Dave Chappelle is the New Bert Williams…
by R2C2H2 Tha Artivist
Dave Chappelle, is one of the hottest comedians and entertainers around, dead or alive, in spite or because of his questionable (to some) career choices...He is the closest thing we got to the original Mr. Nobody himself Mr. Bert Williams…Sounds absurd??? If it does to you that means you are not really thinking about the comparison…
Bert and Dave were and are among the most famous American entertainers, Black or White, during their careers and time…
Both men were and are very knowledgeable about the history of Black folks in the African Diaspora…For example, Bert Williams had a personal library of about 800 to over a 1,000 books pertaining to Black World History while Dave's mom was the first person to create a Ph.d program for African American Studies in the United States and was an assistant for the legendary African Congo Prime Minister Patrice LaMumba…
Both were paid very handsomely for their talents...Dave signed a lucrative 50 million dollar contract for extension of the Chappelle Show and Bert Williams was one of the highest paid entertainers in the country at one point getting paid more than the President of the U.S.…
Both men were pioneers in the comedic/entertainment field…Bert Williams was one of the first recording stars (Black or White) in the then newly formed music recording industry and the first Black entertainer to appear in the legendary Ziegfield Follies and was hired in 1916 by the Biograph Company to write, direct, and star in "Natural Born-Gambler", based on a character he created in vaudeville, and a film called "Fish", also for Biograph..This made Bert Williams one of the first black film directors in history!!! In August of 1920 Bert Williams became the first African American member in the Actors Equity Union...Dave Chappelle was the first Black person to have had a self-titled and episodic t.v. comedy show, Chappelle's Show, on the pre-dominantly white Comedy Central cable channel and currently has the record for the biggest selling t.v. series DVD (Chappelle's Show: The First Season) of all time…
Both men were gifted comedic writers who wrote their own material which gave their shows such an innovative and original quality...As a matter of fact Bert Williams was so good at this that many of his fellow white entertainers although they respected his gifts became intimidated and insecure around him, so much so that they openly and publicly complained that his material was better than theirs!!!…Because of the universality of their writing and exceptional performing abilities Williams and Chappelle were able to gain a wider and Whiter audience for their gifts, reaching people that many of their peers could not a.k.a. mass or mainstream appeal…
Africa both played a significant role/theme in both men's lives…Bert Williams did plays and comedic musicals about the motherland ("In Dahomey") while Chappelle basically ran away to the continent to South Africa…
Both embraced the controversial words coon and nigga as terms of endearment…Bert Williams and his comedy/business partner George Walker both used the term "The Two Real Coons" to promote their act while Dave is (in)famous for using the word nigga to address people of all colors in his t.v. show and throughout his stand up routine…
Both turned down college to pursue their comedy/entertainment career ...Allegedly Bert was planning to go to Stanford University to be a civil engineer and Chappelle shocked his family (both of his parents were college professors) by his decison not to go…
Both went to "school" to learn their craft…Dave Chappelle went to the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. as well as spent time doing stand up in D.C. area clubs while Bert Williams spent time performing Shakespeare in a travelling troupe throughout California and hit the road doing various vaudeville shows throughout the U.S….
"The Two Real Coons", Williams and Walker
Minstrelsy played a role in both men's comedic presentations…Bert Williams a fair skinned, freckled face and red haired West Indian would blackened up to play his most popular character Mr. NoBody as well as various roles in his storied career while Dave Chappelle would 'whitened up' for certain roles in his already legendary tv show…
"White Folks call it Chanticler, but it's plain ole chicken to me": Bert Williams plucking it up for laughs in the 1910 Ziegfield Follies.
Both Williams and Chappelle had a penchant and love for chicken a.k.a. the official Bird of Black America jokes…Dave Chappelle would often poke fun at Black America's love for the tasty bird while Williams had a skit which was entitled "White folks call it Chanticler, but it's plain ole' chicken to me!"…
Chappelle as Rick James
Bert Williams a.k.a. Mr. NoBody by R2C2H2
Both men earned distinction playing memorable characters with musical backgrounds...One of Dave's memorable (and I say career making) characters was when he impersonated the late and great, but often star crossed Rick James in Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories (a parody of E! True Hollywood Story) and ingeniously coined the now (in)famous cultural phrase "I'm Rick James Bitch!!!"…Bert Williams most popular and equally star-crossed character was Mr. NoBody a down on his luck everyman/underdog whose signature song "Mr. NoBody" as sung by Bert Williams was a major commercial success during its time…
Chappelle as King of Crunk Lil Jon
Unfortunately like Chappelle, Bert Williams also became a prisoner of his own success and an "inconvenience" by being a wildly successful African American man in America…The great comedic talent and Bert Williams' good friend W.C. Fields once stated that Bert Williams was "the funniest man he ever saw, but the saddest man he ever knew"…Williams himself once famously stated jokingly and satirically that he is proud to be Negro, but sometimes it can be an inconvenience...Although he was one of the leading and best paid talents on Broadway and in American entertainment, Bert Williams was sometimes subjected to mistreatment by his White colleagues and Whites in general because of the color of his skin…The White actors in the Ziegfield Follies threatened to strike if Bert Williams the first African American entertainer ever included in the popular entertainment program was allowed to stay in the show…Mr. Ziegfield to his credit stood by his star and made sure that he got top billing another thing which made Williams' White counterparts angry…He also was discriminated against by many hotels, restaurants and other establishments because he was African American, albeit arguably outside of Jack Johnson, the most famous and recognizable Black person in America…In regards to this special treatment Williams once said, "It wouldn't be so bad. ... if I didn't hear the applause [from his performance] still ringing in my ears."
Although Chappelle did not face the same exact obstacles as Williams did, Chappelle still had to deal with racism and people questioning his sanity, especially after walking away from a lucrative 50 million dollar contract and a highly successful television show without notifying the supposedly proper channels/ people of his intentions and going to South Africa to take a vacation…Although the show was in his name, Chappelle felt that he wasn't receiving the proper due and respect as the show's creator and wanted more control over the decision making process…He also thought that many of his skits although they got laughs were done in bad taste and instead of destroying racism and ignorance it helped to promote both and build up hatred and misconception among people instead of commonality and acceptance by all…The infamous pixie skit (which is part of Chappelle's Show Season Three: The Lost Episodes) where he was dressed up in Black face is generally recognized as the time he felt he was doing more harm than good especially when a White man on the set was laughing in a way that was very offensive to Chappelle (Chappelle later stated that he felt the man was laughing at him more than with him)…Chappelle stated that it was hard for African American entertainers to be taken seriously without promoting stereotypes and compromising their integrity because many of the media outlets (which is almost 100% controlled by white business interests) are not sympathetic to the images of Black folks (Think Hurricane Katrina coverage)…In his own words Dave said it best when he was on Oprah:
"I would go to work on the show and I felt awful every day... I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. If I feel so bad, why keep on showing up to this place? I'm going to Africa. The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching."
In conclusion I just want to say that although Bert William was one of the most recognized and celebrated Blacks of his time he is much largely forgotten about by a shallow pop culture obsessed non-history appreciating society…However, as long as brilliant comedic talents such as Dave Chappelle comes along every generation his genius will live on if not in name then in spirit!!!
To learn more about Bert Williams please visit the following links:
www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/williams_b.html
http://www.biographcompany.com/celebrity/williams.html
http://www.answers.com/bert%20williams
To learn more about Dave Chappelle visit these following links:
http://www.davechapelle.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Chappelle
http://www.answers.com/dave%20chappelle
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