Dave Chapelle meltdown - was crowd racist?

[LoveTrains]

So I LOVE Dave Chapelle. Love, love, love him. I saw him do stand-up in 2000 and it was amazing. I knew that he was coming back on tour, and apparently he walked off the stage this week in Connecticut. A friend of mine posted this article on facebook about it. What od you think? It kind of ties into that "minstrel" thing we were talking about with Miley the other day. Was the crowd racist? 

www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/dave-chappelle-didnt-meltdown-405#axzz2dTTlsWu7
Dave Chappelle Didn't Meltdown
[OPINION] LESLI-ANN LEWIS ATTENDED THE NOW-INFAMOUS CONNECTICUT SHOW AND SAYS THE COMEDIAN IS NOT THE ONE WHO'S GOT A PROBLEM
By LESLI-ANN LEWIS


Dave Chappelle
"You are booing yourself."


I just watched Dave Chappelle quit stand up. Out in the Comcast Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, shivering in the open air, I can’t think that this is anything else. I felt this coming just five minutes after the silver curtain had dropped dramatically, by which point the former Comedy Central star had barely gotten any jokes out. We all knew it was five minutes because, with an edge in his voice, Chappelle had ticked off the time.

The Oddball "Funny or Die" tour was supposed to be Chappelle’s big return to stand up (again). Shorty after taking the stage—to our massive applause—someone in the front asked if he was back for real this time. He answered "yes." We all cheered.
He had started with some Paula Deen jokes that went over well when he had to stop again. Maybe it was his gratuitous use of the N-word to a mainly White audience. Maybe it was the overpriced beer that, to my amazement, everyone seemed to keep buying. Whatever it was, there was a palpable change. The crowd got rowdier, louder, ruder. Folks started calling out random references to his past work (he informed us that if we ever see him in a Half Baked sequel, that means he's run completely out of money) and, most bizarrely, his 2006 Oprah interview.

After engaging some of the heckling politely, Chapelle had enough. "I’ve been up here a while now and I thought it was me but now I ‘m sure it’s you. There is definitely something wrong with you." he told us. In other words, 'shut up and let me perform.' Not many did. Finally, he gave up and took his cigarettes and his water and sat on stage.
The crowd got worse. People were booing, jeering. I heard a woman yell something that was drowned out by a guy near me screaming “DAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE” for the umpteenth time. But Dave hears her.
"Times like this, I wonder where Katt Williams is" He sips his water and stares at us meaningfully. There is a hush. The jeers begin again.

When he decided he would not be doing the show, he responded to a voice in the crowd: “I’m going to have to read about this sh*t for months.”
And he will—and none of them will be fair. They will include bare facts; At the Hartford show, Dave Chappelle DID sit down and read an excerpt from an audience member’s book. At the Hartford show, Dave Chappelle did give the crowd the middle finger and tell us that we sucked ("You are booing yourself. I want you to go home and look in the mirror and say 'boo,' that's how I feel about you.")

I doubt many will say the audience deserved it. I doubt they will quote Dave, that he warned the audience. That he began to discuss a larger, historical issue: the Black entertainer and White consumption.
I’m writing this to be fair: it needs to be written, it needs to be read. It needs to be understood.

Being in that crowd, a sea of drunk White male faces and seeing Chappelle sit there and be jeered at made me uncomfortable. Heckling isn’t uncommon for comedians but often when a comedian as famous as Chappelle puts their foot down, it is usually respected.
While the racial makeup of the crowd was incidental, the way they treated Chappelle is not. It speaks to a long complicated history: the relationship between the White audience and the Black entertainer. This is a relationship you can easily trace to early minstrel shows, to archetypes of Blacks that still define the roles we’re offered today. We have seen more Black comedians bow to racist tropes, demean themselves—albeit unintentionally—for White audiences.

Chappelle wasn’t having a meltdown. This was a Black artist shrugging the weight of White consumption, deciding when enough was enough. This isn’t the first time Chappelle has done so and it isn’t the first time his behavior has been characterized as a meltdown.
There is a long history of asking African-Americans to endure racism silently; it’s characterized as grace, as strength. Chappelle’s Connecticut audience, made up of largely young White males, demanded a shuck and jive. Men who seemed to have missed the fine satire of the Chappelle show demanded he do characters who, out of the context of the show look more like more racist tropes, than mockery of America’s belief in them.

