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

Dave Chappelle live must be quite a treat I imagine. Seeing him on stage you can feel he's natural, he's experienced, he's one of the best ever in the genre. The material isn't always good, the premises aren't always fresh but he manages to always makes us laugh with his manneurisms and twists. Not the best comedy special he's done but still very good!

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 don't know what people are complaining about. This was really good. Give it a try!

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.

I'm giving this special a 9, not a 10, because I'm leaving Dave room to improve. I honestly can't find flaw with this performance, but watching it made me feel like there's still more to come, and it will be even better. If I give this a 10 and he puts out a better set, what then?

Of the two Netflix sets out so far (this and 'Age of Spin'), I liked this one slightly more, but the difference isn't much. They're both really good.

Without spoiling anything, what you get here is a new Dave Chappelle that retains all the qualities of the old one. His comedy is very much still 'Chappelle' material, whatever that means, but with longer sets he has a chance to make a few statements and show his intelligence as well. Don't worry, though, he doesn't sacrifice laughs to make points or badger you with political views. He simply mixes it up a bit more, uses his time wisely and capitalizes on the opportunity to deliver a much more intimate set than anything he's produced before now.

It's Dave Chappelle as good as ever, back with new material. If IMDb let me, that's all I would have written. If you like great comedy sets, you'll like this.