Customer Reviews

Chappelle's Show - The Lost Episodes (Uncensored)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

When Dave Chappelle shocked the world by turning his back on Comedy Central and his smash hit Chappelle's Show, rumors of completed skits, or in this case "lost episodes" were rampant. Now, in 2006, Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes are here, and upon viewing, it's apparent why Chappelle had grown so disatisfied with the direction the show was taking. Since Dave is no where to be found, Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings host and present the sketches, which range from Dave imitating Howard Dean, to once again imitating P. Diddy and Lil' Jon. The saddest part of this DVD isn't that Dave is gone, it's how painful some of the skits are to watch. The Howard Dead and Gary Coleman spoofs go nowhere, as does "The Monsters" in which Dave, Charlie, and Donnell are a werewolf, Frankenstein's monster, and a mummy respectively are discriminated against, and the much heard about pixie sketch is funny at first, but it only furthers the notion that Chappelle stated in interviews about it only furthering racial stereotypes instead of spoofing them. The MTV Cribs skit begins slowly, but by the time Dave whips out some T-Rex eggs, it gets surprisingly funny. The biggest gem of the sketches is Dave in a club that spoofs the post-humous releases by Tupac. Other than that, there's hardly anything else here worth mentioning, which is incredibly disappointing. The second season of Chappelle's Show was a step beyond the first season as Chappelle pushed the limits of comedy and racial issues, but you'd never know it once you give this a look. It's worth a look for fans of the show who have been mourning it's demise, but don't expect much out of it. Instead, check out Dave Chappelle's Block Party or his standup DVD's; they are much more worth your time and cash.

Now, I have been a big fan of the Chappelle's Show series since it began, so I guess that my hopes had been high for a new third season in 2005, just as they had been for the first two. As many people know by now, a full third season was scheduled to premiere on Comedy Central in February 2005, but then it was delayed to May, and then it was said that it would not premiere "until further notice." Due to multiple reasons, the season was never finished, and Comedy Central decided to just go ahead and air the few sketches that were shot, comprising of only three "lost episodes."

When considering the success of the two major seasons of the show, the content of The Lost Episodes is a bit disappointing. The show seems to be lacking something that made the old material work better. The sketches are just not as good as the old ones. Chappelle himself agrees and it is one of the reasons it was not made a full season. One of his concerns was that the way racial issues were handled no longer just poked fun at them, but reinforced them. This is not to say that The Lost Episodes is all bad however. If I was not already expecting something as grand as the first two seasons, then I probably would not have thought it as bad.

The bottom line: if you're a big Chappelle's Show fan, you will still find things in this DVD that excite you, but if you're new to the show, I strongly recommend checking out the first or second season first instead, because though this DVD shows that Dave Chappelle is still a hilarious comedian regardless, it also shows that there is a reason he left the show.

I waited a year to see these skits and, well, I feel a bit letdown. Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes probably should've stayed lost. I only bought it to complete my Chappelle's Show collection. I can think of maybe two skits that were laugh out loud funny -- the very first skit where Dave is getting a haircut and the club skit where they talk about Tupac. There are a few honorable mention skits like the Daddy Day Care 2 and the MTV Cribs skit. Revenge Is Best Served Cold and Say What You Mean skits are cool, but like most of the material on the disc, it won't generate anything more than a chuckle. I did enjoy the audience participation on Episode 2 though.

Sadly though, the drawbacks are plenty. First and foremost, Dave Chappele is missing, so naturally the show will feel different. Secondly, Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings simply aren't very good hosts.....especially Rawlings. They seemed uncomfortable and sometimes unable out there while they were hosting. Another problem I found were the number of thrown in skits that didn't even have Dave in them (like the "I'm Broke B*tch" throw in) and the Howard Dean skit isn't funny at all. I thought the rehashing of Lil' Jon was corny (especially since his buzz is dying), the Chuck Taylor Newsbreaks weren't funny, and don't even get me started on the awful Pixie skit. Also, you should probably pass on about 80% of the bonus features, they're pretty weak. Basically, the first episode is the best one....then you can kind of jump from scene to scene throughout the rest of the disc to save yourself some time.

My guess is that Dave was losing steam and wanted to seperate himself from any mediocrity associated with this disc (and trust me, there's plenty). I'd only recommend this DVD to die hard Dave Chappelle fans. Though most of this stuff is forgettable, there are still tidbits here and there that are really funny. I actually respect Dave a little more now for not wanting to have this released and letting people know that before the DVD hit store shelves. Comedy Central did what any company would do with such a hot commodity and released this so they could cash in (the sketches belong to them, so they can do whatever they want with them). If you're going to buy this, you may want to consider waiting until you find it used if you're not a collector. If you're not a die hard fan, then save yourself the disappointment.

