Remember Mel Brooks' 1993 movie "Robin Hood: Men In Tights," and the man of color who played Ahchoo. Can you? OK, then do you remember how funny he was? When we first see him, he's getting beaten up by royal guards a la Rodney King and then needs to stop them for a moment to pump up his sneakers: "Time Out! Sorry bad guys, but I am running out of air. Gotta get pumpin'...OK honkies, time in!" Or when he notices Robin Hood falling off his horse: "Man, white men can't jump." Or when he lays it to a "p*ssed off" Sheriff of Rottingham whose hanging upside down on his horse after his saddle gets partially sliced off: "P*ssed off? If I was that close to a horse's wiener, I'd be worrying about getting p*ssed on!" I don't know if Mel Brooks wrote these lines in, but I would like to believe that in a movie as mediocre as that, the actor ad libbed his best bits. It took a decade for him to finally make it big, but that doesn't mean that the performer was burned out.

Stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle has given hints in every movie he made since "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" (as well as the earlier days of "Star Search") of the type of wild improvisational humor that could abound from his priceless black head. Even in really awful movies such as "Screwed" and "Half-Baked" (the latter he co-wrote with white-skinned partner Neal Brennan), Chappelle must have enjoyed tweaking the script to his advantage, or just knew the comedic material well enough to play it serviceably. But those are the weak links in his resume, as relishing supporting roles in movies such as "The Nutty Professor," "Con Air," and "Undercover Brother" prove. Chappelle emerged as full-blown comedic talent. In fact, his career is loaded with enough laughs to make a greatest hits collection, and yet the man isn’t as prolific as could be. Watching his role as Conspiracy Brother in "Undercover Brother," I found half of the album already. Still, talent undiscovered.

That is until Comedy Central decided to take the big chance and give Dave his own half-hour comedy show. Everything goes, and usually does, when one wild-*ss n*gga can infiltrate prime time cable, and thanks to Comedy Central Home Video/Paramount DVD, you can relive the unrestricted glory that is Chappelle’s Show: The Complete First Season Uncensored!

Chappelle has appeared on prime time network TV, but it was 8 years ago and the ABC-aired show, "Buddies," went nowhere fast. Many of his other TV plans fizzled before conception or pilot presentation, and the only ways you could see him was on HBO (the 2000 special "Killin' 'Em Softly"), E! ("Howard Stern"), or Comedy Central ("Crank Yankers"). And maybe when his movies got repeated, which usually do nowadays (USA plays the life out of "The Nutty Professor" and "Con Air"). However, the show was a surprise hit: Dave was funny enough and so daring that his show is now at second season, and could become a Comedy Central commodity as enduring as "The Daily Show" and "South Park" are. And I wouldn't mind.

I loved "The Richard Pryor Show." I raved over "In Living Color." I adored "The Chris Rock Show." Now here comes another classic Afro-American show to play the race cards for all the parody that they're worth. And they’re the brainchilds of some really hilarious performers. Whilst Chappelle probably won't be seen as smart as or as influential as Pryor or Rock, the man should not shoved into the backburner the way Pryor was in 1977. Drawing from pop culture, the real world (both MTV and outside-the-box versions), hang-ups about race, hang-ups about relationships, hang-ups about drugs, and hang-ups about anatomy, Chappelle goes wild with devious and defiant send-ups that ooze humor so outrageous that you might want to be born again if you end up laughing. And if Chappelle doesn't make you howl, then maybe you’ve lost all your God-given sense of humor. Even at it's most racy, the show still delivers.

The first episodes contain recurring jokes where Dave wonders to his studio audience if this show is bad enough to get him kicked right off the air. In the debut episode, which aired in January of 2003, the first sketch is unbridled, scathing satire which is a spoof of the Mitsubishi commercials with the Dirty Vegas rave music and the dancing white girl. Dave is the driver, who is so turned off by her mechanical passenger side motions that he kicks her right the f*ck out. Then he picks up a groovy black girl who promptly thrusts her booty in his vicinity, and Dave finally gets hard. Then Dave decides to air a little goof wherein the black girl dances so good one of her breasts pops out of her top. This is a proper set-up for how wild and how colorfully color-picking the show will become. There’s an admirable irreverence to how far Dave will go to provoke a guffaw, and the humor is never completely mean-spirited, instead walking the line between hurtful and humorous and always staying on the right track. And he treats all races with equal opportunity for ribbing.

