REVIEW: Dave Chappelle: The Closer (Netflix)
The length of this reflects a careful consideration of an important piece of comedic art.
I watched the Dave Chapelle comedy special The Closer on Netflix twice. I realize some of this will upset some people I know (if they aren’t already by the fact that I watched it twice).
I’m putting this up because I’m willing to take the arrows. However, I’m only willing to take arrows from any of you that actually watched this show.
I am trans & LGBTQ supportive (although I do eat Chik Fil A, but dayum Popeye’s gives them a run). I endorse nearly every right they are fighting for and the dignity they deserve.
I’m also a novice comic.
I think Dave Chapelle is one of the most brilliant and thoughtful comedians of our generation. He is also (for me) uneven.
Killin’ Them Softly is one of the funniest comedy specials I’ve ever seen. His first Netflix one was ok not great.
I tried his show and never quite got into it (although the black blind old KKK guy is one of the funniest TV skits I’ve ever seen).
I’ve seen him live and he was transcendent. He performed for 3 and a half hours. He was terrific on 8:46 and on David Letterman’s interview show.
Comics are meant to push edges. It’s part of the art.
And in my humble opinion I want the greatest comics of our generation on those edges. FULLY knowing that they will make really big mistakes.
I’m not a fan of pushing edges when the jokes aren’t good, particularly when the subject matter the comic goes into is really touchy for whatever reason.
Put simply I’d rather have Chappelle trying things out that come out as offensive to Jewish people (which I obviously don’t want) than a random well known average comic trying to comment on difficult topics (paging Michael Richards…).
I’ll try not to give away the jokes, but then again if you’ve read this far, it’s probable you watched it.
There were times during this special when the concentric circles met that the jokes were in touchy territory and weren’t funny to me.
It wasn’t frequent but it happened for sure. I wasn’t a fan of the Transylvania or the physical attributes in the audience to signal a trans person.
I didn’t really like the one about the movie about Jewish people either.
He also rolled out some REALLY funny lines that I know offend some people. The metoo, Catholic Priest, LGBTQ and Trans material I know did.
Somehow at times he got me laughing at something that as I’m laughing I almost questioned myself as to why (the perfect one is a joke about him being the leader of the feminist movement with an absolutely cutting tag).
And yet, it is also one of the most thoughtful pieces of comedy that I’ve seen in a REALLY long time. I think he takes what Richard Pryor was trying to do and builds on it.
Dave Chappelle is fearless. He was willing to say just about anything on stage during the set.
He brings in toxic masculinity oddly, an MLK impression with words that are stunning and a text from a black woman writer friend about the women’s march that had me in tears laughing.
And for those of you that don’t nerd out on comedy like I do he is a master at a technique called the “callback”. He brings back parts of his routine later in the show in spectacular fashion.
He is an absolute master at timing and delivery (I think only Ellen is better). He also is fabulous at doing voices and physical comedy (he does a hand clapping while talking that is beyond funny).
It’s nerdy stuff that a novice comic like me is amazed by.
He brought up how feminism is inclusive (by definition) and the exclusionary approach is damaging and somehow weaves in Sojourner Truth (WOW).
He touched on the difference that DaBaby killed a black person in NC and got no heat and his latest awful words got him cancelled.
He brought up the difficulty of being black and hearing other groups get so angry for having been judged for decades. And he weaves in a story about a black South Carolina farmer who was formerly a slave and became a brutal slave owner.
It’s like we’re getting a history lesson and a comedy show all in one. It’s contextual evidence for a dynamic that he still sees today.
More than anything else, he calls out (with a perspective) what is the differences between how we think in a way that tries to build some kind of bridge to talk about it.
It’s NOT easy (he touched on that specifically in the David Letterman piece).
I could hear him in his performance trying to be respectful of using the right words (he mentions how he specifically uses trans not tranny which is hurtful).
The home run was when told a story about a trans woman comedian named Daphne Dorman that I won’t give away except to tell you I heard him tell that story live in San Francisco.
It was almost exactly the same story and when he told it that night you could hear a freaking pin drop.
We were totally transfixed.
That night I was moved. Yesterday when I watched it I was in tears when he talked about her, what she went through as he supported him and what happened to her.
He tried to thread a needle and at times came in hard.
He made it clear that from his perspective a great deal of the issues that create the division and difficulty start from white people who don’t get it or want to get it.
I don’t 100% get his intent at the very end of the show in terms of what his desire is for ensuring everyone is laughing. That’s an impossibility.
By definition some people will be pissed off for what a comic says at times. It’s part of the deal.
I am saddened by how comedy seems to be getting into a smaller and smaller box. We HAVE to learn how to talk about and laugh about important, difficult subjects.
I was texting with a friend about Eddie Murhpy’s Comedian which we all loved at that time. That did NOT age well and it was genius at the time. I wonder how this one will age.
It’s different and I’m willing to engage in dialog on things that push the edges and maybe even see where I have some blind spots.
I came out of this special with a deeper understanding of myself. I also came out with a stronger devotion to those beliefs for every group he addressed and even the ones he offended.
I’m convinced he’s really trying to get us to see something. And I’m not convinced he’s necessarily trying to get us to think what he thinks.
I believe he’s trying to get us to think how he thinks. I believe he's trying to get us to get that we ALL go through things.
That’s not easy, but The Closer takes a really good shot at it.
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