In 2003, Chapelle’s Show was must-see TV. By the time the tenth episode of its first season hit Comedy Central, the world had already been treated to “The Mad Real World”, “Ask A Black Dude”, “Wu-Tang Financial,” and the instantly iconic “Clayton Bigsby.”
Chappelle and his team of writers, headed by comedian and co-creator Neal Brennan, made it clear that they were not there to skirt around the controversial topics of the day. So when the sketch lampooning R Kelly’s infamous sex tape, “Piss on You,”aired, its subject matter was par for the course for the show:
Now, since the airing of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, history has its eyes on who knew what and when they knew it. And Neal Brennan is being asked to explain himself more than 15 years later. During a recent stop at The Breakfast Club, Brennan—there to promote the Comedians of the World Netflix specials—addressed how some people were upset the show made light of a very serious case.
“I don’t think people understand what comedy is supposed to do,” Brennan said about the bit. “We will observe things, we will make fun of things. Did people want us to round up a posse and go arrest R. Kelly? Like, what were we supposed to do?” As it turns out, R. Kelly was the one to round up a posse, as the disgraced singer and self-professed “Pied Piper” did not find the sketch funny. “R. Kelly wanted to fight Dave,” Brennan claims. “His goons stepped to Dave in Chicago, and Dave’s goons intervened. The goons negotiated.”
Chappelle himself has addressed Kelly’s reaction to the sketch in a video shared by TMZ, saying, “The week that sketch came out, we were in Chicago at a Common show, and his dude busts in my room. He said, ‘How are you gonna do the video of me peeing on (girls) like that?’ and I said, ‘How are you gonna do the video?’”
In 2016, Kelly told GQ that he’d never seen the skit, and acted as if he’d never heard of Chappelle. But a few hours after that piece was published, an image of Kelly from the 2005 VMA’s surfaced on Twitter. In it, the singer is wearing a T-shirt with the catchphrase from one of the show’s most enduring sketches – the Rick James episode of “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories.”
Make of that what you will.
As for R. Kelly, between reported panic attacks, a criminal investigation, and run-ins with the police, he has a lot more to worry about than an old comedy sketch.
(Full disclosure: This author has interviewed Brennan herself, and appears with her high school concert orchestra in the “I Believe I Can Fly” video.)
58 Comments
(Full disclosure: This author has interviewed Brennan herself, and
appears with her high school concert orchestra in the “I Believe I Can
Fly” video.)
This may be the best one of these disclosure notices I’ve ever seen on an article anywhere.
The 90s were weird.
It makes you realize that there are so many 90’s-specific references that only a person from that period could potentially make in a full-disclosure, if they ever wrote an article.Like, Full Disclosure: This author was named, but not charged, in the Whitewater Scandal.Or, Full disclosure: This author incorrectly claimed he caught a Mewtwo without using the Master Ball in Pokemon Blue. In reality, a Master Ball was used. We regret the error.
We watched Space Jam for a podcast recently.
Right out the god dammed gate.
I thought that shit was a joke lmao
Seriously. God. Damn. I love this site.
Also probably the best case scenario following a “Full Disclosure:” after an R. Kelly article.
I don’t know, R. Kelly in the vicinity of a high school choir is kind of scary.
High school? Those seniors might as well be senior citizens to him…
I had to read it twice, very carefully, to determine that I was in fact still on Earth.
More like the “Pied PEER”! Right guys?
Peed Piper was right there.
I know, but I went for Pied Peer. Sometimes decisions have to be made.
Cop: “You have the right to be tried by a jury of peers.”R Kelly: “Hurray!”
I mean, he does literally have the right to trial by a jury of his peers, which in Kelly’s case would mean actual peers. I can’t tell if it’s more or less funny because it’s true.
Yeah no
It’s high comedy, because it works on multiple levels, but also it’s low comedy because of absolutely everything else about it.
I like this one better
Ooh that one’s definitely harsher. Back when the tape hit, *a lot* of the focus was on the peeing part, not the fact that he was clearly into teenage girls. “I’ll Piss On You” is funny, but those are also grown ass women which was not R Kelly’s type. This one straight out calls him a statutory rapist who went after girls young enough to be girl scouts.
Plus it does a better job at parodying the original song and music video. (to the point where you can’t watch the original without thinking about the parody)
A lot of people seem to forget he married Aaliyah when she was 15, and he was 27.
That’s one of the best responses to manufactured outrage over comedy I’ve seen in a while. Kudos, Neal.
“‘How are you gonna do the video of me peeing on (girls) like that?’ and I said, ‘How are you gonna do the video?’”I may not enjoy Chappelle’s latest special, but man, he got some wit on him.
TSSS on you, TSSS on youuuu
What’s wrong with his latest special? Too black for you?
Oh, you’re not really him, are you?
No, I didn’t find it funny, you miserable troll.
Too complacent and middle-aged, and I say that as a middle-aged person.
