I am – Hercules!!

Dave Chappelle, who unexpectedly quit his own wildly popular series partway through its third season, has said he’d prefer people don’t watch the new episodes Comedy Central will be airing over the next 15 days. Comedy Central, of course, takes a different view. What say the critics?

The Washington Post says:

… a tour de force not only for comic Dave Chappelle but also for whoever did the tape editing that turned scraps and snippets that the comic left behind into a coherent half-hour of humor. … the quality is not as consistently high nor the content quite as daring as Chappelle's show was at its best, but that's still his image formed by electrons and zapped onto videotape, and he can still be crazily and courageously funny even in bite-size morsels. …

The New York Times says:

… The sketches here are high-grade Chappelle: funny and surprising, if not a full-on riot, as his best work on the show has been. But they also tell the story of an intellectual with an esoteric imagination who's been rendered both superempowered and blankly terrified by big, big money. …

The Boston Globe says:

… the skits don't hurt Chappelle's reputation, even while they defy Chappelle's wishes. Tonight's material is not bottom-of-the-barrel comedy that indicates some kind of waning of his creative juices. But as they obsessively revolve around Chappelle's fame and money, the skits do seem to reveal a performer in the midst of a burst of self-awareness. In retrospect, you can almost see Chappelle pondering a retreat from the public eye behind all the joking. …

The Houston Chronicle says:

… The skits from the first Lost Episode find the comedian in top form, picking on subjects ripe to be picked on. …

The Toledo Blade says:

… Until the remaining two episodes air, it's too soon to say whether Chappelle quit his gig too soon. But judging by the first episode, the third season was poised to be as funny and irreverent as the first two. ...

9 p.m. Sunday. Comedy Central.

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