I Watched The New Dave Chapelle Special “The Closer”

[ItWasntLaauv 6,392]

Just like the title said, I watched the new Dave Chapelle special and... I enjoyed it a bit. I had reservations and critiques about the material before I watched it and some of the critiques still stand, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and I thought there were some nice messages overall. His humor, like in his other stand ups can be really tough to sit through at times, but through the cacophony of wild jokes, it’s usually wrapped up with a message that makes you think a bit.

The bit that a lot of people were stirred up about (TERF’s and “gender being fact”) was interesting. I tried to look at it from the lens of a comedy show and not so literally which helped in the viewing experience. This is the main part where some of my critiques still stood. He agreed with the statement of “gender being a fact” and linking it to the genitals or the sex someone is assigned at birth which i thought was an oversight on his part. It didn’t sound like he was saying this stuff out of malice, but trying to be clever and funny for a joke, and if you overlook the little conflating he did of biological sex and gender expression, the jokes work better for sure. Also I feel like there could’ve been, in general, more laughs incorporated into the show from my perspective.

Overall though, while there are some details here and there that I would have altered for accuracy and laughs, I thought the special was good. The ending of the special was my favorite part and really revealed the show’s heart and mission statement well. I get people’s critiques about the special, the backlash seems to be a bit much though in my opinion. Has anyone else watched it?

[thatfoxyfeeling 11,994]

I've always seen Dave as one of the GOATs but this special really made me uncomfortable, it didn't feel like I was watching a stand up and there were barely any punch lines. I just think he took it too far and I didn't like what Ted Sarandos said defending Dave. 

 

[ItWasntLaauv 6,392]

14 minutes ago, thatfoxyfeeling said:

I've always seen Dave as one of the GOATs but this special really made me uncomfortable, it didn't feel like I was watching a stand up and there were barely any punch lines. I just think he took it too far and I didn't like what Ted Sarandos said defending Dave. 

 

Yeah, one of my other critiques was that there could’ve been more laughs. I really feel like most of the laughs came at the end when he was talking about one of his stand up friends bombing. There was some discomfort and toughness here and there for me too, but sitting through it and seeing how he was delivering it helped me enjoy it more, if that makes sense. It’s all just personal taste when it comes to judging if someone took it too far or not, I’ve seen jokes that were so much worse, so this wasn’t super unbearable. I need to look up what Ted Sarandos said.

Edit: Just looked up the Ted Sarandos thing, that definitely could’ve been worded better. With that said, Dave didn’t say that, so I won’t put that on him.

[windzo 679]

Watching his special genuinely reminded me of that spongbob episode where Spongebob was doing stand up and started doing squirrel jokes no malice intend he was just trying to be funny. But eventually he stop onced he realized his jokes were negatively effecting how people saw Sandy as an idiot. Sandy one of if not the smartest person in bikini bottom. 

I get what he was trying to do. But alot of it did not land for me personally. 

 

[bionic 37,803]

Isn't good comedy about punching up, not down? 

[hoeslay 4,015]

There is nothing defendable about him or his b*llshit jokes. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVBM8MbLQkH/

Trans people are being murdered and this kind of content and support of this content only incites violence against myself and my Trans community. 

 

[ItWasntLaauv 6,392]

14 hours ago, windzo said:

Watching his special genuinely reminded me of that spongbob episode where Spongebob was doing stand up and started doing squirrel jokes no malice intend he was just trying to be funny. But eventually he stop onced he realized his jokes were negatively effecting how people saw Sandy as an idiot. Sandy one of if not the smartest person in bikini bottom. 

I get what he was trying to do. But alot of it did not land for me personally. 

 

Totally understandable viewpoint, I could see him grabbing low hanging fruit at certain points which lessened the impact of a some of the jokes. That’s such a funny comparison too!! I love old school Spongebob!! One of the things that Dave did that I did respect though was at the end of the segments he would reiterate the respect he does have for the people that he’s poking fun at, even if he goes a while before saying it.

[Andrea B 16,358]

he's trash 

[Blastertoyo 22,728]

15 hours ago, windzo said:

Sandy one of if not the smartest person in bikini bottom. 

This is bold but sorry 

[ItWasntLaauv 6,392]

11 hours ago, bionic said:

Isn't good comedy about punching up, not down? 

He actually addresses that exact thing verbatim in the special near the end when he was talking about one of his late comedian acquaintances who happened to be trans. It was interesting. Still definitely a convo to be had, especially with how inflammatory the humor was at points.