Reclusive comedian Dave Chappelle joined Twitter on Tuesday. His first tweet, under the handle @chapelledavidk, was an appropriate one:
“Chinese Riddle: If a man does not tweet does he exist?”
A standup comic since the mid-1990s, Chappelle is most famous for his role as cocreator and star of Chappelle’s Show, his sketch-comedy show that ran for two seasons on Comedy Central.
The show came to an abrupt halt just before its third season when Chappelle admitted himself into a psychiatric facility in South Africa for stress and anxiety. Since returning to his farm outside of Dayton, Oh., he’s has kept a remarkably low profile, appearing sporadically at comedy clubs and releasing one film, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.
Chappelle’s account has yet to receive Twitter’s verification badge, but three trusted sources—Chappelle’s Show cocreator Neal Brennan, Chappelle’s Show musical director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, and comedian and pal Aziz Ansari—have come to the handle’s defense to say the real Chappelle is behind the tweets.
Currently, there are 12 different accounts claiming to be Dave Chappelle.
The comedian’s follower count has grown at a steady clip. He has 114,000 after only one tweets, but Chappelle has yet to say anything particularly groundbreaking. His funniest tweet may have also been his most foretelling:
“I’m off to the gym. Replacing good character with good looks is a cornerstone to my comeback stratagem. (sarcasm).”
Wait, did somebody say something about a comeback?
Photo via @chapelledavidk