Chappelle does stand-up on Showtime
Watch this … !
If that strikes you as just another crass joke, you’ll probably want to skip to the next item. But if you recognize it as a Rick James impersonation, you’ll want to dial up Showtime tonight at 9 p.m. for the comedy special “Dave Chappelle: For What It’s Worth.”
Chappelle’s riff on James’ “rhymes-with-witch” line is just one of the hilarious bits that have made “Chappelle’s Show” a Comedy Central staple and sold a heap of his first-season DVDs. No wonder the cable channel just re-upped his contract for loads of money. (Several repeats of “Chappelle’s Show” air on Comedy Central beginning at 9 tonight and Sunday.)
If you’ve seen the show, with its wildly funny probing of racial and sexual issues, you might wonder what he’s left out. But tonight he’ll be out on stage, doing stand-up instead of sketches, on a pay-cable network whose slogan is “No Limits.”
No wonder this is the most anticipated stand-up special since Robin Williams decided to be funny again.
Highlights
“The Amazing Race 5,” CBS tonight at 8: Repeat from earlier in the week finds the teams making their way across India.
Followed by a new episode of the dreadful “Big Brother 5” and a repeat of “Without a Trace.”
“Father of the Pride,” NBC tonight at 8: Repeat of this week’s pilot episode of the computer-animated series about Siegfried and Roy’s Las Vegas menagerie, with John Goodman topping the voice cast. Followed by repeats of “Scrubs,” “Hawaii” and “Crossing Jordan.”
“MAD TV,” Fox tonight at 11: Repeat with “Clerks” (1994) director Kevin Smith.
“Saturday Night Live,” NBC tonight at 11:30: Clip show featuring “The Best of Cheri Oteri.”
Repeats, ABC Sunday at 7: Two hours of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” followed at 9 by an “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and an episode of “The Practice” at 10.
“60 Minutes,” CBS Sunday at 7: Do Americans watch more pornography than sports?
“The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2” (1997), Fox Sunday at 7: Dinosaur sequel with Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore only serves to point out how empty Sunday night is without a “Simpsons” rerun.
NASCAR Racing, NBC Sunday at 4: OK, we love NASCAR, really we do, but aren’t these race-sponsorship names getting a little silly? Tonight it’s the Nextel Cup Pop Secret 500 from California.
“Cold Case,” CBS Sunday at 8: Repeat involves the murder of a hitchhiker with a pocketful of casino cash.
“Second Honeymoon” (2001), CBS Sunday at 9: Roma Downey and Tim Matheson star as a couple in mid-divorce whose kids send them on a trip together. Awwww. But then Phillip and Gloria (Michael Nouri and Rachel York) turn up. It’s like “Temptation Island,” only with middle-aged people.
“Mystery!” KSPS Sunday at 8: “The Inspector Lynley Mysteries III” seems to be the quintessential example of the series as it focuses on the murder of a cricket player.
“The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon,” Monday, 8 a.m., UPN: The annual marathon Labor Day fund-raiser with everyone from Ed McMahon to Elton John.
Family Fare
“Dinosaur” (2000), ABC tonight at 8: D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard and Ossie Davis top the voice cast of this family film about dinosaurs searching for a safe place to live.
Cable Cast
College football, ESPN today at 3: Doubleheader with Oregon State at Louisiana State University followed by Notre Dame at Brigham Young University.
Tennis, USA today and Sunday at 4: Early-round action from the U.S. Open in Flushing, N.Y.
“Intolerable Cruelty” (2003), HBO tonight at 8: Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney star in a witty romantic comedy from the Coen brothers. She’s a gold-digger, and he’s a divorce lawyer.
“Atlantic City Hookers,” HBO tonight at 10: Documentary look at the lives of streetwalkers on the blocks that Monopoly made famous.
Baseball, ESPN Sunday at 5: Anaheim Angels at Cleveland Indians.
“In Search of the Partridge Family,” VH1 Sunday at 9: C’mon, get happy! Original Partridges David Cassidy, Shirley Jones and Danny Bonaduce appear on a seven-episode reality show to choose the members of a new sitcom cast.