Sticks and Stones registers as a temper tantrum, the product of a man who wants it all -- money, fame, influence -- without much having to answer to anyone.

Sticks & Stones exists as a defiant design to intentionally offend large swaths of the audience Chappelle deems too thin-skinned and easily outraged.. while serving up simple, low-bar yucks to anyone yearning for validation of their anti-P.C. stance.

Sticks and Stones is designed to generate inflammatory coverage... It's a symbiotic cycle with no end in sight, and it's become the last thing a beloved provocateur should ever want to be: predictable.

While he might occasionally be guilty of the same kind of conflations for which he rightly lambasts other people, his ability to openly and sincerely hone in on the issues he most identifies with ensure he’s as important a comic now as he ever has been...