Let''s just put it this way: "MAD TV" now looks like "Sonny & Cher."

The double-disc package contains the first eight episodes on Disc One, and the remaining four and bonus features on the other one. The twelve original first season episodes go in this order:

EPISODE 1 (1/22/03): The outrageous pilot that is one of the funniest shows I have seen on Comedy Central. Dave airs the training tape for PopCopy office store, with Michael Rappaport and Guillermo Diaz (from "Half-Baked") as two of the employees. They show no shame in turning the store into a roving hotbed of customer abuse, from 24/7 nonworking computer services, grotesque ways of saying hi to complaining consumers, and painting bathroom toilets with "doo doo butter." Dave also went to the BET archives to find a classic moment from "Nat's Hollywood Christmas," where Nat "King" Cole drenches his female companion in champagne ("Happy holidays, you triflin' b*tch!"), and an advertisement for "The Home Stenographer" allows instant written recording of potentially risqué comments. However, the best moment is the controversial bit with Chappelle as Clayton Bigsby, a blind black man living in the backwoods of a southern town in a "Frontline"-style profile. Made to believe he was white all his life, Bigsby grew up to be a Ku Klux Klan spokesperson and white supremacy propaganda writer, all the while never realizing his true self as he spouts off such tirades as "America's at war with Al Qaeda, but we're still losing the war against Al Sharpton!" The skit is a prime example of the carefully cunning and silly spoofing that would be pivotal to the series, as a brilliant moment occurs when white boys blasting loud hip-hop are ostracized by the literally colorblind Clayton. Get a load of how many n-words you can spot in this episode.

EPISODE 2 (1/29/03): Chappelle introduces the show's best single character of the first season, Tyrone Biggums, a powder-lipped crack junkie who is first seen providing a drug awareness speech to middle school kids. However, Tyrone is still a raving drug abuser (he loves to eat "peanut butter and crack sandwiches"), so he ends up spilling the beans about how their magic markers can make them high, how LSD can cause Bugs Bunny & Mickey Mouse to party with you in your bedroom, and how easily crack can be purchased from a man named Martinez. This is classic. Dave also acknowledges how his race bars him from making inflammatory statements: he has a white opera singer belt out his opinions in birdcalls ("The police never looked for Tupac & Biggie's murderers. F*ck the police!"). An advertisement for the "Wrap It Up" boom box plays the Academy Awards orchestral arrangements used for rambling speeches. Finally, in a response to Miss Cleo, Chappelle imagines his own faux-Jamaican psychic hotline where he predicts the future based on racial stereotypes. Mos Def performs.

EPISODE 3 (2/05/2003): Dave airs taped footage from QVC which shows a woman with genital herpes modeling earrings and another with outrageous pubic hair modeling a bikini. Also, a unbelievably amusing promotional ad for "Roots: The Special Edition DVD Boxed Set," which contains outtakes, gags, interactive menus, and more. There's highlights from Chappelle's ill-fated reality show "Zapped!," where he stages the death of the parents of a few kids and also puts on a realistic yet fake bank robbery. And in "It's A Wonderful Chest," Chappelle plays a mysterious stranger who shows a big-breasted babe why her wish to be flat-chested will have seriously dire consequences. This episode was directed by Bob Goldthwait. One little problem: wouldn't it have been better had it been called "Zapp'd"? It kind of has a deft MTV/Ashton Kutcher ring to it.

