Dave Chappelle’s fifth Netflix special, his latest in a reportedly massive $60 million deal, will arrive in less than two weeks. Titled Sticks & Stones, the trailer doesn’t tell us anything at all about Chappelle’s planned material or bits, but what is notable is that Morgan Freeman’s narrating this thing. As Chappelle struts across a salt flat, Freeman wonders how exactly the guy got here before dropping an F-bomb just like the voice of God would do.
“If you say anything, you risk everything,” Freeman articulates. “But if that’s the way it’s gotta be, okay, fine, f*ck it. He’s back, folks.”
Chappelle is back, yes, although he didn’t really leave for long, compared to when he walked away from the enormously successful and acclaimed The Chappelle Show on Comedy Central in 2003. We haven’t seen too terribly much of the guy onstage since his other specials (which received fair criticism of miscalibration) dropped in 2017. Perhaps that’s what Freeman’s referring to with the “if you say anything, you risk everything” line, or perhaps that’s an allusion to the controversy that followed Chappelle live-streaming with John Mayer earlier this year. Lots to pick from there.
Regardless, Chappelle also returns after briefly stepping into the acting side of Hollywood after Bradley Cooper wouldn’t stop bugging him to make a cameo in A Star Is Born. Again, this trailer doesn’t officially tell us much about what kind of content Chappelle will be offering to his taped audience, but Netflix’s description promises the legendary comedian’s “provocative perspective on the tidal wave of celebrity scandals, the opioid crisis, and more.”
Dave Chappelle’s Sticks & Stones streams on August 26 on Netflix.
