I miss Dave Chappelle. Since he flew the coop in 2005, Chappelle has been keeping a low profile. But in the past few years, he has started rejoining the comedy world, doing stand-up tours and giving some interviews. Then, this summer, he did a 10-night gig at Radio City Music Hall which sold out in a matter of hours. That alone was probably enough to get him this GQ “Man of the Year” cover – he’s being honored along with Shailene Woodley, Steve Carell and Chris Pratt. GQ actually released their cover story days ago, but I only had the time to read the full piece yesterday, and I thought I would share. It’s not the funniest thing I’ve ever read (although I did laugh out loud several times), but it’s fascinating. Dave is an interesting, brilliant man and what’s surprising is that he just seems… fine. No drama. He’s not looking to pick a fight with anyone. He’s not crazy. It’s actually a fantastic, thoughtful read – go here to read the full piece. Some highlights:

He used to live close to D’Angelo: “I haven’t talked to him personally in a while, but the last time I called him, he had a long outgoing message on his machine. It was like a Malcolm X speech. And the last part was so intense. He was like, ‘The price of freedom is death!’ Beeeep! I didn’t even leave that dude a message. I just hung up the phone. Like, just listening to D’Angelo’s answering machine puts you on the no-fly list, it’s so militant.”

One item on his bucket list: “For one year, I want to do this thing where I guest-star on as many television shows as I possibly can. I love television. The fact that television ultimately made me famous was very gratifying for me. Chris Tucker did it in movies, and Chris Rock did it from his stand-up, which was very impressive. But you know, the thing that people most will remember me for is Chappelle’s Show. If I were to never do anything else, that show would be a culmination of what was a very long and tedious process of me learning how to be in the television business….I’d be a zombie in The Walking Dead. A corpse on CSI. I’d be the first black guy to f–k Olivia Pope on Scandal….”

He bought weed from Idris Elba back in the day: “So he used to work at Carolines. During that era of my life, there’s a high possibility that I bought reefer from Idris. Fast-forward to when I was doing Chappelle’s Show. Idris would come to the set sometimes. Not the set where we’d be filming sketches, but the set when we did the live portion of the show and we showed the audience sketches. It used to be a real hot ticket in New York. There’s a lot of women who used to work on the show…all very professional, with the single exception when Idris would come around. It doesn’t matter how big a star would be on the show, when he came around, women would just lose their g-ddamn minds.”

Women & the media: “I also think that women in show business—and this is a sweeping generalization—they have a very different existence than men. Paparazzi chase ’em a little harder. The critics, I think, are a little meaner. I mean, look at Britney Spears, like, having a kid. She’s a new mom, and I don’t know if you have kids or not, but it’s a very sensitive time in a woman’s life when they’re a new mom. And the way the media was criticizing her mothering, I was like, That sh-t is ice-cold. ‘Cause even if you’re super-strong, that sh-t will f–k with you.

Fatherhood: “I have this thing where I meet people whose kids are, like, superhuman perfect: “She speaks three languages now, blah blah.” That used to make me feel sh-tty. Like, “Aw man, I really have to crack the whip and do this and that.” But then I watch their kid for a while and then watch mine. And my kids look actually happy. And I learned early on that perfectionism and parenthood is a toxic combination for everybody involved. In other words, so many things can flourish naturally. All you gotta do is make sure the soil’s right. But I view myself more like a guide than a ruler. Their mother’s the ruler.

On Tyler Perry: “He’s a pretty prolific dude. What he was able to accomplish is very, very impressive. There’s no way you could look at it and not be impressed. And what I like about what he did initially with those Madea movies is that it was an after-church crowd. Like, he was the first guy I saw in mainstream media that was speaking directly to that audience. I like that about him….”

Tyler Perry versus Spike Lee: “I can’t see how my life is harder because Tyler Perry exists. You know? I mean, I can certainly debate the artistic merits of his movies or the lack thereof, but to me that’s almost an irrelevant conversation, because I’m more impressed with what he was able to achieve. And I think that if I were Spike Lee, maybe I’d have certain issues. But I’m not mad at Tyler Perry. I’m happy there was a Spike; I’m happy there was a Tyler. I’m not gonna say, “Oh, I love Tyler Perry movies.” But that’s kind of not the point. There are people who do love those movies, so why shouldn’t somebody be making sh-t for them? Spike’s not gonna make that movie for them.”

[From GQ]

There’s also a lengthy conversation about Kanye and you can tell that Dave is a big fan and Kanye is big fan of Dave’s too. Dave is asked about Kanye saying celebrity treatment is the new civil rights movement and Dave sort of defends him, but in a very thoughtful way. I lol’d at the D’Angelo part and the Idris part. But really, I love his thoughts about everything!

Cover courtesy of GQ, photos courtesy of WENN.