“Dave Chappelle: A Netflix Original” is Dave Chappelle’s comeback to stand-up comedy after a decade-long hiatus. This three-part special was met with positive reviews. The first episode is from a Los Angeles performance at the legendary Hollywood Palladium.
STARS: 3/5
Dave Chappelle is a popular comedian and actor who gained a large following from his sketch comedy TV series, “Chappelle’s Show,” and was even named No. 43 out of the “100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time” list by Comedy Central.
The episode I watched, “The Age of Spin,” was dubbed this by Chappelle, who said our generation has so much to be upset about, from mass shootings to terrorist attacks. He said we are in such a difficult time, therefore, none of us know or even care about what we’re looking at in the media — also known as spin.
Chappelle has a very cavalier yet appealing and almost nonchalant manner about him, which works well with his controversial jokes. He is too blunt to care about offending anyone in his sketches.
He starts off the show casually, telling a story about how he was recently booed off stage at a performance because he was too drunk and laughed at the agitated crowd who was demanding their money back.
Commenting on his long break from comedy, Chappelle joked about “Dancing with the Stars” showing interest in him, to which he replied, “Oh no, not yet. When you see getting judged on my cha-cha in front of those judges, that’s when it’s really over for me.”
While Chappelle has an array of topics he likes to touch on in his shows, this show in particular highlighted many racial struggles present in America today, especially pertaining to police racism and brutality.
Chappelle told a story about a police officer pulling over he and his friend simply because they were black. This was ironic because the police officer arrested the friend, but let Chappelle go because of his celebrity status, even though he was clearly under the influence. Black Americans’ relationship with the police was a popular theme of the show.
He also retorted that if “Making a Murderer’s” main character was a black man on trial, the name of the show would be changed to “Duh.” The unfair justice system against people of color was another popular topic.
One of the funniest parts of the routine was that every now and then, Chappelle would mention a time that he ran into OJ Simpson. He met with the controversial figure on a few occasions and always had funny encounters with him.
Chappelle is known for his no-boundaries sense of humor and even warned guests in the beginning of the show that they shouldn’t be “sensitive.” He didn’t hold back from making jokes about the LGBTQ community in particular, even saying that he “missed Bruce,” an obvious jab at Caitlyn Jenner’s transition.
He also said transgender individuals were “beating” black people in discrimination in the United States. Even though some of his jokes may be considered tasteless and crass, I feel as though they should be expected in a Chappelle stand-up.
One of the last subjects Chappelle touched on was the wedge between himself and the black community. He made the audience laugh for a solid minute with his retelling of an ordeal he faced — either going to the Oscars or to a fundraiser in Flint, Michigan on the water crisis. Chappelle said, “Stevie Wonder was there [in Flint], they surely didn’t need me.”
Even though there were a few insensitive cracks, Chappelle gave an overall enjoyable and funny comeback to the world of comedy who surely missed his presence. There were times that I couldn’t help but laugh, even if the subject matter was unorthodox.