Clayton Bigsby reincarnated as a Jewish anti-Semite, and more.
Chappelle's Show is my favorite show of all time for many reasons. One reason is that if you search "darkness" on Urban Dictionary, this is the first result. Another reason is the incredible prescience of the show's social commentary. A number of jokes that Chappelle's Show made 10 years ago have disturbingly come true. Today's news of an anti-Semitic Hungarian politician who found out his grandmother is an Auschwitz survivor is a very similar story to Chappelle's immortal black white supremacist sketch. In each story, a hate-fueled man is forced to confront his prejudices when it is revealed he is the person he hates, except one is brutal comedy and the other is painfully real. This is not the first time Chappelle's Show predicted the future, nor will it be the last.
In 2004, Fox had a show called Trading Spouses, where two families from different social classes switch husbands or wives for a week. The infamous "DORK SIDED" viral video comes from this show. In 2003, Chappelle's Show had a sketch called "Trading Spouses," where black Leonard Washington and white Todd Jacobson switch families. "Who the fuck is Renee Zell-wedge-er?"
This was not the only time Fox inadvertently ripped off Chappelle in the worst way possible. Chappelle played Morgan Freeman in a Deep Impact parody where he was blamed for an asteroid, and then reveals a bunch of other presidential secrets. Last year a meme went around that satirically compared Fox News' coverage of President Obama to the sketch. Chappelle understood how a black president would be treated. Behold:
Chappelle's Show was on the air at the same time as Punk'd, which led to "Zapped," a horribly cruel prank show parody. In the years since, reality TV pranks have gotten as cruel as "Zapped." In the present, there's I Wanna Marry 'Harry', which the Washington Post called "the meanest reality show ever," where women are duped into thinking they're competing to marry a prince. The network? You guessed it, Fox.
Finally, and perhaps less obviously, hip-hop mogul and meditation advocate Russell Simmons has a line of prepaid Visa cards that have been criticized for shady tactics. Sounds a little bit like Wu-Tang Financial.
There you have it. Truth in comedy. Duddaduddadudda.
Image via Comedy Central.