Michael Che's new Netflix standup special contains a degree of self-reflection that is almost entirely absent from his friend Dave Chappelle's The Closer

The Daily Beast

The SNL star saying "I don't want no trouble" is a recurring theme in his new special, Shame the Devil, and his promotion of it, which has included an awkward The View interview and an in-depth Sunday Today profile. But while Che ignores the Simone Biles controversy from over the summer, he does delve into the backlash over calling Caitlyn Jenner "Bruce Jenner." He explains he had no idea about "dead-naming" trans people and, while doubling down on the joke, refers to Jenner as a "she." "Shame the Devil is hardly Che’s best material to date and there is a laid-back vibe—he rarely gets up off the stool—that sometimes works to his advantage and sometimes just makes jokes fall flat. But it does contain at least some degree of self-reflection that is almost entirely absent from Chappelle’s latest Netflix special," says Matt Wilstein. "The most insightful and illuminating section comes about halfway through when Che explains why he likes to tell 'dark' jokes. 'I like making fun of dark sh*t, that’s just how I process information,' he tells the crowd, adding, 'Some people like to make sad sh*t sadder.'" ALSO: Shame the Devil is Che's "roll-out-of-bed special. It’s a chat on the stoop, a late-night musing, a hangout with a buddy to shoot the sh*t."