Dave Chappelle's Rendition of Japaneseness

Licensing

Dave Chappelle, in his “Lost Episodes” DVD, performs in a segment where a Japanese man (Yoshi) is presented to a lovely actress (LaLa) by his acquaintance (Charlie). Chappelle in this segment plays Yoshi’s conscience and consistently attempts to persuade Yoshi to pronounce “hello” and “LaLa” incorrectly as “harro” and “rara.” From experience in teaching my host mother in Japan some English words, some English learners do have trouble in pronouncing ‘ls’ and instead pronounce them as ‘rs.’ Chappelle exploits not only the difficulty for some in pronouncing English sounds, but also uses chopsticks, wears Chinese (not Japanese) attire, and commits ritual disembowelment (seppuku) in the end due to his failure in persuading Yoshi to mispronounce words.

Slides in this album 

Charlie Introducing Yoshi to LaLa

In the beginning of the segment, we see Charlie introducing Yoshi to a young woman by the name of LaLa.

Charlie Introducing Yoshi to LaLa
Contributed by: SwiftSpyRunner

Chappelle Appears

Dave Chappelle then appears on the left shoulder of LaLa, while eating from a To-Go container with chopsticks, as Yoshi's conscience.

Chappelle Appears
Contributed by: SwiftSpyRunner

Chappelle's Failure

In the final scene, we see Dave Chappelle committing "seppuku" due to his failure of getting Yoshi to pronounce "hello" as "herro" and "LaLa" as "RaRa."

Chappelle's Failure
Contributed by: SwiftSpyRunner

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SwiftSpyRunner — Last modified Jan 28 2023 2:00 a.m.


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