Schaub and Callen say Chappelle's Charlie Kirk line is not a joke
The TFATK hosts went after the writing, not the man, which is the harder thing to argue with.
Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callen spent part of The Fighter and The Kid Ep. 1237 on a Dave Chappelle bit about Charlie Kirk's death, and both arrived at the same verdict. Not offensive. Not a joke.
Schaub says the bit happened on stage at the Mooney Center in Texas, and he recounts it as Chappelle saying that ever since Charlie Kirk got murdered, he feels better. Schaub's response was flat and repeated. "It's not even a joke, man. It's not even a joke." Callen agreed and framed it as a waste of a legend's capital, saying Chappelle is already at the tip of the mountain and does not need the attention. Schaub says multiple people walked out.
The complaint is about the writing
That framing is the whole story. Schaub is not asking anyone to cancel anything or demanding an apology. He is saying the line does not do the thing a joke does, which is a much harder charge for other comics to wave off than the usual too far argument. Callen's version lands the same way.
Schaub then defended Kirk directly, saying that all Kirk did was debate, that he put traditional western values against other ideas, and that he encouraged debate. Schaub also pushed on the reaction more than the bit, asking whether there has ever been an assassination before where people celebrated afterward, and calling that one of the most disheartening parts.
The rest of 1237
The episode opens somewhere much heavier. Schaub reports that Chin was sedated Thursday after sharp stomach pain and internal bleeding, and that doctors needed to do a procedure to stop it. He says Chin has never missed a show in 12 years and he hoped Chin would be out of the ICU by Monday. That comes shortly after a GoFundMe for Chin claimed Schaub provides him no health care, which we covered earlier.
After that, normal TFATK service. Schaub says his youth football team in Katy, Texas got a surprise playoff invite and is now in the Texas state finals, with a regional championship in Colorado and a possible national championship in North Carolina if they keep winning. Callen reported back from a Los Angeles swing through Venice, Manhattan Beach and Calabasas, and said everything felt like someone stepping out of a muddy puddle.
They also previewed the UFC card at Madison Square Garden, with Schaub calling Kayla Harrison's striking atrocious next to Amanda Nunes. The Chappelle segment is the one people will clip.
And for Chappelle, it's like I get being polarizing, but like that's not even a joke, man.
He's been sedated since Thursday, the minute he got in here. They got to do a procedure to stop the internal bleeding.
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