EPISODE 4 (2/12/2003) "I'm Dave Chappelle, and I love Internet porn." There's a Donahue spoof where Chappelle was sitting next to a couple "Angry White Men," and this allows for digs at affirmative action and slavery. Better yet is a wild bit where all black people in America are given reparations for slavery, and the result is a tidal wave of black culture that sweeps the U.S. A street thug becomes wealthier than Bill Gates, 8000 record labels are instantly founded, and Fubu merges with Kentucky Fried Chicken to become the biggest media conglomerate in the world. One black man even celebrates having stolen a cigarette truck for his family: "I'm rich, bi-atch!" Finally, Chappelle dresses in goofy clothes and commends New York women for their great-looking t*ts.

EPISODE 5 (2/19/2003): Rap stars become sanitation entrepreneurs, particularly Roc-A-Fella Records' new line of tampons and Redman's toilet bowl cleanser. Dave Chappelle's early film work as a crippled man in a fast food joint ("Little Foot, Long Foot") and a horny duke ("Improper Inquisitions") are highlighted in a special called "Inside he Chappelle's Show Studio," and Dave turns some time over to Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor's writing partner. Mooney stars in "Ask A Black Dude," where he provides blunt and witty answers to questions from random people on the city streets. There’s another cheeky bit concerning an airplane full of racists, where even the buffalo show up to spout off their thoughts about Indians. Finally, a man named Martin Johnson is rewarded for his "Great Moment In Hook-Up History," where he successfully gets the p*ssy at a night club against the intentions of a competing baller.

EPISODE 6 (2/26/2003): There's an inspired bit wherein Dave imagines a vulgar "Antwone Fisher" take-off where he writes his own life story. From his legendary birth (which has a fabulously obscene sight gag) to his early days from "8 Mile" to the freaky shower sex with Halle Berry to the chance meeting with President Bush (as well as his two daughters), Chappelle offers an unflinching self-portrait full of drama, action, and "jokes and jokes and jokes and jokes." Mario Cantone appears in a special segment called "Ask A Gay Dude," where he delivers lisp-voiced comebacks such as "I'll put a band-aid over your left cheek and make you my Nelly." Dee Snider even makes an appearance. But this episode's main focus is an MTV lampoon called "The Mad Real World." In it, six of the craziest black stereotypes share a house with one lone white boy. Needless to say, the white boy runs afoul of these potheads, prisoners and hoochies in the most unfortunate circumstances. When Chad brings his girlfriend over, he immediately loses her to his gruff roommate Tyrell and his friend Lysol, and it gets worse when his dad comes to visit. Notice Chappelle as the dopey Tron (a holdover from the "Reparations 2003" sketch) and get ready for some big laughs.

EPISODE 7 (3/05/2003): A Rick James-looking loverman in 1983 attempts to win over a beautiful young woman by having her prudish best friends drink until they pass out in a "Great Moment In Hook-Up History." This episode launches debut of "Real Movies," wherein big Hollywood movies are re-imagined with a less glossier and more honest style. In this episode, we get bold takes on "The Matrix" and "Pretty Woman." Also, two members of the Wu-Tang Clan offer investment advice to white people in a giddy promotional spot for "Wu-Tang Financial." "You need to diversify your bonds, n*gga," goes the advice of the RZA and the GZA. Paul Mooney returns for a riotous second round of "Ask A Black Dude." The most outrageous sketch on the show concerns a conspiracy to cover up the sexual molestation of Jedi students by their trainers, including press conferences with Yoda and Mace Windau, and a one-on-one interview between anchorman Chuck Taylor and "Jarth Mader," who explicitly describes his encounters with a sexual fiend.

EPISODE 8 (3/12/2003): Immediately opens with two of the best "Real Movies" bits, one concerning an interracial fling in a remake of "Ghost" and the other a more faithful and funny presentation of Chappelle's 1998 cult classic "Half-Baked," with Jim Breuer and Guillermo Diaz reprising their roles. Later on, you get "What Men Want." A "Great Moment In Hook-Up History" concerns how in 1955, one man took his date to a movie and concocted an ingenious scheme to get a hand job from his date. In another "Frontline" exposé , Kent Wallace uncovers the bitter racist personalities of beloved animal performers like Mr. Ed and Flipper, or "James the N*gger-Hating Dolphin." However, series wild card Tyrone Biggums is back again, as the irascible but loveable crackhead is duped into attending an intervention by people in his life, from the woman whose car was hijacked by Tyrone to the couple whose house was sold by Tyrone for $450,000 in crack. The bit where we see his most fateful day as a postal worker is one of the best jokes I've ever seen in a while. And get a load of the biblical wisdom Tyrone dispenses: "Let he who is without sin throweth the first rock, and I shalt smoketh it!"

