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REL 097 · Fall 2026 · Lehigh University

Dave Chappelle's Blues: Faith, Manhood, and the Healing Power of Comedy

A first-year seminar that reads Dave Chappelle's comedy as serious text. You will move from "Was it offensive?" to "What happened among performer, work, audience, history, and interpreter?" The governing key is the tragicomic blues: a minor key that keeps pain audible inside laughter. Across fifteen weeks you read the manuscript, watch the assigned performances, compete in the weekly Meme and Joke Labs, and build a five-minute set of your own.

Get startedPreview Unit 1

Getting in

You reach the gated weeks when three things are true. Each Unit's orientation stays open, so you can always see where the week is going.

  1. Step 1. Sign in with your ProvenanceAI account.
  2. Step 2. Hold an active ProvenanceAI Studio subscription.
  3. Step 3. Redeem the course access code your instructor gave your section.

The fifteen weeks

Part I: Hearing the Room

Part II: Masks, Exits, and Wounds

Part III: Integrity in Public

Part IV: The Tight Five as Answerable Speech

Dave Chappelle's Blues: Faith, Manhood, and the Healing Power of Comedy · REL 097 · Lehigh University · ProvenanceAI Learning Platform