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Chappelle's Show Season 3 Episode 1

Ep. #301

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8.4

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 7/9/06

$11,000 Haircut: This sketch starts as the announcement of Dave's payment of $55,000,000 and everybody trying to extort him. Hip-Hop Newsbreak: Dave is playing a white newscaster and delivers a story based off of Method Man beating someone the way described in Method Man's M.E.T.H.O.D. Man song from the 36 Chambers album. Revenge: Dave goes around with his new found fortune and gets revenge on everyone whose shafted him in the past. 2Pac's Alive: This skit has Dave in a club when a "new" 2Pac song (sung by Chappelle) comes on and the lyrics are based on todays events.moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (9)

The decline of Chappelle's Show begins...

7.9

By vgplaya89, Feb 25, 2007

Chappelle's Show was so good, it pretty much ended up killing itself off from being such quality entertainment, and having mass popularity. before the end of Season 3's production, Dave ran off to Africa to a religious retreat. this caused many delays on the long-awaited Season 3. eventually, it was apparent that Chappelle's Show was pretty much dead, out of nowhere.

Comedy Central finally decided to air the 3 episodes of Season 3 that they did film, calling them "The Lost Episodes". after watching them, I think that it is better that the show died, because these episodes, while still hilarious, just weren’t up to the quality of the previous seasons. half of the skits in this episode were pretty good though.

for example, the 2Pac sketch quickly became one of my top 5 sketches ever. the sketch with Chappelle getting extorted by everyone he knows was pretty funny too. the "revenge" one was kind of pointless though. overall, this episode was good, but below the average quality of Chappelle's show...moreless
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this episode skits are method man harrasment, tupac's new song, ka chong moment (short), dave getting robbed, dave revenge

9.0

By thekillarobot, Jul 16, 2006

This episode is so funny. I like the part when dave chapple kicked the baby. Also the part when tupac was rapping was really funny how he was talking about stuff current. I did not like the skit when he was tyrone talkiing about he got harrassed by method man.
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His original explanation for leaving seems to sum it up: the material isn't on par. Some of it you can see could've been good had it been finished, but the lost episodes was a sad characaturic excuse for an advertising drive.moreless

4.3

By jugheadsjonesin, Jul 11, 2006

Oh what a sad day Sunday was. Back to back reminders and everything. There I sat doe-eyed with a pile of smokeables and snack food prepared to watch a thing of glory I thought would never happen. And essentially it never did.

I just hope Comedy Central\'s marketing failed in their ploy of roping in ratings for Carlos Mencia by piggybacking it with one of the most anticipated non-sporting and non-reality show television events of the 2000\'s: NEW CHAPPELLE!.

"I don't think he's gonna show up. Start the show." Bad Taste. Collective Comedy Central behind-covering, and sad too. At least Charlie Murphy showed a little couth at the beginning of the show with an apology to Dave. Donnel "Ashey Larry" however was a pair of clown shoes from the beginning, shamelessly self-promoting his upcoming post-Chappelle "career." This is sad, he was one of the regulars you used to look forward too.

Let's just set those things aside though and think back for a second. Throw down for a second the excitement of "NEW CHAPPELLE! WATER COOLER FODDER!" and really analyze Sunday's Spectacle. Think back to the previous end of the season "Mixtapes" of highlights, behind the scenes moments, cutting room floor material, for a little insight into sketch comedy production.

Notice how a lot of the behind the scenes segments and sketches that were cut didn't quite have the same sure-fire Chappelle magic? They were taken out of context. Dave and Neil didn't edit them the same as they did for the show. (Take the janitor repetitively saying "Can I holla, lemme holla, etc" or the Def Jam Poetry sketch for an example.)

This is the exact reason why the Sunday Spectacle didn't work. The sketches had previously been edited for comedic pacing. Timing in comedy is everything. Why do most critics hate MadTV? The actors and ideas are initially funny (and the actors are especially funny on other shows as is the case with Alex voicing characters on Family Guy). But the writers and producers and directors don\'t know when to end a sketch. If MadTV was a half-hour long, it would be a lot easier to watch. This is basically what happened with the awkard Chappelle episode "301."

The Wu-Tang torture sketch could\'ve been pretty funny. But it was introduced as being a satire on Hip Hop news, when the sketch was simply Tron in a hospital listing off torture methods from a Wu-Tang album skit. You can see that it was meant to be part of a larger segment on escalating hip hop violence, but Charlie introduced it as "I guess Dave was making fun of Hip Hop news..." I guess. Let's have two cast members host the sketches and introduce them by saying "I think this was what he was going for." That's professionalism.

