The Age of Spin: Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium

Dave Chappelle is very ingenius. He starts the show mentioning that he met OJ Simpson four times, and that he is going to tell the audience about each of the four meeting with OJ. That story connects the show together, and he ends by telling the final meeting with OJ.

In between, Chappelle covers every theme that he has ever touched on in his career. Some of it is purely good laughs. Some of it is thoughtful discussion. This is a very interesting and funny show.

I wasn't overly taken by the first of the new Netflix specials (well, first that I watched – they are not in an order). The Age of Spin is better in the most part. The routine has a good flow to it, and when he touches on subjects they tend to be more of interest and informed than many of the Heart of Texas jokes, which seemed to revolved around crudity too often. He does still get into rape, transgender issues, gender equality, and other sensitive subjects – and of course he does not go into them gently, but he mostly explores within them in a way that is interesting rather than directly offensive, and most importantly, is funny.

You can see in the audience a lot of times where individuals went beyond what they were comfortable with, and I did too; however, this is why I liked it – he didn't just blurt out offensive things, but rather the material was a journey where he perhaps lost some people on the way, but at the same time it was still a fun journey. I continue to not see him as esteemed as others do, but he is a great showman, and this show was pretty strong. Repeating motifs, well- observed, engaging structure, and of course with Chappelle being a presence in the middle. Easily the better of the two recent specials.

Mr. Dave Chappelle is back with an amazingly crafted crock-pot of Stand-up routine nirvana. This was one of the funniest stand-up specials I've seen, and as a Non-American I got all the jokes and laughed through most of it which is really rare, as most American comedians don't connect to foreign audiences with their local anecdotes and satires. I can safely say there no other funnier comedian working in the biz today that can hypnotize the crowd with his/her comedic timing like Mr. Chappelle..

And, remember kids: RAPE & SAVE!

It has been 10 years since Dave Chappelle has done a show in L.A. This was filmed in the Hollywood Palladium. He mentions the recent death of Garry Shandling placing the show in March 2016. He is funny, insightful, original, and edgy. The show takes on transgender, disenfranchised politics, O.J., and most of all Bill Crosby. Each one is tackled with a special side spin. The gay jokes are almost from an earlier era. I wonder if he's joking about the jokes or serious about the joking. The O.J. stuff is probably the easiest to digest and the most fun. The Bill Crosby through-line is probably the most personal. It is the conflicted musing of a younger man about his fallen hero. He also has some sly fun about Key & Peele. Chappelle is always smart and one hopes to glimpse a part of that brilliance through his work. A general comment about Netflix doing these standup shows. It would be more compelling to have the shows be more up to the minute although this one and 'Deep in the Heart of Texas' are most compelling for Chappelle.

He brought it back and slapped all these millennials in the face with it. Welcome back brother!