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http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jun/13/review-chappelle-proved-comedy-still-needs-him/?partner=RSS&cid=dlvr.it
Review: Chappelle proved that comedy still needs him
By Bob Mehr
Posted June 13, 2012 at 3:07 p.m.
As if a phantom, comedian Dave Chappelle materialized in Memphis on Tuesday night, making a rare concert appearance. Chappelle’s performance at downtown’s Orpheum was part comedy show, part confessional, and all chaos — due largely to a crowd that seemed to think it had come for a gladiatorial spectacle rather than to witness a stand up set.
It speaks to Chappelle’s enduring popularity that even after years of semi-retirement he was able to fill the 2,500-seat venue on such short notice (the show was announced last Tuesday; tickets went on sale Wednesday, and sold out within hours).
Moreover, it’s hard to imagine any African-American performer drawing as diverse a crowd as the one that filled the theatre.
You’re unlikely to find the same mix of white and black, young and old, at, say, Eddie Griffin’s upcoming Cannon Center show. That’s less a knock on Griffin — a skilled and highly underrated comic — than a confirmation of Chappelle’s unique position in the cultural pantheon.
After a solid opening set by local comedian Prescott, Chappelle walked onstage without fanfare, a cigarette dangling from his lips, looking far different than the skinny kid who first emerged as a teen comedy prodigy in the early-’90s.
Fast approaching his 40th birthday, Chappelle’s now massive biceps and wheezing cough made it seem as if he’d been spending all his downtime lifting weights and chain smoking.
Almost immediately, he acknowledged the elephant in the room — namely his decision in 2006 to leave the hit Comedy Central program “Chappelle’s Show” and a reported $50 million on the table, walking away from the spotlight at the height of his fame.
The public fascination about this move, so alien and antithetical to the American mindset, has lingered partly because Chappelle has never clearly explained the reasons for abdicating his title as comedy’s lineal champion (a succession that stretches backwards from Chris Rock to Eddie Murphy to Richard Pryor).
At times, Chappelle came off as morose and uncertain about his decision — though, that too, may have been part of the performance. He managed to make light of the continuing interest in his quandary: “It’s ’cause I had a good job,” joked Chappelle. “Nobody ever asks why you quit a (expletive) job.”
Still, his Orpheum performance provided no clear answers; though recent comments by “Chappelle’s Show” co-creator Neal Brennan indicate that a complex network of personal, professional and political factors were responsible. “I had my reasons,” is the most Chappelle would divulge seriously on the topic, adding that even Oprah Winfrey was unable to pin him down in that regard during their famous televised interview.
Working without the crutch of much new material or a true “act” — there were only a handful of set pieces during the entire concert — Chappelle’s rhythms were especially languid, as he paused frequently to summon a new thought or direction.
Unfortunately, the crowd interpreted these spaces as an invitation to become part of the show. A third of the way through, the whole theatre was reverberating with catcalls and shouts from the audience.
The comedian dismissed the commonly held notion that he was highly sensitive about hecklers. Instead, he opted to engage the crowd, answering a stream of questions while noting, “This is like a press conference.”
For a time, the set was hilariously fueled by this interaction, as he used the outbursts as a springboard to move, if not quite seamlessly, between improvised observations about celebrity, politics, race and art.
Some of the evening’s sharpest moments came in Chappelle’s riffs on Hollywood film phenomenon ranging from “Snakes on a Plane” to “Brokeback Mountain.”
But relying on the braying masses turned out to be folly after a time, as the crowd’s interruptions became inexplicably stupid, vaguely racist or simply drunken non sequiturs.
At a certain point the audience began to turn on itself, as those talking were shouted down by others exhorting them to “shut the (expletive) up!” Ever nimble, Chappelle even managed to make comedy out of such internecine squabbling.
Remarkably, it took almost half the show before someone demanded that Chappelle “do Rick James!” The comic demurred politely and pointed out that the famous “Chappelle’s Show” skit represented “one day of work … six years ago.”
“That would be like your boss coming in and saying: ‘Remember that memo you wrote six years ago? That was great. I want you type it out for me right now, word for word,’” said Chappelle. (Though, for the record, he did offer up a hilarious impression of another singer, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder).
Part of the problem in seeing Chappelle live now is that the majority of the audience only knows him from the two seasons of his show rather than his 20-year body of work as a stand-up (the 2000 special “Killing Them Softly” remains a high point).
And yet, for all it’s flaws, for all its awkward moments, and despite the tiresome chatter of the crowd, Chappelle’s Orpheum concert was a triumph, if only in serving to remind us of his mastery of the medium.
Any lesser comedian under similar circumstances would’ve been swallowed up whole within minutes, but Chappelle managed to thrive and create, delivering a low-key high-wire act that was never less than entertaining.
In a moment of candor near the end of the concert, Chappelle thanked the crowd for coming, acknowledging genuinely that, “I still need an audience.”
While that may be true, Tuesday’s performance also proved that comedy still desperately needs Dave Chappelle.
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