I don't have the energy to break it down scene by scene, but that pretty much exemplifies why I'm going to be watching the remaining two episodes with the anticipatory horror of a child who's been attacked by a neighbor's dog. "Well the new puppy we got looks nice enough, she probably won't bite me, but I just don't know".

The new sketches were haphazrdly organized, Charlie and Donnel seemed to only be doing one take on the intros, and the sketches are presented in long form instead of being edited for comedy pacing.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that we were treated to one sketch per commercial break, as Comedy Central tries to milk all it can out of a teat that isn't even there anymore.

One last rant: Why is this episode rated 10.0 perfect by 19 ratings on this site, when the first six reviews on the page are all less than sevens?

Let's try to remember the previously flawless episodes and get over people. Also, boycott Carlos Mencia. Just because he yells doesn't make him funny. Making fun of your own race isn't funny in and of itself, you need jokes too. Mind of Mencia is Comedy Central's Dutchboy Thumb in the Absent Dave Chappelle's Ratings Drop Dyke. Let it be know however I still love Dave for trying to maintain integrity by leaving the show, but [insert vulgarity here] Comedy Central.moreless
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Dave Chappelle returns for the few episodes of the third season he filmed. Although the skits are neither great nor awful you can see the effort Chappelle was trying to put up with Comedy Central and the pressure from everyone.moreless

8.8

By FanOfDegrassi, Jul 11, 2006

The show starts with a different beginning, Dave is no longer in it and Donnell and Charlie have taken over with the song. From the start the show already felt awkward and different. The first sketch that was presented was funny and funny enough the message Dave sent through it proved to be true as people are already critizcing the "lost episodes". Kudos to Dave on that one. The hosts Charlie and Donnell were funny but it wasn't Dave their own little sketch about Dave being in Africa was ok but not great. You can clearly see that Comedy Central is trying to spread out the skits they have evenly giving they aired the Chuck Taylor one and cut to commercials very soon.

Also the Tron sketch wasn't one of my favorites. It lacked something like length but it was alright. The Chuck Taylor one was also semi-disappointing only because of length it was so short. However the revenge skit was pretty funny, the wheelchair one was hilarious! But the Tupac skit saved the episode it was so funny and so true I was laughing the entire time.

So with the previews for the rest of the three episodes it looks like the skits will be good but all four "lost" episodes won't feel the same, but we can make the best of what we got.moreless
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ep #301

7.0

By Takio, Jul 10, 2006

You know when you go out for a night on the town. You party, meet a nice girl maybe get her number, eat and have a lot of meaning less conversation. When you get home at some time in the morning and reflect on the good night you just had you realize there was something missing. Well it was there the whole half hour of the chappelle show for me. Half of it was funny half was bland. It just didn't give me the same jolt it did in the past. While chappelle was there in the skits they seemed soul less. I hope the rest of the short season is better because if not I have no choice but to wonder if chappelle really wanted these skits aired. Sub par skits and sub par hosts.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Charles Q. Murphy	Various
Dave Chappelle	Host/Various
Donnell Rawlings	Various
Neal Brennan	Himself/Various

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Elon Gold	Steve Barker	Guest Star
Spike Lee	Himself	Guest Star
Quest Love	DJ	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Donnel Rawlings and Charlie Murphy get introduced by the announcer after Dave Chappelle doesn't show up on stage. What some people may not realize is, Donnel Rawlings is the announcer who introduced them.
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QUOTES (6)
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- Dave Chappelle: Alright but for 11,000 dollars shave my balls then, nigga.
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- Donnell: I'm broke, biatch!
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- Dave Chappelle: Go back to your husband. Oh wait a minute...Ohhhhhhhh!!!!!
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- Donnell: I'm broke bitch!!! he falls into Charlie Murphy's arms
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- Dave Chappelle as 2Pac: What can a n**** DO
  When half the people voted for George W.
  Cant be TRUE
  Cuz he's a snitch
  Im talkin bout George W. Smith
  From city council
  He ran in '93
  Out in Oakland
  You probably didnt hear about him
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- Dave Chappelle: Whatssup MTV come on in you broke motherf*ckers. see how I'm livng...ahhh
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NOTES (2)
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- This Episode was hosted by Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings.
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- The 3 "lost episodes" came to DVD on July 25, just over two weeks after it aired on television.
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- After Donnell Rawlings says he'll take all the airtime he can get, (when he is jumping around onstage) he says that he's "going from ashy to classy." This is a direct quote from his character Ashy Larry in the World Series of Dice sketch.
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- In the Hip Hop News skit Tron tells about his attack at the hands of Method Man. The words Tron uses are direct quotes and paraphrases from the Wu-Tang's single Method Man off of their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The words are mainly from the song's skit between Method Man and Raekwon, who discuss different forms of torture. A small portion of the attack description is also from the song's intro by GZA.
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