EPISODE 9 (3/19/2003): In a tribute to "Vice City," Chappelle imagines himself in his favorite video game and guns down a white fellow in order to jack his car. When Dave Chappelle heads down to Tokyo, he becomes "Blackzilla," a n*gga the size of Kong. Smoking the trees, giving the townsfolk golden showers, whupping Godzilla's a** all over the town, and also having sex with an active volcano, Japan will never be the same again. Also, Dave Chappelle's own stand-up special and an HBO America Undercover special documenting the 5th Annual Player Hater Awards (with guest host Ice-T), where the most renowned jive-talking pimps gather from around the world in order to award the most despicable player in the game. There’s also an annual "photo-flip," where the players roast various celebrities, like Kelly Osbourne. Silky Johnston, the most notorious hater of them all (so it's definitely the Chappelle role), lacerates her: "I like the song the girl sings, 'Papa Don't Preach.' I got a song for you too, b*tch: it's called 'Daughter Don’t Sing.'"

EPISODE 10 (3/26/2003): We're treated to two music videos by R. Kelly for his newest hit, "P*ss On You," which mixes couplets like "You'll never feel quite the same/When you get a whiff of my Hershey stains" and "That's the way it goes at R. Kelly's party/I sip Cris, you drink p*ss." Alongside "Ask A Black Dude" commentary about interracial sex and white folks' suppression of blacks by Paul Mooney, we get another "Real Movies" presentation of the late 1990s Morgan Freeman-starring disaster film "Deep Impact," in which we see the president successfully clone three white girls, present the cure of AIDS, and also develop inter-special contact with an alien named Bibble. The highlight: a "History Channel" presentation about the bitter street rivalry between 1982 Chicago gangster cliques the River Terrace Crew and the 19th Street Gangsters, which stemmed from sneaker damage all the way to the infamous "Battle of the Kool Moe Dee Concert."

EPISODE 11 (4/2/2003): With 50 Cent now a superstar, rap's newest sensation, Fisticuff, unleashes his hard-hitting debut album "Turn My Headphones Up." Chappelle also stars as himself, when a dying little boy in the hospital makes a last wish to see him, but the meeting turns anti-sentimental when Chappelle takes the kid on in a video game of basketball, and he creams the runt. Chappelle also goes into a Chinatown store (a la "Gremlins") to purchase a magical video camera, which can expose people's inner thoughts, true selves, and position in ten years time. Chappelle tests it out on Carson Daly, and also goes to the club to meet an old girlfriend. However, when Dave points it on himself and sees his future, he gets more than he can handle. There's also a boss musical performance by De La Soul.

EPISODE 12 (4/9/2003): The last go-round of the season. First, a commercial for "O'Dweeds," the first publicly marketable stash of marijuana because of its anti-T.H.C. chemistry which gives full reefer flavor but without the side effects. Dave provides his own "And 1" mix tape which shows Chappelle effortlessly smoking rivals in the fields of baseball, tennis, and bowling. You know how you enjoy naming off NBA players whenever you're on the court and you're kicking a**? Well, Dave presents a medley of people going through everyday situations such as getting busted by the police over pot, strangling the boss, and having a four-way, only now they get to name-check their athletic inspirations. When People magazine accuses Dave of being immature, he fires back with a passionate choir performance of "The Diarrhea Song." Finally, "Trading Spouses" is a reality show about how a black family and a white family switch husbands for 12 months, and the eccentricities that arise. They have obviously contrasting views of cooking, disciplining, and sex, which makes for some funny sh*t (especially the "child-rearing" segment). A freestyle musical performance by Blackstar, a collabortation between Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

