The 58-year-old, the whose given name is Nathaniel Stroman, hosts a radio show on Kevin Hart's SiriusXM satellite radio channel. You may have seen him in a half-hour HBO special in 2005, in Shaquille O'Neal's all-star comedy jams, or in recurring parts on Everybody Hates Chris and The Neighborhood more recently.
What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of? : The Chappelle series is similar to Netflix's earlier arrangement with Tiffany Haddish (They Ready), only Chappelle's hand-picked comedians are more than ready for their close-ups.
Earthquake's tagline may be "These ain't jokes," but he also emphasizes from the start that "health is wealth," emphasizing the need to not only get vaccinated for COVID-19 but also receive basic health care like having insurance and getting an annual checkup.
Earthquake does, in fact, have jokes for any Black Americans who are still skeptical of the vaccine. He'll reprimand his friends and family in return, pointing out how easy they can stuff narcotics up their noses or continue to live in Flint, Michigan, with tainted water. He, too, doubles down. How could anyone believe that Benadryl will cure your diabetes? "It ain't your allergies!" says the narrator. How can you not have health insurance or basic care by now because Obamacare is President Barack Obama's legacy?!
And, despite being "rich in the bounty of my God," Earthquake discovers that he requires a prostate test, which male comedians can't help but exploit for laughs and act-outs.
The comic also criticizes Trump and his followers, reminding the audience that Republicans are changing voting rules today because "we fucked up," and wondering how he would behave if he were a Capitol Police officer on January 6, 2021. If you didn't know, Earthquake served 11 years in the United States Air Force after high school, and he'll explain why the late John McCain was a great combat hero once more.
There's some stuff about fatherhood in here, but it's not as memorable as the bit before that, in which he describes sitting through Aretha Franklin's long funeral and using that as a segue into imagining what it'd be like if he showed up late at Heaven's Gate, complete with a zinger about the guy standing next to him, stuck outside the gates.
It's only 36 minutes of stand-up, or maybe 33 minutes if you exclude Chappelle's opening (which, while we're on the subject, why didn't he record his intro in DC?) ... the final credits, despite the fact that Earthquake makes a short set feel as long as any Netflix hour.
And yeah, a guy in comedy being so overdramatic in re-enacting a rectal exam could be a little hack at this point. Earthquake, on the other hand, avoids the stereotypically superficial homophobic viewpoint that so many others do. Instead, he leans in and salutes gay men as if they were valiant soldiers afterward. He's naturally outgoing, yet he's also playful and focused.
STREAM IT is our rallying cry. It's unknown whether the rest of "Chappelle's Home Team" will be as good as this episode, but you don't have to worry about that if you want to enjoy Earthquake. Chappelle's contract is already a winner if this is your first time seeing his humor.
Sean L. McCarthy covers comedy for his own digital newspaper, The Comic's Comic, and previously for print publications. Based in New York City, but willing to travel anyplace for the scoop on ice cream or the latest news. He also tweets as @thecomicscomic and hosts a half-hour podcast called The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First, in which he interviews comedians about their origin tales.