An open letter to Dave Chapelle
source: http://everzalez.com/2010/09/an-open-letter-to-dave-chapelle/
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- StrawberrieGonzoCake
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Dear Dave,
America needs your voice, and there’s a way to deliver your messages to the masses without any filters. Having the microphone is a heavy responsibility, and it’s not too late to gather the audience. You cannot let the voices of a few destroy your potential to reach millions.
WHY WE NEED YOU:
“The power of good comedy rests in its ability to expose human foibles and to reveal the silliness of cultural norms that we seldom question,” Katheryn Rice recently wrote.
Did you watch Chocolate News? It was a painful and failed attempt to follow in your footsteps to raise awareness.
Last year Courtney Young wrote about the demise of conscious-raising black comedy. She said:
“In his brilliant book “Hokum: An Anthology of African American Humor,” Paul Beatty remarks that the reason he anthologized a book of this nature is “…because I’m afraid that American humor is fading into Bolivian and that Will Smith, the driest man alive, will be historicized as the Oscar Wilde of Negro wit and whimsy.” And indeed, after Chappelle’s short lived reign, no one has truly commandeered social and political critique through comedy with the mastery and skill of Chappelle.”
After you period of reflection, your stand-up comedy continues to cover topics beyond race and touch on other social issues. You can continue to deliver these messages in multiple media formats and reach a wider audience.
HOW TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE MEDIUM AND MESSAGE:
Online, you call all the shots. You can put trusted people into place, you can choose the sponsors, the commercials, the messages… you can be the gatekeeper.
$REVENUE OPP: Develop a subscription-based, online channel where you can explore modern issues, have conversations with people and open the channel up to upcoming musical artists, comedians and thinkers. You can determine which content types you make available for the general public, and which content you have to pay to watch online.
I’m not suggesting you move 100 percent online. The success of this production house would revolve around getting out there and taking the acts to different cities. And if the audience wants more, they know they can go online to get it.
$REVENUE OPP: Musicians are considering selling tickets to watch concerts online, and they will be willing to buy tickets to watch you online too.
I remember reading an article after your departure from Comedy Central where you said the best part of doing standup was the feedback from a live audience.
While there is something to be said about the intimacy of performing for a small crowd in a London basement, you can get the same kind of feedback online.
Imagine performing to a wall of people watching your show via webcam.
This show doesn’t have to be you akwardly staring at a computer screen. Production values online have increased. You can still connect, inspire, make people laugh – all through using new media channels with old media tricks, like professional lighting, shooting and editing.
$REVENUE OPP: Sell DVDs of the content produced.
$REVENUE OPP: During the World Cup, soccer fans signed up to receive SMS texts directly to their cell phones from their favorite players. They pay a monthly fee of a few dollars, but when you multiply the amount by the hundreds of thousands of people who signed up, you can see where the profit lies. (Or you can do the same for free over Twitter.)
NO ONE IS ASKING YOU TO GO BACK TO HOLLYWOOD, DAVE. COME TO AUSTIN INSTEAD.
While you could run the online production house at your farm and be close to family, you could also choose to retreat to the beautiful sceneary and hip oddities of the Hill Country.
The city is still growing, and you can help shape the future.
In a Time magazine article, you were quoted as saying you went to Africa because “it quiets the ego down. I’m interested in the kind of person I’ve got to become. I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced. I’ve got to check my intentions, man.”
The blogging community here in Austin knows exactly where you are coming from. A great number of us were recently inspired to look into our own intentions on why we choose to create content and share information. This is a community that understands.
I post these ideas not as an attempt to sell my services. I believe in these ideas so much, I consider it a public service to just give them to you as a basis to build your own strategy with a trusted group of advisers.
Of course, you are welcome to walk into my place of work Jerry McGuire style and ask me to come with you, seeing as how “this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together!”
In conclusion: The revolution will not be televised.
America needs your voice, and there’s a way to deliver your messages to the masses without any filters. Having the microphone is a heavy responsibility, and it’s not too late to gather the audience. You cannot let the voices of a few destroy your potential to reach millions.
WHY WE NEED YOU:
“The power of good comedy rests in its ability to expose human foibles and to reveal the silliness of cultural norms that we seldom question,” Katheryn Rice recently wrote.
Did you watch Chocolate News? It was a painful and failed attempt to follow in your footsteps to raise awareness.
Last year Courtney Young wrote about the demise of conscious-raising black comedy. She said:
“In his brilliant book “Hokum: An Anthology of African American Humor,” Paul Beatty remarks that the reason he anthologized a book of this nature is “…because I’m afraid that American humor is fading into Bolivian and that Will Smith, the driest man alive, will be historicized as the Oscar Wilde of Negro wit and whimsy.” And indeed, after Chappelle’s short lived reign, no one has truly commandeered social and political critique through comedy with the mastery and skill of Chappelle.”
After you period of reflection, your stand-up comedy continues to cover topics beyond race and touch on other social issues. You can continue to deliver these messages in multiple media formats and reach a wider audience.
HOW TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE MEDIUM AND MESSAGE:
Online, you call all the shots. You can put trusted people into place, you can choose the sponsors, the commercials, the messages… you can be the gatekeeper.
$REVENUE OPP: Develop a subscription-based, online channel where you can explore modern issues, have conversations with people and open the channel up to upcoming musical artists, comedians and thinkers. You can determine which content types you make available for the general public, and which content you have to pay to watch online.
I’m not suggesting you move 100 percent online. The success of this production house would revolve around getting out there and taking the acts to different cities. And if the audience wants more, they know they can go online to get it.
$REVENUE OPP: Musicians are considering selling tickets to watch concerts online, and they will be willing to buy tickets to watch you online too.
I remember reading an article after your departure from Comedy Central where you said the best part of doing standup was the feedback from a live audience.
While there is something to be said about the intimacy of performing for a small crowd in a London basement, you can get the same kind of feedback online.
Imagine performing to a wall of people watching your show via webcam.
This show doesn’t have to be you akwardly staring at a computer screen. Production values online have increased. You can still connect, inspire, make people laugh – all through using new media channels with old media tricks, like professional lighting, shooting and editing.
$REVENUE OPP: Sell DVDs of the content produced.
$REVENUE OPP: During the World Cup, soccer fans signed up to receive SMS texts directly to their cell phones from their favorite players. They pay a monthly fee of a few dollars, but when you multiply the amount by the hundreds of thousands of people who signed up, you can see where the profit lies. (Or you can do the same for free over Twitter.)
NO ONE IS ASKING YOU TO GO BACK TO HOLLYWOOD, DAVE. COME TO AUSTIN INSTEAD.
While you could run the online production house at your farm and be close to family, you could also choose to retreat to the beautiful sceneary and hip oddities of the Hill Country.
The city is still growing, and you can help shape the future.
In a Time magazine article, you were quoted as saying you went to Africa because “it quiets the ego down. I’m interested in the kind of person I’ve got to become. I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced. I’ve got to check my intentions, man.”
The blogging community here in Austin knows exactly where you are coming from. A great number of us were recently inspired to look into our own intentions on why we choose to create content and share information. This is a community that understands.
I post these ideas not as an attempt to sell my services. I believe in these ideas so much, I consider it a public service to just give them to you as a basis to build your own strategy with a trusted group of advisers.
Of course, you are welcome to walk into my place of work Jerry McGuire style and ask me to come with you, seeing as how “this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together!”
In conclusion: The revolution will not be televised.
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