We spend the most time together. Itâs not that me and my wife donât spend time together, but weâve been married so long, we donât talk likeâ I donât know if anyoneâs married here, but after ten years, all that chatty shit goes away. Youâve said it all. You know what I mean. Yeah. Weâre just in the zone. She says the same shit to me every night before she goes to bed. Iâll be the last one up. Sheâs like, âIâm gonna get some sleep, Dave. Good night.â âAll right, babe. Iâm gonna stay up and watch television. Good night.â Then sheâll walk halfway up the steps. âDavid?â âHmm?â âDonât eat the kidsâ lunch.â And then she walks away. Well, the crazy shit is, I donât even eat their lunch anymore. Back in the day, I used to eat that shit. You know how that goes. Now I might smoke some weed in the middle of the night, and sheâll leave neatly-wrapped sandwiches all over the kitchen. Iâm gonna eat it. Whatâs the big deal? Why canât she just make another one in the morning? I mean, I got sons anyway. And sons love everything their dads do. My kids will be at school the next day like, âOh, Dad bit my sandwich. Oh, shit!â Their dad is Dave Chappelle, man. You could trade that sandwich for something better. What Iâm doing is adding value to their lunch. But she doesnât understand these types of things.
Anyway, she gets mad at me. Sheâs mad at me now âcause I got myself in trouble. I got myself extorted, which happens in this business. I come home from the road. There was a FedEx sitting on the kitchen table, and it was addressed to me, so I opened it. I donât know who delivered it. And there was a videocassette inside with a note written on it that said, âGotcha.â Oh, my God. Can you imagine? I freaked out. I tore the whole house apart, trying to find a VCR. I hadnât seen a tape in over a decade. And I watched the tape, and it was awful. They got me. It was a tape of meâ I was fucking a girl, okay? But it was from before I was married. But it was not a good look. And I felt sick to my stomach, and I looked up at the clock, and then I saw my wife was coming home in ten minutes, and I just panicked. I jerked off to the tape real fast, and thenâ and then I called the FBI. Who, by the way, made me feel much better. They didnât say they were gonna catch âem for sure, but they had the demeanor of some confident people that would catch âem. So, I didnât worry about it too much. And then, not even a week later, five days later, I come home, and thereâs another videocassette sitting on my porch. As soon as I saw it, I just called the police. âTheyâve done it again. You should probably look for a guy with bell-bottoms on, because I donât know who the fuck is sending tapes!â And that second tape was the worst shit Iâd ever seen in my life. It was awful. Career-ending bad. It was a tape of me⊠jerking off to the tape a week earlier. I donât even know how theyâd even get such a thing. I had to explain all of this to my wife. She was very mad. No thing in this world is as cold as a womanâs cold shoulder, âcause she was mad, but she wouldnât talk to me about it. She would just punish me in little ways, make me do shit that I hate to do. Like pick the kids up from school. Thatâs one thing she made me do. Thatâs a hardship for me. I got one son that goes to a public school. And⊠his little brother goes to a private school. Itâs an experiment. I just want to see whatâs gonna happen to them. But whatâs weird is, my little son in private school, heâs, like, my thuggy son, you know what I mean? I donât know where he gets that from. Heâs not getting it from me. And heâs definitely not getting it from that school. That school is veryâ Itâs a liberal school. Itâs the kind of schoolâ there might be, like, 12 black students in the entire school, and Iâm the only black parent. And none of the parents like me, either. Not âcause Iâm black, but they donât like how I roll. Iâll be showing up late all the time, and Iâm, like, in a Porsche, and Iâm blasting music that they donât like. âȘ I beat the pussy up âȘ Then I pull into the parking lot. I might be smoking a cigarette with the kids in the car. Then I pull into that handicapped space. And when I get out of the handicapped space, they always want to say some passive-aggressive shit. âMorning, Dave. Donât know if you noticed, but you actually parked in the handicapped space.