"The film makes you look at the world and yourself differently." No connection to 'Closer' controversy "There is just no match for his courage and intelligence and activism," said Sara Anders, 38, a San Francisco Bay-area producer. It is a time capsule that captures how that first summer of the pandemic felt – the fear, the economic devastation, the horror at Floyd's death and America's reckoning with deadly racism. The documentary is funny, moving, painful and thought-provoking. As Chappelle observes, it was just like COVID-19, "you couldn't hug anyone goodbye." The zoning board approved the call for a variance, allowing the shows to continue.Īnd then, in the random destructive nature of the pandemic we've come to live with, several staffers test positive for the virus and the show is shut down. It begins with nearby neighbors complaining about the noise and sexual language of the shows, but then waves of townspeople testify via Zoom about the hope, comfort, business and joy the shows have given them. In a climactic scene, the local zoning board hears a petition to allow the shows to continue. The shows were held in the tiny "hippie" town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, where the comedian grew up and where he now lives with his family.Ĭhappelle's "summer camp" had pumped more than $7 million into Yellow Springs' COVID-struggling downtown and brought dozens of performers to a pavilion in a cornfield where socially distanced audiences of as few as 100 people saw star-studded, historic shows. Perhaps most strongly, the film showed Chappelle's gift for creating opportunities for not just himself but dozens of other performers.
As a Black woman, I loved how he brought people together. "It was fantastic," said Lynae Washington, 44, of Oakland, California. The documentary is ultimately about how comedians – and all Americans – are trying to process the grief and isolation of the last year. “White people, how do you live with yourselves?” Chappelle, 48, asks in the documentary from the outdoor stage he assembled in his home state of Ohio.
More: 'You will not summon me': Dave Chappelle on engaging with trans community fired Netflix employee speaks There were nods to his so-called cancellation for his comments that gender is real, which have been decried by the transgender community.īut the focus was his documentary, "Untitled," centered on the more than 50 comedy shows he held in a cornfield in rural Ohio last summer, featuring a cavalcade of comedy stars including Chris Rock, Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart, Kevin Hart and David Letterman. The evening definitely included Chappelle's laid-back delivery of raunchy, button-pushing and often beyond-the-pale jokes. "It's been a hell of a three weeks," Chappelle said on stage with a sigh after the film rolled.
Afterward, Chappelle came out in person for a short comedy set followed by a star-studded lineup of local musicians including Goapele, Raphael Saadiq, Too Short, and E-40. The four-hour evening began with several local comedians, then a showing of his new documentary, which first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. "What I got was something deep about America that at times turned into comedy. "I was expecting harsh, almost corrosive humor," said John Niel, 39, of San Francisco.
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SAN FRANCISCO – Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle's 11-city tour of a documentary about a series of comedy shows he did last summer is something of a bait and switch.