Controversial, mistakenly-thought-to-be-canceled comedians Dave Chappelle and Louis CK are among the Grammy Award nominees this year for Best Comedy Album.
They’ll go up against Grammy stalwarts Jim Gaffigan and Patton Oswalt, and newcomer Randy Rainbow. Chappelle, who hosted Saturday Night Live last weekend to considerable push-back on his opening monologue about antisemitism, is nominated for the comedy album version of his Netflix special The Closer, which includes the jokes about the transgender community that prompted GLAAD to state “Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people.” Chappelle has been previously nominated for three Comedy Album Grammys, winning each time: 2018’s Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin; 2019’s Dave Chappelle: Equanimity & The Bird Revelation; and 2020’s Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones.
He shared the Best Spoken Word album in 2022 with Amir Sulaiman for 8:46. CK’s Sorry, the album of his taped August 2021 performances at New York’s Madison Square Garden, also drew some backlash for what some perceived as the title’s flippant response to the 2017 sexual misconduct allegations against the comedian. (CK won last year’s Grammy in the Comedy Album category for his Sincerely Louis CK).
In addition to Sincerely Louis CK, the comic previously won Grammys in this category for Hilarious (2012); and Live at Madison Square Garden (2016).