â âYeah, you know, Frank, I did notice. But who is this handicapped guy weâre all waiting on that never shows up?â So, I hate going over to that school. The only parents that are nice to me is a lesbian coupleâ Kate and Sarah. Actually, Kate hates my guts. Sarah knows that Iâm black, and sheâs half-black, so she just understands me. You know what Iâm saying? I canât explain it. Because Iâll say shit, and Kateâs just too serious about being a lesbian. Iâll be like, âHey, Kate. Hey, Sarah. You guys going to the father-son picnic next week? Howâs that gonna work?â And Kate will instantly be furious. But Sarah knows Iâm fucking around, so sheâll just say something cool. âI donât know, Dave. Maybe me and Kate will flip for that shit.â I said, âBitch, you better save that coin toss, because everybody knows youâre strapping on in that household.â And then Kate will turn bright red, but Sarah just fist-bumps me, like, âYouâre right, n***a. Itâs me. Bop.â Weâre good friends. Weâre good friends. They invite me to stuff. Theyâre my only friends at the school. So, imagine my surprise when I go to pick my son up after all this happens. And the teacher is waiting outside for me. Sheâs just standing right there in the middle of the handicapped space. I knew something was wrong, so I rolled the window down. âWhatâs going on?â âHi, David. Can we talk to you for a minute in the office?â I said, âNo, fuck that. We gotta talk right here. Whatâs going on?â I knew it was bad. âIbrahim had a fight.â I said, âA fight?â âDonât worry. Everyoneâs okay.â I said, âEveryone? What happened?â âWell, thatâs it. We donât know what happened because he wonât talk to anybody. All we know is that he punched Sarah Jr. in the face.â I said, âOh, no!â Sarahâs one of the only parents Iâm not sure I can beat up in this school. Just then, Kate and Sarah pulled up to pick up their daughter, and then we all had to go into the office, and I was really worried âcause I didnât want them to kick me out of the school. And then they brought my son in. He was crying. They brought him in like a prisoner. He was like, âOhh! Oh!â I said, âSon, stop crying, calm down. Do not look at these mean faces. I need you to look at my face, and I need you to tell me the truth, buddy, all right? Just tell me the truth. Is it true? Did you punch that girl Sarah Jr. in the face?â I was trying to give him a signal to lie, but he didnât pick up on it. I was like⊠He wasnât paying attention. Heâs like, âYes, Daddy, I punched her face.â âOh, my God. Why? Why would you do that? Youâre not supposed to put your hands on anybody.â And his answer was so gangster, it scared all the parents in the room. He was like⊠[whimpering] ââCause she had it coming.â I said⊠And everyone looked at me. I said, âI did not teach him. I donât know where he got that from.â I said, âWhat does that mean, son? That is crazy talk! What does that mean?â And then he just started crying like he was Tupac. [crying] âThese kids keep fucking with me!â I told his teacher, I said, âWell, now, wait a minute. This kid is a lot of things, but heâs not a liar. And if he said they was fucking with him, they did something to him. Son, whatâs going on? What did they do to you?â âDad, Iâm tired of this shit. Itâs been going on all week.â I said, âWhatâs going on all week?â He said, âWe was at lunch, and that bitch bit my sandwich.â I said, âOh.â He said, âItâs the fourth time this week. Iâm tired of this sandwich-biting bitch.â I said, âStop using that word. Letâs go home.â Thatâs a quiet car ride home. We got to the house, he just ran right up to his room, slammed the door. His mother came downstairs. By then, sheâd heard about everything. She was looking at me, like, âOh, my God.â I said, âI know. Itâs fucked up.â She said, âYou bit that goddamn sandwich, didnât you, Dave?â I said, âIâm tired of you accusing me of shit!â And I just ran out of the house. Jumped in my car and drove off. Of course I bit that sandwich. But I knew that she was just really mad about that tape, so now she was gonna punish me about a fucking sandwich that Iâd bit. I was mad as fuck.