Dave Chappelle Nominated for Fourth Consecutive “Best Comedy Album” Grammy

The Closer, a controversial Dave Chappelle stand-up special for Netflix, earns the comedian yet another Grammy nod.

He may be one of the most polarizing figures in comedy, but Dave Chappelle is certainly beloved by the Record Academy.

Earlier today, the nominations for the 65th-annual Grammy Awards revealed yet another nod for Chappelle, who was nominated for his fourth-consecutive “Best Comedy Album” award for the controversial stand-up special, The Closer. Released on Netflix in late 2021, the 70-minute-set sparked a ton of backlash for jokes directed at the LGBTQ community and trans people in particular, causing a but of internal turmoil at the streamer, as well. In the special, the comedian shares anecdotes on his symptomless COVID bout, discusses violence against (and between) Black and Asian people, and declares himself a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (T.E.R.F.,) while telling a story about a trans woman comedian named Daphne, who he claims committed suicide after other members of the trans community harassed her online for opening up for Chappelle (this has been contested since.)

Should he win the award, it would mark the comedian’s fourth-straight victory in the category after taking home Grammys for each of his previous Netflix specials. Another trophy would tie Chappelle with the late Robin Williams for wins in the category. From there, he’s only a few specials away from surpassing George Carlin and Richard Pryor (who are tied with five “Best Comedy Album” wins each,) before finally dethroning the disgraced Bill Cosby, whose seven wins (six consecutive between 1965 and 1970,) is the most accumulated by a single comedian.

Though he wasn’t nominated for “Best Comedy Album” last year, Chappelle’s sobering, 8:46, mini-special was nominated for “Best Spoken Word Album,” but lost to Don Cheadle’s Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation from John Lewis.