Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

Dave Chappelle: Stil Crazy After All These Years


Ellsworth Toohey

Recommended Posts

The article linked in the OP recounted that Chappelle said "Security feel free to step in anytime."

 

I was going to highlight this. In terms of stand-up comedy, this was not a meltdown.  It is not unheard of for a comedian to walk off the stage when the crowd is shitty. 

 

We have a case here where there was five hours between when the doors opened and the headliner was brought on stage, which is way too long. 

 

By the time Dave (who was brought on stage while most people were moving around after intermission) comes on the audience is going to be restless and/or loaded. Almost every comedy show I've been to has either stopped liquor sales or limited them before and during the headliner but it sounds like here you may have had a lot of overserved people.  So who knows what they were yelling at him.

 

Dave is known now for a rambling improv style where he does do shit like chain smoke and rant about whatever for literally hours, not tight 25 minute sets.  So he's not a good fit to headline a show like this.

 

Also the mix of acts like Flight of the Conchords brings a weird mix into the audience. 

 

Dave did act unprofessionally, sure - he should have been able to turn the crowd around.  But a lot of the fault should go to the promoters for shitty booking, and to the venue for overserving patrons and not ejecting rowdy ones.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Burgundy, I'm not sure what you wrote as you and Victator are on my "ignore user" list due to your insanely offensive statements you made about gun owners in the Trayvon Martin thread.

 

Sorry sweetie!

 

 

You haven't been around long to see my truly offensive side.  Give it three months--something will happen to piss me off.  I will look for it.  I will find it.  And I will kill its poster with my one of withering monologues.

 

Then again, you're not fit to be offended by me.  You're boxing out of your league, son.

 

Run and ignore that, homeboy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Burgundy, I'm not sure what you wrote as you and Victator are on my "ignore user" list due to your insanely offensive statements you made about gun owners in the Trayvon Martin thread.

 

Sorry sweetie!

 

 

You haven't been around long to see my truly offensive side.  Give it three months--something will happen to piss me off.  I will look for it.  I will find it.  And I will kill its poster with my one of withering monologues.

 

Then again, you're not fit to be offended by me.  You're boxing out of your league, son.

 

Run and ignore that, homeboy!

 

 

What she said.

 

Go Colts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record, I have never regarded BLR as an enemy, but I'm also not going to have beers with her or anything.

 

Well, that's not true. I'd be willing to buy a round for just about anyone here. Except Gonzalez. Fuck that guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record, I have never regarded BLR as an enemy, but I'm also not going to have beers with her or anything.

 

Well, that's not true. I'd be willing to buy a round for just about anyone here. Except Gonzalez. Fuck that guy.

 

Make mine something from a Belgian monastery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wasn't really quite sure where I fell on the issue, until today's news where he hoped that North Korea would drop a nuclear bomb on Hartford, CT, and that seeing him "melt down" on stage was akin to having the privelege (his emphasis) of having been there to see Sigfried or Roy get attacked by the tiger, all those years ago.  Oh, and he got to pull out the phrase "pull a reverse Kramer," saying he should have gone off and called the crowd "crackers;" which is to say, he would have pulled a regular, run of the mill "Kramer."  Racism is universal, there's no such thing as "reverse racism"*.

 

*Unless you call it what it is: LOVE!!

 

So yeah, fuck you Dave Chappelle, for clearing up the doubt I had that you got what you asked for.  Because you got what you asked for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like that this was such a nuanced, hugely complex issue that it took days of reflection (and Chappelle saying "fuck those people") for nate to finally come down hard onto one side of the debate.

 

... DAYS ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Chappelle during his prime (2000-"mid-life crisis") is one of my favorite comedians. Some of the skits on Chappelle's Show will never be touched. But I've never been sympathetic about the "break-down" he had and his subsequent move to Africa. Wahhhh I've reached the pinnacle of my profession that millions dream of attaining and I don't know how to handle the eight figures that my bosses want to pay me Wahhhhh.

You have to look at his bosses though. Unless you're one of the untouchables (Trey and Matt from South Park, Stewart, and now Colbert), they have NO requirement to be loyal to you. Dave probably did not see himself in that category despite the success of the series through two seasons. Look at what Comedy Central did to Katt Williams during the height of his success. He was on the verge of his getting his own Comedy Central series and more specials. Then they pulled the stunt at the Roast of Flava Flav. They treat him shitty before the show, give him no heads up on what other people are going to say, and then give him a script with incendiary racist material targeted toward Flava Flav. Just because Katt gritted his teeth and did it for the money one time doesn't mean that Dave had to over the course of years.

 

 

I read the interview he gave a few years back after it all went down (I want to say TIME), and it his complaints had nothing to do with the suits at CC being too pushy or demanding a certain type of material. One day Dave basically realized some people were laughing at his race jokes without understanding that the jokes were poking fun at them, and because of this, he had his hissy fit and flew off to Africa. If it was the case that CC demanded a certain type of humor that he wasn't comfortable with, I'd support him 100%. But it was a case where the performer discovered his audience wasn't as smart as he originally thought they were.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Chappelle during his prime (2000-"mid-life crisis") is one of my favorite comedians. Some of the skits on Chappelle's Show will never be touched. But I've never been sympathetic about the "break-down" he had and his subsequent move to Africa. Wahhhh I've reached the pinnacle of my profession that millions dream of attaining and I don't know how to handle the eight figures that my bosses want to pay me Wahhhhh.

You have to look at his bosses though. Unless you're one of the untouchables (Trey and Matt from South Park, Stewart, and now Colbert), they have NO requirement to be loyal to you. Dave probably did not see himself in that category despite the success of the series through two seasons. Look at what Comedy Central did to Katt Williams during the height of his success. He was on the verge of his getting his own Comedy Central series and more specials. Then they pulled the stunt at the Roast of Flava Flav. They treat him shitty before the show, give him no heads up on what other people are going to say, and then give him a script with incendiary racist material targeted toward Flava Flav. Just because Katt gritted his teeth and did it for the money one time doesn't mean that Dave had to over the course of years.

 

 

I read the interview he gave a few years back after it all went down (I want to say TIME), and it his complaints had nothing to do with the suits at CC being too pushy or demanding a certain type of material. One day Dave basically realized some people were laughing at his race jokes without understanding that the jokes were poking fun at them, and because of this, he had his hissy fit and flew off to Africa. If it was the case that CC demanded a certain type of humor that he wasn't comfortable with, I'd support him 100%. But it was a case where the performer discovered his audience wasn't as smart as he originally thought they were.

 

 

Yeah, that's what I heard and that's why I posted the story with Katt. Both Katt and Dave are known for using race a lot in their material (sketch, film, standup, etc). I can't imagine what type of resistance Dave would have faced if he told CC that he was changing up the formula of the show based on that one feeling he had shooting a slave sketch. I'm sure Dave and Neal could have found a way to make the show successful without certain topics, but it probably would have taken a certain edge off the show that CC wanted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...