When he expressed shock that he’d sat there and been yelled at for so long, people yelled they paid him. They felt paying for a show meant they could verbally harass him, direct him in any tone of voice, as though they’d bought him.
After his first “meltdown,” Chapelle said he left his show because he wasn't sure if he was being laughed with or at. Seeing him walk off that stage last night, I think he’d decided on the answer. They had been missing his message, they weren’t laughing with him. And I'm glad to see that in Connecticut, he had the courage to laugh back.
Lesli-Ann Lewis is a habitual line-stepper and detroyer of norms. Follow her on Twitter: @lesellele


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[IIOY]

Aug 30, 2013 12:31:06 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

He had started with some Paula Deen jokes that went over well when he had to stop again. Maybe it was his gratuitous use of the N-word to a mainly White audience. Maybe it was the overpriced beer that, to my amazement, everyone seemed to keep buying. Whatever it was, there was a palpable change. The crowd got rowdier, louder, ruder. Folks started calling out random references to his past work (he informed us that if we ever see him in a Half Baked sequel, that means he's run completely out of money) and, most bizarrely, his 2006 Oprah interview.

This strikes me as so odd.  I haven't been to many comedy shows, but generally you keep quiet while the performer is on stage unless you are laughing.  Why on earth would these people start getting confrontational with him?

ETA: This is what I'm getting at: "Heckling isn’t uncommon for comedians but often when a comedian as famous as Chappelle puts their foot down, it is usually respected."

[iammalcolmx]

I would feel better about this notion if (1) I hadn't myself seen Dave Chappelle once years ago. That Negro showed up two hours late and then only did 15 minutes. (2) NitaX i believe went to see him last year and said he was dreadful.

@soudesafinado please give me your thoughts on this.

[laurenpetro]

I can't see this happening at a Louis CK show but maybe that's due to his command of the audience?

[Velar Fricative]

Aug 30, 2013 12:36:01 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Aug 30, 2013 12:31:06 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

He had started with some Paula Deen jokes that went over well when he had to stop again. Maybe it was his gratuitous use of the N-word to a mainly White audience. Maybe it was the overpriced beer that, to my amazement, everyone seemed to keep buying. Whatever it was, there was a palpable change. The crowd got rowdier, louder, ruder. Folks started calling out random references to his past work (he informed us that if we ever see him in a Half Baked sequel, that means he's run completely out of money) and, most bizarrely, his 2006 Oprah interview.

This strikes me as so odd.  I haven't been to many comedy shows, but generally you keep quiet while the performer is on stage unless you are laughing.  Why on earth would these people start getting confrontational with him?

ETA: This is what I'm getting at: "Heckling isn’t uncommon for comedians but often when a comedian as famous as Chappelle puts their foot down, it is usually respected."

I'm confused about that part too. What caused that palpable change? Something is missing.

[iammalcolmx]

Aug 30, 2013 12:43:25 GMT -5 pennypenny said:

I think the big issue is are you being laughed with or at. I mean that is the reason he gave up the Comedy Central show. He felt that white people were laughing a little to hard at the parodies. Seems like the same thing was happening here. And the whole we paid, we can do what we want, dance for me rubs me the wrong way. I don't care if he was terrible.

I think Mike Epps is the worst at stand up, but I wouldn't heckle him. And the only good part of his show was when he went off on a heckler.

I don't remember that, I remember him saying people kept telling him he was crazy so he went to South Africa ^o) Also if you don't want White people to laugh at your shit put it on TVOne, BET or Centric . Yall know I am as militant as hell but Dave is making me itch here.

[Velar Fricative]

Aug 30, 2013 13:01:19 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

The same thing happened to Rick Fox.

Huh? Rick Fox does stand-up? 

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

I saw Dave Chappelle in 2000 as well. I was/am a HUGE FAN. Stand up live was so bad my friends and I left. To be fair, it was in a huge venue so things might have been lost in translation. I think this audience sounds like a bunch of assholes.

[Velar Fricative]

Or Vivica A. Fox? Michael J. Fox?

[thejackpot]

Which Fox damn it?

[NitaX]

Yeah, I don't know if it's really a white crowd thing. Maybe it is. I just don't know. I saw Dave last year. His act was a hot fucking mess and a half. I blame the crowd and Dave to be honest. Dave came out and was all like "I don't have any jokes." The crowd was busy heckling him talking about stuff form the Chappelle Show, Half Baked and his dayum arms. It was ridiculous.

Dave never really handled the audience either. I saw Bill Maher too and if someone yelled something at him, he had a quick comeback and shut that shit down. I've seen other comedians do the same thing, plus, they have an act and they flow through it. Dave didn't have an act. He just came out on stage and was talking and there were too many pauses which allowed the hecklers to really command the show. So, it's a dual thing - his bad prep and a stupid audience. 

[catsarecute]

Aug 30, 2013 12:56:03 GMT -5 cjoy said:

We saw him a few years ago and the audience was full of the most disrespectful out of control assholes I have ever seen. We left early because we couldn't hear anything and he could barely get out a joke without somebody screaming "DO RICK JAMES, BITCH!"

