Dave Chappelle‘s triumphant return to standup comedy led to a prize at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.
The former Chappelle’s Show star famously left Comedy Central in 2005, turning down millions of dollars to lead a quiet life in South Africa for years. He returned to the stage in 2013, and released his first standup comedy special in more than a decade last year.
During the Grammys, Chappelle appeared on stage with Kendrick Lamar and then later won the award for best comedy album for The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas. Both were Netflix comedy specials released last year.
Lamar performed a medley of his songs accompanied by dancers in camouflage and hoodies, as a giant American flag swayed behind him. After a few minutes, he turned around to a screen that read, one word appearing onscreen at a time, “This is a satire by Kendrick Lamar.”
He was joined onstage by Bono and The Edge of U2, who helped Lamar perform a musical interlude. That’s when he controversial comedian showed up and dropped some science on the audience.
The lights went out and Chapelle sowed up, alone, onstage and introduced himself, segueing into a quick joke on race relations in America.
“Hi. I’m Dave Chapelle,” he said. “I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a black man being honest in America, is being an honest black man in America.”
Lamar finished the performance and no mention of Chapelle’s interruption was made.
