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Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones
I guess even Netflix likes to play with fire a little as they actually dared to lure one of the most angry comic voices since Richard Pryor back to the microphone with an evening of edgy and challenging humor called Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones.
Any fans of this comic knows that an evening with Chappelle is never going to be an average evening of stand-up comedy. Most comparable specials begin with the star being introduced and five minutes of the video is wasted watching the audience applaud and the star soak up the love, but no such nonsense here. The show, filmed live from Atlanta, beings with the camera at the top of the venue movimg downwards while we hear our star reinterpreting the lyrics to the Prince record "1999" and all of a sudden, the star is onstage and we're off.
Chappelle takes on several topics, but there is nothing spontaneous nor apologetic about it. Chappelle has never been a guy to shy away from his opinions and this evening was no exception. His pointed observations about the recent Michael Jackson documentary (also reviewed in this thread) did put the audience on his side without sugarcoating the issue at hand, concluding with an almost shocking, but hysterical comment about Macauley Culkin that had me on the floor. He also brought a surprising amount of humor to the subject of school shootings and the drills that children have to take now because of them.
His tirade on drugs was a little more detailed than most comics get on this subject, comparing the demographics involved in the crack epidemic of the 1980's and the opioid crisis of today. I loved that he described heroine as a drug for "poor white people." Chappelle also gains the support of the venue with his observations on abortion. There was also an allegedly unscripted and hilarious moment where a cell phone went off in the middle of the show and Dave's handling of it was perfect. His story about a meeting with the Standards and Practices lady from The Chapelle Show also garnered major laughs.
I've complained in other reviews about standups who laugh at themselves and I have to admit that Chappelle does a lot of that here, but it doesn't really bother me with him because his setup of a story is often so deliberate and well-structured that he actually earns the laugh, which he does justify to an extent by running to the back of the stage when he does it. He's little older and a little heavier, but the darkness and anger of his humor is still there, something even Netflix couldn't mess with.
I guess even Netflix likes to play with fire a little as they actually dared to lure one of the most angry comic voices since Richard Pryor back to the microphone with an evening of edgy and challenging humor called Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones.
Any fans of this comic knows that an evening with Chappelle is never going to be an average evening of stand-up comedy. Most comparable specials begin with the star being introduced and five minutes of the video is wasted watching the audience applaud and the star soak up the love, but no such nonsense here. The show, filmed live from Atlanta, beings with the camera at the top of the venue movimg downwards while we hear our star reinterpreting the lyrics to the Prince record "1999" and all of a sudden, the star is onstage and we're off.
Chappelle takes on several topics, but there is nothing spontaneous nor apologetic about it. Chappelle has never been a guy to shy away from his opinions and this evening was no exception. His pointed observations about the recent Michael Jackson documentary (also reviewed in this thread) did put the audience on his side without sugarcoating the issue at hand, concluding with an almost shocking, but hysterical comment about Macauley Culkin that had me on the floor. He also brought a surprising amount of humor to the subject of school shootings and the drills that children have to take now because of them.
His tirade on drugs was a little more detailed than most comics get on this subject, comparing the demographics involved in the crack epidemic of the 1980's and the opioid crisis of today. I loved that he described heroine as a drug for "poor white people." Chappelle also gains the support of the venue with his observations on abortion. There was also an allegedly unscripted and hilarious moment where a cell phone went off in the middle of the show and Dave's handling of it was perfect. His story about a meeting with the Standards and Practices lady from The Chapelle Show also garnered major laughs.
I've complained in other reviews about standups who laugh at themselves and I have to admit that Chappelle does a lot of that here, but it doesn't really bother me with him because his setup of a story is often so deliberate and well-structured that he actually earns the laugh, which he does justify to an extent by running to the back of the stage when he does it. He's little older and a little heavier, but the darkness and anger of his humor is still there, something even Netflix couldn't mess with.