Chapelle's Show: Still funny. Still Fearless.

Dave Chappelle's take-no-prisoners brand of comedy made him a celebrity of stand-up, and now it's making him a TV legend as creator, writer, cast member and host of Comedy Central's "Chappelle's Show."

But not without a little controversy.

The show's slogan is fitting, "Still Dave. Still Dangerous." Chappelle's unique and edgy sense of humor drives the sketch comedy show; it mocks even the most loaded topics -- white supremacy, black reparations, the "n-word," and slavery to name four. Chappelle and co-creator Neal Brennan are the show's only writers and their sketches fearlessly parody situations which other comics have either failed to satirize or have overlooked completely.

A good example of this is Chappelle's spin on MTV's "The Real World." Each season the cast of "The Real World" rarely includes more than the token black housemate and therefore all potential differences are exaggerated, misrepresented and attributed to race. For most comics, the joke ends around here but for Chappelle the joke has just begun.

In a sketch called, "The Madd Real World," the cast is made up of five stereotypical black characters and only one stereotypical white one. The sketch is funny in concept alone, mocking the token personalities. Yet when it's used as a way to reconsider the absurdity of the actual "Real World," the humor is much more arresting. To effect this response is rare even for a veteran sketch comedy show like "Saturday Night Live," yet Chappelle and Brennan do it weekly and in nearly every sketch.

Chappelle has a keen eye for the world around him and his humor is both unapologetic and satisfying. In a promotional trailer for the show, Chappelle stands by a mailbag and reads a letter that criticizes his show's depiction of white people. He responds, "I thought there were plenty of positive images of white people all over television, that's why I keep my show devoid of them."

But the show's complexion is more complicated than just that. Neal Brennan, Chappelle's co-creator and co-writer, is white. The two first became friends as employees and aspiring comics at a New York comedy club. From there they went on to co-write the feature film "Half Baked." They are equal partners in "Chappelle's Show." The show is not simply about making caricatures of white America, it's about exposing the fallibility of culture and race in general.

Chappelle does not view himself as a comic of exclusively racial themes, nor are his sensibilities only suited for racial commentary. As a person, Chappelle is part "Half Baked" heavy-eyed stoner and part combative and aggressive kid from Washington, D.C.

As a comic, he's just as unpredictable. In one sketch indicative of his originality, Chappelle travels through the Internet as though it was a mall and he discovers the Internet's otherwise indiscernible but inherent sleaziness.

Like all comics he draws from everyday experience. He said in an interview with the "The Progessive," "When I do my act, I'm not trying to ever be political, but if there's something funny that happens, and I have a point of view about it, I'll do it. But it's not to be preachy. There's not a serious agenda behind it."

This comes across in the show. When watching, one feels that Chappelle is truly just writing and acting scenes that make him laugh. This is why the show is so populated with original scenarios like super-freak Rick James slapping men, and a re-occurring character who dances the robot in several unrelated scenes. It's not hard to imagine Chappelle imitating and egging on the dancer from off camera.

Even when a joke bombs it's obvious why the idea appealed to Chappelle. Unlike the crowd-chilling bad jokes that happen every so often on "Saturday Night Live," the viewer can always sympathize with Chappelle and appreciate the seed of humor even if it doesn't blossom.

More than anything else, what stands out about "Chappelle's Show" is the sheer volume of original ideas he comes up with and the precision with which he acts them out. Chappelle has the patience to look for a joke. For example, the comedian goes beyond the stock-joke that white people can't dance to develop a sketch that proves that they can, as long as you play them their own music.

The Chappelle Show comes at a time when the public is hungry for someone to tell the truth. Chappelle does them one better. He makes them laugh when they hear it. Comedy's greatest virtue is that it can expose people and things for who and what they really are; Chappelle uses comedy to this end, hysterically.