Dave Chappelle is All Right, Don’t Ask Why

Filed Under Sketch Comedy, Stand-Up Comedy

According to the paper of record, Dave Chappelle is just grand, thank you. Although from the sound of things, you leave one TV show and suddenly you have a reputation for not showing up to anything ever. There’s also a suggestion that the old canard that comics are less happy the more they get laughs might apply here. Obviously I can’t examine Chappelle’s head, but I’ve never seen him anything less than joyful on stage. The man often cracks up at his own material (in a charming way, mind you).

Dave Chappelle Performs in Las Vegas

What follows is an account of his recent show at The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas, cocluding it’s less brave than the sketch show he left. The author also seems to expect that Dave would reveal on stage exactly what went on that made him want to leave something that sounds so ideal on paper (or pixels). I really don’t think this is something you can explain to people who aren’t in the situation - the biases people have about money and fame are just too great. Some have their suspicions, I have my own, but I don’t imagine this is a personal experience that’s ripe for stand-up like Richard Pryor’s freebasing or even Margaret Cho’s struggle with her identity after her failed sitcom. It’s either too involved to be funny or too much like an instinct to be defined. As long as we got Chappelle’s stand-up, I don’t miss Chappelle’s Show.

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