I think Dave Chappelle is a genius, really ground-breaking, intelligent commentary on society at large and the African-American experience.

I hope to God Dave is getting something positive from this.

Watching this dvd just made me sad. I could not enjoy the sketches fully (although, as stated by others the Cribs and Tupac skits work on their own and are funny). Many of the skits were missing Dave's lead-in and seemed disjointed and confusing at times.

Dave really makes the show - while Donnell and Charlie are funny respectively, it gave me a guilty feeling watching it - it's not their show. It wasn't right, it seemed really forced - not natural and genuine like Dave is. I don't think I could watch this dvd more than once.

Watch the first two seasons and the block party dvd, they're excellent.

I wish Dave well - I think he made the right choice to leave.

Let's face it. Chappelle's Show was dying a slow and commercialized death. If you remember back in 2004, everyone and their mother was copying Chappelle as Lil John and the infamous "I'm Rick James, bitch!" quote. This got really tiring, and it started to signal the beginning of a slow, slow descent towards massive commercialization and "jumping the shark", as some would say.

With the release of these so-called "Lost Episodes" (I saw these episodes on Comedy Central), I can somewhat understand why Chappelle went AWOL. These sketches leave A LOT to be desired to viewers who have seen such classic sketches as "Clayton Bigsby", "The Mad Real World", and "Kneehigh Park".

First off, while Chappelle's Show once showed varying sketches of well-thought out parody, The Lost Episodes seems to half-arse the premises of the sketches in these episodes. From what I have seen, I sense that all of the sketches only range from tired pop-culture references, Dave flaunting his $50 million dollar contract, or politically correct versions of their original routine.

Now, I wouldn't mind this linear type of comedy as long as I was laughing on a consistent basis. The only problem was that I wasn't laughing that much. Sure, I was chuckling at times, but when you have such unfunny and hackneyed sketches like the Paris Hilton Sex Tape, the Pixie Sketch, and Gary Coleman as a Security Guard, it gets hard to keep your patience with the program.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that Viacom was seeing green with these episodes, this show died a death that it shouldn't have. As I have said, Chappelle's Show is pretty much dead, due to Dave's threat of ending the show if the Lost Episodes were released. I quietly weep for this once excellent show that had to be abused by corporate interests. I hope you made a lot of money off of this, Viacom. You just added another show to your list of casualties during your tyrannical reign.

There are a few chukles here and there but its really sad that the Chapelle show legacy will be forever tainted, not w/ the cancellation of season 3, but by the rushed release of these episodes, without Dave MCing.

What Donelle and Charlie Murphy fail to understand is that while yes they are funny comedians, Chapelle brought out their best. Without Dave's sanctioning, these DVDs and episodes have aired. As anyone who has tried to watch one understands, its just not that good. These are clearly an unfinished product and Charlie/Donelle do not do a good job setting up sketches, probably because they didn't write most of them and Chapelle did not edit any of them.

i loved this show when it first came out as did just about everyone that has seen it. that was years ago. now we have this. i wasn't entirely disappointed with this dvd, only it felt a little empty. i think charlie murphy is funny along with the other guy, but it just didn't seem right that they hosted these episodes. aside from that, some of the skits were hillarious while others bordered on tedium.

after watching some of the older episodes, i realized these were just about the same as the rest of the skits, it is only a little too late for them to be released. i fully understand why David left when he did. he wanted to be remembered as one of the funniest comics out there who only did the show for the love of it, not for the money.

check this dvd out only if you were like me and couldn't wait to see something new from him. if not then just watch it on comedy central. it is nice having it uncensored so if you must, just rent it.

That Chappelle's Show will be regarded as one of the funniest ever seems beyond dispute. Exceedingly sad that Comedy Central elected to pick the bones of the carcass clean by slapping together this DVD. Dave, the fans, and the show itself deserved better. Goodbye Chappelle's Show - and thanks for 2 incredibly funny seasons.

I bought this cause I loved Chappelle's Show and my curiousity beat out my respect for Dave as an artist. That was a mistake. The only good reason for viewing this is that if you watch it, there will be no doubt in your mind that Dave's decision to drop out of the show was the right one.

Like others have said this should have stayed lost. Im glad I borrowed it and didn't waste money on purchasing it. The only skit that I found to be funny was the "New Tupac Song" "I wrote this a long time agooo back in 94" lol that one had me going. The pixie skit was horrid. It made no sense what so ever. The racial draft from season 2 I believe was 1000x better. Overall I'd recommend you skip this one or if you REALLY really want to see it, borrow it or rent it from the video store. Its not worth $15.