On the Scene: Chappelle No-Show

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Non-fiction Words by Dara Wilson

“Chappelle in SF!” The email almost lights up in my inbox as I’m struggling to focus in a long meeting. Stand up genius and controversial television star Dave Chappelle is going to be doing a show in the SF Bay area! My heart leaps with joy and anxiety- I have to see this show, but he’s notorious for selling out almost instantly. Swift fingers and frantic clicks ensure my success, and before long I’m racing out of my meeting toward the printer to pick up tickets. It was going to be the most amazing show, of ever (EVER, even).

… I tend to get my hopes up. My mama tells me this all the time; I have to be more cautious with my expectations. I’d seen Chappelle live before though, and had an amazing experience. I’ve also memorized every line of his stand up and sketch comedy show, so my ferocious and expectant  appreciation for his act was a state of mind that had been long nurtured. Intensely irrational study of his work had foretold it: no one forced my interest in live comedy, but when first piqued, it grew with specified determination and vigor (some people reserve their determination and vigor for things like schooling, which will eventually pay off- I’ve always been more like a hipster/ hippie/ pink-o-Oprah in that regard; and YOU get my undying devotion! and YOU get my undying devotion! UNDYING DEVOTION FOR *EVERYONE*!).

I was sure I wouldn’t be disappointed. I rushed to the midnight showing at San Francisco’s historic Yoshi’s Theater (who’s got two thumbs and is so busy she has to rush to something happening on midnight on a Weekday?? THIS KID!) and took my place in line. Even as some nasty goons (Chappelle’s or Yoshi’s I still don’t know) came through the line to assure patrons that if they “so much as held” a camera phone during the show, or spoke out at all, they would be ejected from the premises, I held on to the hope that this show would be as wildly entertaining as the last.

I settled in my seat in the cramped room. My breath slowed, body tense, eyes glued to the stage. I was poised to take in an enjoyable evening. The audience though, was not prepared to let that happen. One loud voice after another called out to the man in the spotlight; my hopes began to walk a tightrope. There were no goons seeing them out. Just a frustrated artist on a stool sullenly remarking “It’s like y’all want to mess with my emotions tonight.”

Obviously, having started his stand up career as a young teen, Dave Chappelle knows how to navigate a room of hecklers. Personally though, I have never been in the presence of a more volatile, toxic crowd, and I remained impressed with the prowess with which he performed. The well-behaved of us didn’t get the show that we’d desired, but the man’s mastery of his craft can never be called into question.

-- Dara M Wilson

Comments

[mkc]

When you did the Oprah impersonation, I died laughing. You should have gone up on stage and replaced him.