Presented in TV-friendly 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the DVD presentation of Chappelle’s Show is considerably good. With the exception of some haloing, some shimmers and mild grain, particularly in darker shots, the picture shows excellent sharpness and consistency. The many transitions, which employ the white background antics of Dave and the two blues musicians, seamlessly bind the episodes, and provide basic chapter selections (there is no menu for them to be found). Color tones are sharp and vibrant, with a whole lotta black that is rendered with detailed flesh tones, shadow delineation, and overall above-average darkness balance. This boasts a fine enough video transfer for a cable-TV show.

Dolby Digital 2.0 surround mixes do very commendable jobs spreading crowd noise, music, and sound effects through the various front channels. Bass response on most of the rap music selections, particularly the Dead Prez track that always opens the show, are pretty strong themselves. However, it's the dialogue which boasts perhaps the greatest fidelity of all, and even the oriental tongues come across as very easy to understand. From song lyrics to sketch performances to Dave Chappelle's awesome screams, nothing about the mixing of the speech seems rickety at all. No subtitles or foreign language tracks.

The menus boast animated presentation which features more of Dave and the blues men, and like I said in parentheses, there’s no chapter menus for the episodes, even though they are broken up. However, I can't hold bones with the DVD presentation because it is too good. The two DVDs are beautifully presented in fold-apart digipak packaging complete with binding slipcase. Also, it's important to note that perhaps due to rights issues, many of the live performances from the first season have been excised, leaving most episodes to run about 16 minutes and others at 22. Performances by The Roots, GZA, Busta Rhymes and Fat Joe were the big casualties.

The DVD bonus features are quite good. Aside from minimal Comedy Central Quickies (for the shows "Crank Yankers" and "Reno 911!"), the disc boasts 30 superb minutes of unreleased outtakes and improvisational bits from a lot of the various sketches. The "Nuts" and "Roc-A-Pads" segments are general blooper reels, which are hilarious, but unessential. The remaining bits are full of treasures. "Mad Real World" contains a lot of good cutting room material, including a wild barrage of insults from Chappelle's Tron character concerning Katie's infidelity to Chad, "Wonderful Chest" contains an unaired bit where a man actually masturbates on-camera, "PopCopy" contains a really nifty drug joke that was probably cut for time, "Blackzilla" features Dave fingering the volcano in a frisky manner, and "Playa Haters Ball" contains several more great insults.

Another string of outtakes include 12 minutes of raw in-studio footage of Paul Mooney answering the many questions he received in the "Ask A Black Dude" questions, and nearly every jokey reply is extended and contains Paul cracking up at the end. It’s repetitive in that manner, but still quite funny nonetheless.

Finally, on episodes #1, 6, 9, 10, and 12, as well as the outtakes reel, we get audio commentary tracks from writers/performers Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan. The gist of these commentaries are no different from your typical attempt to cover a time space below 25 minutes, with a lot of on-screen commentating and noticeable gaps in the recording. However, expect them to dish up the goods on the creation and presentation of the show, Dave's feelings about the wardrobe he wears on the first season credits, the fact that the duo loathe the term "skit" to the point of inside jokes, what went into many of the big sketches, and also where you can spot the improvs. Also, find out what happened when Dave saw R. Kelly at an awards ceremony following the "P*ss On You" skit (oops!) and also many of the segments that they believed couldn’t have worked.

When the show gets high, it makes Tyrone Biggums seem like a 12-step survivor, and when it becomes low, at least it doesn’t pass out on you. It will take a few watches for many of the bits to grow on you (a lot of the smaller ones like the "And 1" mix tape), but they remain quite funny. All in all, Chappelle’s Show is one of the shows I like to habitually watch on TV, this coming from a guy who never tunes in an episode of "Friends" or "American Idol." Maybe it says something about my taste for comedy. Oh well, the point is: it's Chappelle’s Show: The Complete First Season UNCENSORED!, and I loved almost every inch of these 12 episodes. Get this package now, bi-atch!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age