Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages, grandmothers and grandfathers, Dave Cha-Pezzy is back, the one and only Dave Chappelle is back!

Dave Chappelle (Half – Baked, The Chappelle Show) the comedy icon, makes his long awaited return to the screen and to the stage. Dave Chappelle now has a Netflix Original stand-up comedy special. With new, mature, raunchy, contemptuous, and always compelling comedy material.

Now if you are coming into this thinking you're getting that Chappelle that says, "I'm Rick James, bitch!" Or him as Lil John, Prince, and as everyone's favorite crackhead Tyrone Biggums, you are not getting that. What you have here is a more mature Chappelle that has grown, and discusses more of his daily life.

That's right Dave Chappelle grew up. He discusses politics, sex, scandals, race issues, kids, the education system, marriage, and all that good stuff. The stand-up special is actually two parts. The first part is titled, The Age of Spin Live at The Hollywood Palladium. The second part is titled, Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits.

Fans online have been debating which special is better. I believe they are both well done. However, I do believe the first special is better.

I personally enjoyed The Age of Spin Live at The Hollywood Palladium more for a variety of reasons. It really does feel like he is talking to the audience, he hasn't performed in L.A. in 10 years, it is more mature, it's funny, and you truly do feel like he is happy to be back, and happy to have grown as a comedian.

That doesn't mean it is a perfect stand-up special, because in my opinion it is not. One of the biggest issues I have is the topics of current events.

I wish there were more recent news topics Chappelle discussed in his special. For example, he could have made jokes and or statements about Trump, Obama leaving office, movies, trends, television shows (like when he played Negan from Walking Dead on Saturday Night Live), social media, and the entertainment industry then vs. now.

Talking about Bill Cosby and O.J. Simpson now feels just a little dated. Even though the jokes are funny, just more fresher topics could have been used. I appreciate him taking a serious topic and adding a light hearted and funny message behind it though.

The first special is…how can I put this? Stupid funny. He tells a joke about every time he has met O.J. and each one of them is hilarious, but really stupid. For instance, this isn't a spoiler, but it involves Chappelle and O.J.'s wife. Chappelle reenacts when he met O.J.'s wife and he says, "Woman, are you trying' to get us both killed?"

Furthermore, he literally opens the show telling the crowd, "You all better be a tough crowd, I'm going to say some stuff, so don't get mad." So if you are someone who is easily offended this is NOT for you. On the other hand, if you are someone who has thick skin and can take race jokes, sex jokes, and profanity the by all means 'njoy.

What I mainly enjoyed about the 2nd half is Chappelle discussing more of his private life. For example, his young son getting into a fight with girl. Chappelle mentions how he took a bite out of his son's school lunch, and then put it back in the bag so his son wouldn't notice. His son thought it was a girl in the class, and it ended up with his son slapping a little girl. This isn't the first father dilemma Chappelle discusses.

Also, Chappelle discusses his marriage. He has been married since 2001, and he talks about/makes jokes about long marriages and relationships. I was cracking up laughing, when he mentions when his wife leaves the house he likes to get naked, jerk off and eat cereal in the living room.

That's what I mean when I say you are getting more of the old Chappelle on this second half of the stand-up special. In my opinion, this half had too many sex jokes and gay jokes. It started out funny, but then I was ready for him to move onto the next topic.

Overall, these are my final thoughts on Dave Chappelle's stand-up Netflix Special. Netflix announced these aren't the only two specials we are getting. There are more coming on the way towards the end of the year, and I say bring it on.

Chappelle is more than Rick James, bitch. He is funny, has improved, has matured, he is a comedy king, and like Comedy Central has stated, I do believe he is one of the greatest comedians of all time. I believe this earns an…

8 out of 10!

Thank you all for reading and or viewing, and I hope you all have an amazing day as always. :)

Now if you'll excuse me, much like Dave Chappelle, I need to get my bowl of cereal ready and head on into the living room.

Review Written By Nile Fortner

This is the first of the Netflix specials that were widely hyped due to it being his 'return'. I've never quite seen him as brilliant as others, so I decided to let all the hype and fuss pass before watching in a few weeks. This first special was actually a year or so ago when it was recorded, and some of the references are dated – an issue for some, but they still worked without being up to the minute fresh. The crowd are good, and Chappelle does seem to enjoy being on stage – and his charisma and timing is evident throughout, and I did laugh quite a lot.

That said, some of his material gave me pause. I know he is a comedian and not a politician, but even with that 'pass' he did seem quite relaxed about his jokes about homosexual stereotypes, and transgender people; when he does African-American jokes it sort of feels more 'okay' simply because he is doing it from within rather than pointing at others. With this material it was not cruel, and it did have an opinion behind it, but it didn't totally sit with me. Likewise, his apparent attack on mandatory vaccinations came out of nowhere. These and a few others made me wonder why I was mostly okay with Chappelle doing this, but with someone else I would not be.

Some of his other material is a bit broad too. Some of it doesn't really fly as a narrative, but then you have others which rely too much on crudity – crudity with wit works when he does it (as he mostly does), but somethings there seems to be less below the surface. A solid and mostly funny special – but the content limited it for me, and I do hope the next special can be stronger.

This was filmed in Austin, Texas in 2015. The two years delay does leave some of the jokes dated. Paula Deen and Ebola are no longer hot takes. It's a problem that Netflix should watch out for in the future.

Dave Chappelle starts with a bunch of kids throwing a banana peel at him. He's also doing some gay jokes which is always a little awkward. I wouldn't recommend Louis C.K. to concentrate on doing black jokes either. It's always coaxed by him that he has nothing against gays but... It's kinda funny but he's also spending too much time with it.

He gets into personal stuff that's not always that personal. I get a sense that most of it is spun from slivers of truth. Did he get a blackmail tape? Possibly but the comedy embellishments don't feel real. He definitely didn't get two tapes. As usual, he's very funny with the material. There are plenty of laughs as he takes us on a ride but the car is not the newest and it's not a classic either.

This is a really funny set! I was lucky enough to be in the audience when this got recorded, so it is amazing to watch it again a few years later! The picture quality and editing is flawless. I'm hoping to see a lot more sets from Dave's vault get released this way on Netflix eventually.

I really thought this was filmed in 2017 but apparently this was filmed in 2015. He was sharp and good but a little rusty and a little uncoordinated in some ways.

Needs to work on his stuff. But still way better than any other these comedians these days. He is the best.. Louis CK is good too but no others can touch these two especially Dave.