It should go without saying that I've never created anything as successful as the Chappelle Show. I've never toured the world with my music. My words float around the Internet, but who knows who's actually reading them. Mostly I create when I feel inspired but I wouldn't consider myself an Artist with a capital A. Be that as it may, like most fans I am able to recognize greatness in a performer and Dave Chappelle is undeniably great. Which is, I suppose, why it was ultimately disappointing to watch him rely completely on that gift and charge $55 dollars for what amounted to two and a half hours of stream of consciousness humorous observations and an informal Q&A.
I was genuinely excited to see Chappelle at The Independent in San Francisco last night and despite what I'm about to write, and despite it's flaws, it was the kind of show that made me leave with a face sore from having laughed more continuously than I have in years. How many comedians can come in to a room, seemingly completely unprepared and command an audience through out the entire set?
"I felt funny when I booked this show," was one of the fist things that came out of Chappelle's mouth as he rubbed his forehead under a green knit beanie. He looked tired, but not uncomfortable even through the punctuated silences between his sentences. You got the feeling he was regretting having booked 3 days straight. Still when he was on, he was on fire. You could see the pieces of information forming together as he spoke, his delivery so nuanced even his mistakes seemed somehow planned.
During the longer pauses he would take slow drags from his cigarette and watch as people walked past the stage to get to the bathrooms. If he saw something that interested him he'd engage the person with varying degrees of success. The best of these interactions was with a couple who had come in late. "There's no one more arrogant than a guy who shows up late because he was getting some pussy," Chappelle laughed through a cloud of smoke. "He just just walks around with that look on his face that says, 'I've fucked more recently than anyone in this room!'"
Something else that threw me off was how of good of shape Chappelle appeared to be. That may sound weird, but body building and comedy are two worlds that rarely if ever meet. Much of comedy comes from being the underdog and there's something decidedly unfunny about a person who you think could whoop your ass. I wasn't the only one who noticed. Toward the end of the show a woman yelled out, "why are you so buff?"
"Well," Chappelle paused for a moment and smiled, "I live on a farm that doesn't make anything, so I have a lot of free time to do things. Like work out." Hard to argue with that.
His set went about 50 minutes long and he ignored two prompts from the staff to wrap things up so the late show could get seated. Apparently he's become known for this and while I'd probably never refuse more time in his presence, he didn't say anything past the two hour mark that really stuck with me aside from admitting he had no idea who Tim Tebow was. That made my night.
After the show you could hear the grumbling in the crowd as we poured in to the street. People felt cheated. Everyone laughed but I think we all expected more. We came to see greatness and what we got, while entertaining, left us unsatisfied.
My sincere hope is that Dave is using these shows as an opportunity to flush out material for a new special or a more regular touring schedule. But if that is the case, the price of admittance should reflect the amount of effort put in to the material. Head down, staring at the stage, bathed in a cool blue light, one of this generations greatest comedians said to himself as much as to anyone in the audience, "it's hard to make a comeback, man. It's real fucking hard." I can't even imagine.
