Sketchy MVPs: Donnell Rawlings from “Chappelle’s Show”
November 18, 2016 Zach Shaw Features, Sketchy MVPs Comments
We all love Amy Schumer, everyone knows how brilliant Key & Peele are, and you’ve watched Will Ferrell’s classic Saturday Night Live sketches countless of times. But in this weekly column Sketchy MVPs, The Laugh Button shines a light on comedians from our favorites shows and troupes who don’t often get rightful credit for their contributions to sketch comedy.
Dave Chappelle hosting Saturday Night Live last week was everything we could’ve asked for and more. We even saw some of our favorite characters from Chappelle’s Show return! However, not only did the Walking Dead parody find Chappelle reprising a few of his best roles, but also found him reuniting with Donnell Rawlings, back as the prettiest Player Hater of all, Beautiful.
Along with Charlie Murphy, Rawlings was one of most recognizable cast members of Chappelle’s Comedy Central show. Sure, Chappelle was obviously the star, but Rawlings was a strong supporting player you could rely on to amplify of sketch’s ridiculousness or deliver out-of-left-field one liners.
After Chappelle abruptly left his own show, Rawlings and Murphy co-hosted the shortened third season of “lost” episodes. He’s appeared on various TV and radio shows since then, and continues to perform stand-up nationwide. However, seeing Rawlings reunite with his old boss on SNL made us think back on our few of our favorite moments from him on Chappelle’s Show. Take a look below to relive some of Rawling’s standout moments on the show.
“Player Hater’s Ball”
We first meet our favorite group of player haters during this HBO documentary parody. But if you can’t get enough of Beautiful, Silky Johnson, and Buc Nasty, watch them travel back in time to confront a slave owner.
Ashy Larry in “The World Series of Dice”
Simply the sight of Rawling’s most popular character Ashy Larry, with his with flaky-white skin and chapped lips while only wearing white boxers, is funny. But there’s something extra hysterical about watching Ashy Larry get in trouble with his girl for playing dice when he was supposed to take out the garbage, only to get robbed upon returning to the game, in the above sketch.
“Reparations”
Rawlings may only appear in this sketch about a TV news cast reporting on black people receiving reparations for slavery for less than 30 seconds. However, he instantly becomes the standout of the entire premise when he declares “I’m rich, biaaaaatch!” It’s a catchphrase that became such a huge part of the show (played at the end of every episode as part of Chappelle’s vanity card) and is a prime example of his skills at delivery (even in a supporting role).