We saw him years ago (I think 2005? Can't remember) and this same thing happened. It was really annoying. He actually handled it well that night but people were constantly shouting and interrupting his set. To this day, it was the funniest night of my life though. He was hilarious. Some guy (I don't think it was a planned thing) handed him a cd of songs he wrote/sang so Dave had the audio guy put it on the sound system and just ripped this guy a new one after each track. It was incredibly funny.

[laurenpetro]

Aug 30, 2013 13:18:52 GMT -5 NitaX said:

Yeah, I don't know if it's really a white crowd thing. Maybe it is. I just don't know. I saw Dave last year. His act was a hot fucking mess and a half. I blame the crowd and Dave to be honest. Dave came out and was all like "I don't have any jokes." The crowd was busy heckling him talking about stuff form the Chappelle Show, Half Baked and his dayum arms. It was ridiculous.

Dave never really handled the audience either. I saw Bill Maher too and if someone yelled something at him, he had a quick comeback and shut that shit down. I've seen other comedians do the same thing, plus, they have an act and they flow through it. Dave didn't have an act. He just came out on stage and was talking and there were too many pauses which allowed the hecklers to really command the show. So, it's a dual thing - his bad prep and a stupid audience. 

Thank you for saying this because this is what I was trying to get at right before my lunch.

I've seen many, many comedians thoroughly heckled and they were all white. I doubt this has as much to do with race as his stage presence, command of the audience and honestly, preparedness. Those routines need to be TIGHT or you will have your ass handed to you in a hot second. This is what happens if you expect to be able to go out there and wing it.

[Velar Fricative]

We still don't know which Fox/Foxx @dyermaker is talking about.

[jillboston]

I guess I haven't been to as many comedy shows as I thought I have - I've never seen a comedian heckled. It would totally freak me out.

(I've seen Rita Rudner, Dennis Miller - 20 years ago when he was good, Jerry Seinfeld and a host of smaller names at small venues over the years)

[NitaX]

Aug 30, 2013 13:36:42 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

Aug 30, 2013 13:18:52 GMT -5 NitaX said:

Yeah, I don't know if it's really a white crowd thing. Maybe it is. I just don't know. I saw Dave last year. His act was a hot fucking mess and a half. I blame the crowd and Dave to be honest. Dave came out and was all like "I don't have any jokes." The crowd was busy heckling him talking about stuff form the Chappelle Show, Half Baked and his dayum arms. It was ridiculous.

Dave never really handled the audience either. I saw Bill Maher too and if someone yelled something at him, he had a quick comeback and shut that shit down. I've seen other comedians do the same thing, plus, they have an act and they flow through it. Dave didn't have an act. He just came out on stage and was talking and there were too many pauses which allowed the hecklers to really command the show. So, it's a dual thing - his bad prep and a stupid audience. 

Thank you for saying this because this is what I was trying to get at right before my lunch.

I've seen many, many comedians thoroughly heckled and they were all white. I doubt this has as much to do with race as his stage presence, command of the audience and honestly, preparedness. Those routines need to be TIGHT or you will have your ass handed to you in a hot second. This is what happens if you expect to be able to go out there and wing it.

Yeah, I've seen folks even at black comedy shows say some stuff. I've seen Bernie Mac (from the Kings of Comedy tour), Rickey Smiley and even black folks say crazy stuff to the comedian. Now, I don't recall it being as much as at Dave's show (which was really diverse), but he should have been able to keep his act going and he just failed miserably.

I had co-workers who were jealous when they found out we got tickets (it sold out fast), and the next day I was like "You didn't miss a single thing. At.All." Horrible. Color me not shocked that people are complaining about the show.

[laurenpetro]

Aug 30, 2013 15:09:36 GMT -5 pennypenny said:

See I don't know which one it is. 1) Is it like a child star who is now an adult actor and they go to an interview and they don't want to talk about your new movie, they just want to talk about your kid stuff. Because if he was out there doing a routine and people are yelling "do Rick James, bitch" I could see losing my mind. or 2) he went out there completely unprepared and thought he was going to talk for an hour off the cuff like Charlie Sheen on tiger blood, then I could see people being like "shit, I paid money for this, do Rick James, bitch." But I can't tell which it is. And it seems like there is no way to know which Chapelle will show up at each show.

Andy Kaufman actually had a lot of problems with this. There's only so many times you can hear "Do that guy from xxxx!!!" before something goes off. He used to read Dickens, IIRC. Fucking genius.

[Deleted]

The guy was brilliant for a while then somehow completely lost it and became odd, erratic and unprofessional.

[mx27]

Aug 30, 2013 13:18:52 GMT -5 NitaX said:

Yeah, I don't know if it's really a white crowd thing.

this is where I am.