Old Dave: energetic and cutting. Current Dave: Tired and annoyed. Still funny but it’s sad to watch. Not because of him but because it’s a reminder of how shitty getting old can be.
Are you- but- how… Really??
Chappelle’s latest special isn’t a patch on his earlier stuff, but I absolutely loved the bit about Trump’s lips sweating. Mostly for the way he screamed “Lip….SWEAT?!?!?”
One of my favorite memories of the Chapelle Show was Dave saying something like this during a monologue:
“R. Kelly is mad at me. [beat] There ain’t no punchline, dude’s just mad.”
It was hilarious. I’m pretty sure he also said the “how are you gonna make a video of you pissing on people?” retort that’s quoted in the above story.
Chapelle….urine trouble. R. Kelly has a full bladder
R Kelly has been having panic attacks! I understand he peed on himself
Are people actually upset with Chapelle and his writers for making fun of R. Kelly?
No
The documentary is so horrific that I think people are looking for a way to justify their own apathy in the early 2000s. There is something to be said for the focus on the “pee is a funny fetish” response that the entire country had instead of the “child rape is pretty messed up” response we SHOULD have had but I’m not sure Chappelle’s Show is really responsible for that one.
Now, since the airing of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, history has its eyes on who knew what and when they knew it. And Neal Brennan is being asked to explain himself more than 15 years later.I know my timelines are not entirely straight but wasn’t a lot of this R. Kelly stuff common knowledge for a long while now? The pee tape came out in 2002 and the skit aired in 2003. Are people really saying Chapelle/Brennan had some kind of insider knowledge and, instead of notifying the proper authorities, just wrote a skit about it? I don’t understand what exactly Brenna is supposed to explain.
Chris Rock had a whole stand-up bit about it in 2004!
“R. Kelly’s
got a lot of balls. Talking about “it ain’t me.” Got a damn sex tape
out; “it ain’t me.” Motherfucker, we know what you look like. That’s
you, okay? There’s a damn Soul Train award right next to the bed!”
I guess they want to know how we could make light of it, or something? But yeah, it was a top news story at the time, and it’s not like the sketch is excusing R.Kelly or anything.
This Chapelle-vs-musician story is much less full of the spirit of love and art than the one about how Prince used a picture of Dave dressed as Prince on the cover of Breakfast Can Wait without seeking copyright-type permission, because Dave was dressed as Prince. “That’s a Prince judo move right there,” Chapelle apparently said. “You make fun of Prince in a sketch and he’ll just use you in his album cover. What am I going to do, sue him for using a picture of me dressed up like him? That’s checkmate right there.”This whole thing robbed many awful lawyers of hundreds of billable hours, and that’s just one more think to be thankful to Prince about.
Kind of like Prince getting mad at Foo Fighters for their cover of Darling Nikki getting out so he covered them at halftime during the Superbowl.
How did Prince exist? I mean how did the human species produce him? Was he from the future?
Honestly I think he was a puma wearing a human skin suit.
At first I asked myself “Did Neal Brennan transition??” and then I realized what the author meant.That was fun.
I totally forgot this sketch existed. Whenever R. Kelly comes up (which obviously is a lot lately) my first thought is always the Boondocks episode.
That’s one of the few episodes where Riley irritates me with his nonsense. I know he’s the devil’s advocate and all but with what we know now ‘She coulda moved” is a pretty fucked up defense even for him.
Don’t forget his other brilliant argument: “When did pee every hurt anyone?”
That’s my Robert: always pissin’.
Is this encounter the reason Chappelle has since put on 50 pounds of muscle?
And to think, I thought G.G. Allin was disgusting. R. Kelly just beat him to it.
He said, ‘How are you gonna do the video of me peeing on (girls) like that?’ and I said, ‘How are you gonna do the video?’But seriously tho! Like. You don’t want people making fun of you for peeing on girls?! MAYBE DON’T PEE ON GIRLS. R Kelly isn’t just a complete creep. He’s straight up dumb.
How very grown-up of the pedophile.
Note that there was another R Kelly sketch where Dave is on trial for still listening to R Kelly and they’re trying to figure out what it would take for him to accept what RK has done…it is hilarious and could easily be remade for trump supporters or a lot of people, but really trump supporters
He’s not on trial, R. Kelly is on trial and Dave is being vetted to be on the jury. He’s also being questioned to be on the jury for O.J. and Michel Jackson.
aw man, I’m really sorry i didn’t bother to look up a really important fact before saying something about it on the internetthat’s it, internet’s over! pack up the tubes people we are out!
Are we sure that R Kelly knew what was on his t-shirt? He doesn’t know how to read. Maybe he was showing it off hoping the paps would tell him what it said.
(Full disclosure: This author has interviewed Brennan herself, and appears with her high school concert orchestra in the “I Believe I Can Fly” video.)Sooooo… you got pissed on.