looked at me, I saw his eyes. he leave. From hard to soft, he softened and then looked at me like our father would look at a child and said, young man, never come between a man and his food. I never forgot that either of us would have to run the Calles for years to learn such a profound lesson.

It took me two seconds. Never get between someone and their newspaper. Taking away a man's livelihood is like killing him. Do you know why the prince, the famous rock star who was a friend of mine? I know why he called himself an artist when he came back he calls himself an artist because that's what they call us in our contracts all these contracts are crazy you should listen to the terminology they say in these contracts to use your name, likeness and perpetuity throughout the universe who would know what that means, no one knows, it's so complicated, in fact when you're a kid like me you have to hire someone to tell you what that means and you sit at a table and play the game of the contract which is how I got to Comedy Central I signed the contract but I signed the contract the same way the 28 year old father-to-be who broke the signs of the contract was desperate he needed a way out and it wasn't good money and it wasn't good circumstances but What else am I going to do?

I said and all these white people sitting at that table said, trust us, Dave, it's a good contract and I looked around the table and they all seemed to agree that it was a good contract, but what if what if? It was like that three card game Monty What if they were all friends and I didn't know it? And the money bag was icebergs. Money first. What was he talking about? What was I trying to tell you last week? Two weeks. ago every time I called lauren michaels and told her okay I'll do it I'll do it Saturday night live on election night and the day I made that phone call, the day I got engaged, it was announced that Netflix is ​​streaming.

Not only is Chappelle's show streaming on Netflix, HBO Max is also streaming it. I'll tell you another story about HBO. Do not hear me. Did you know that before Chappelle's show was on Comedy Central, I pitched that show to HBO? I told him what I wanted to do now, these are all executives. What they have to do is say yes we will accept it or no thank you we will not but they did not say those things either they went too far they literally said why do we need you that is what they told me while they were kicking out of the office why do we need you and here we are all These years later and they are airing the same show that I was presenting to them so I ask them what they need me for, people think I made a lot of money for Chappelle's show when I left that show they never paid me, they didn't have to pay me because I signed the contract, but it's true, I found out that these people were passing on my work and they never had to ask me or They never had to tell me that it was perfectly legal because I signed the contract, but it's true, I didn't think about it either.

That's why I like working for Netflix. I like working for Netflix because when all those bad things happen to me, that company doesn't. They even exist and when I found out they were airing Chappelle's show I was furious, how could they not know? So you know what I did, I called them and told them this makes me feel bad and they want to know what they are. Did they agree that they would remove it from their platform just so I could feel better? That's why I'm with Netflix because they paid me my money, they do what they say they're going to do and they went above and beyond what can be expected from a businessman, they did something just because they thought I might think they were wrong and I do it .

I think if you're airing that show you're fencing stolen goods, they stole it from me, they just took it and I'm not here. I'm trying to tell you that I think Comedy Central gave me a raw deal just because I'm black. I think I got a raw deal because this

industry

is a

monster

. It's the same

monster

I was also trying to tell you. but they hate the monster for what he is like and I hate that monster for how he eats but my god it's the same monster when I left the show all my friends would say well Dave why don't you do the Chappelle show on other? network yes, yes, yes, and why doesn't a slave run from one plantation to another because the master there could be nicer, my God, he was trapped, you know what?

I tell you the truth, I tell you the truth. I've even thought about coming. I come back and do another Chappelle show, but if I do I can't call it a Chappelle show because my name and image are being used by them in perpetuity throughout the universe. It's in the contract. You're not supposed to do this in my business. I'm here doing something that no one else in this business has the balls to do. I'm telling you something you need to know. I'm trying to explain to you what you're seeing. You don't understand what you are.

Seeing that I'm publicly whipping a network and I know that on this network, they look at me and say why, why are you doing this so publicly? So I feel good about being publicly spanked. Oh believe me, I know exactly how that feels when I left my program They said I was crazy What was crazy? I just didn't want to do it anymore. They said he smoked crack. That's impossible. He was a devout Muslim. He didn't smoke or drink, but now he does, because you ruined my life. life is now your turn this is your first lesson and it is my honor to give it to you they are going to pay me for this show I called my agent I told him if there was anything I could do about it and he said no well you too then You want something done right I guess you have to do it yourself So I'm not going to go to the agents I'm going to see my real boss I'm going to go to you I beg you if you ever like me if you ever I think there was something that It was worth it to me.

I beg you. Please don't watch that show. I'm not asking to boycott any chain. Boycott me. Boycott Chappelle's show. Don't watch it unless they pay me. If you are a Viacom shareholder, then. I'm talking to you because everything they do well for us is done for their shareholders. That's what they told me. So if you're a shareholder in that company, tell them it's wrong and if you don't think it's wrong, then you should also know what's in the hot dogs you eat now. , there are probably a ton of people at Comedy Central and Viacom and all these places that have no idea what I'm talking about, they all quit, got fired, or got me. also or something went missing and there's a bunch of new kids there and they probably look like what are you talking about, they might not actually know what happened to me so I'll tell you what I'm talking about, come downstairs. to your accounting department open the books look what that program did and look what you paid me that's exactly what I'm talking about you're going to pay me I invite you to come with me and work with me and let's fight that terrible terrible feeling that I you made me feel together, we can fight together and work on this with Chappelle Show or I can just accept it, thank you.