Guess who’s back? It’s Dave Chappelle! With today being the day I graduate from the NeXt Ambassador Program via Fund for the Arts, my guy and I are going to tonight’s show to end our day with the best medicine on earth; laughter.
As I wrote about him in 2014, Chappelle takes serious issues and puts a spin on them to make his audience laugh about hot button topics of race, politics, marriage, and even sex. Chappelle is the conductor of a murky train through humanity as it takes us through the imperfect existence that we live in and somehow delivers us to a destination of comedic beauty.
As a tribute to Mr. Chappelle and a throwback to previous posts about him, please continue to scroll.
THE RETURN OF DAVE CHAPPELLE | December 21, 2014
Hilarious, offensive, and thought provoking are the words that come to my mind as I recall Dave Chappelle’s show at the Louisville Palace Theater last night.
We all remember or have heard about the moment he walked off the stage in Louisville over a decade ago. He fell of the grid and we all, or at least this writer, forgot how brilliant he actually is. GQ named Chappelle as the “Comeback of the Year” two days ago. They’re right; he’s back and better than ever.
The house was packed last night for the second sold-out show. Comedians Azhar Usman and Mohammad Amer made the crowd roused for Chappelle’s entrance. And DJ Trauma hyped the crowd with old-school hip-hop leading up to the Chappelle’s entrance song, LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out”.
In true Chappelle fashion, he took serious issues and put a spin on them to make the audience erupt with laughter. Marriage, race, politics, and sex were all covered in his laid-pack performance. Chappelle’s comedy takes us to the murky parts of humanity so we can discover comedic beauty in our imperfect existence. It was a show I didn’t want to end.
If you missed last night’s show, you have one more chance to see him today at 7 p.m. Tickets, $55, may still be available at the Louisville Palace box office and online at www.louisvillepalace.com.
** Click HERE to go to original post.
***** Below is the prequel to his last performance *****
COMEDIAN DAVE CHAPPELLE COMING BACK TO LOUISVILLE | December 2, 2014
Comedian Dave Chappelle will be returning to the Palace Theater on Saturday, December 20, 2014 for two shows; the first show is at 7:00 p.m. however, not many tickets are left for this showing so they have added a second show at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $55 each and went on sale this morning at 10:00 a.m.
I like to consider myself a comedy enthusiast so I try to attend as many of them as I can when the tours come through Louisville. From George Carlin to Robin Williams, the Palace Theater is definitely the best venue for comedy shows in the city. My most memorable show at the Palace was when Dave Chappelle performed there in the early 2000’s. I’ve searched Google and asked friends what year it was when he performed there and I can’t find any specific date details. What made the show so memorable for me and anyone else in attendance was that Chappelle walked off of the stage after only 20 – 30 minutes because of a few hecklers that were extremely irritating to Chappelle and everyone else.
The show started with Chappelle making a few alcohol and weed jokes referencing his show “The Chappelle Show” and his movie “Half Baked”. Soon after, hecklers joined in and were yelling random names at him. If my memory serves me correctly it was “George Bush”, “Rick James”, “Bill Clinton”, “Sampson”, et cetera. Chappelle sat down on a stool and told the audience he was going to “ride this wave” until they were done. After a few minutes, he started back, we thought. He began telling a story about what it was like to work with the Wayan brothers and what he learned from them.
The audience settled down just for a few minutes and when he said he was going share a valuable lesson that he learned from the Wayans, that comedians guide the show, not the fans. After looking at the audience, Chappelle said “Homey don’t play that!” He then threw the microphone on the stage and walked off. Not knowing if this was part of his skit or just a random occurrence, the crowd sat there either laughing or in shock wondering if he was coming back on. The lights came on and everyone was ushered out of the building. It was a disappointing show but understandable from his point-of-view.
As a Chappelle fan I am attending the show on the 20th with the hopes that fans will let him do his thing this time around and leave the heckling for another comedian that is into it.
Tickets are still available for purchase online at www.LouisvillePalace.com, The Palace Box Office, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.
**Click HERE to go to original post.
Leave a Reply