Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth

TV Special
2004
TV-MA
1h

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Dave Chappelle in Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth (2004)

Chappelle cuts loose in what he does best, Chappelle-style! And for what it's worth, no one is safe from Dave!Chappelle cuts loose in what he does best, Chappelle-style! And for what it's worth, no one is safe from Dave!Chappelle cuts loose in what he does best, Chappelle-style! And for what it's worth, no one is safe from Dave!

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

9.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
- 4 nominations total

Photos5

Top cast2

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Dave Chappelle

Self

Greer Barnes

Announcer
(uncredited)

Director
- Stan Lathan
Writer
- Dave Chappelle
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews15

8.59.3K

Featured reviews

10cameron_crawford10

Dave Chappelle: For What its worth

This is hilarious. Dave Chappelle's stand up comedy is just as funny (if not funnier) then his TV show. Before Chappelle's Show, he did another special like this one, Killing them Softly (2000) which was also hilarious. Four years later he records this special in Fillmore. the part where he talks about the differences between grape 'drink' and juice. He also makes fun of Scientists' explanation for how AIDS started His impressions of serious white people are equally as funny. His punchlines could not be done more perfectly The only part I didn't find that funny was the part about 'indians', but still, This is definitely one of the funniest Stand up specials I have ever seen.

8refinedsugar

Where Is Ja!?

Dave Chappelle was back with another TV comedy special four years after 'Killin' Them Softly' and it's still a red hot banger. 'For What It's Worth' continues showcasing his unique brand of comedy that is sure to make you laugh a ton if you like his previous work. I think it's important to mention this came on the heels of his break thru tv sketch show. His name was out there. His popularity was soaring.

Why I'm telling you this is because while 95% of the material is funny there are also bits that miss the mark. Dave is older, more mature, but using his audience as a podium to voice his opinion. Almost ranting it seems like at times. Bits about a black youth who killed a young girl are offputting in his defense of him, factually incorrect and a spot on "how old is 15, really?" is borderline distasteful. It speaks many truths, tons of funny moments, but I felt it went off course a few times. Not enough to sink or ruin the goodness here, but enough that I wanna mention it. Also needlessly parlays into race relation material briefly in comparisons I didn't think were necessary and a little played out already.

However those are relatively small nitpicks. A great hour of comedy with too many killer moments to mention that I gut-busted numerous times hearing for the first time. I will however bring up a hilarious story with Dave on bus held hostage by a homeless man jerking off. A sign of a good special too it still holds up very well many years later and Dave shows heart speaking about his family, his kids plus the price of being a celebrity.

9Quinoa1984

still very funny

Killin' Them Softly, what I consider to be Dave Chappelle's non-cinematic breakthrough (the cinematic could be with Half Baked), was a very potent mix of comedy, dealing with some celebrity jokes and great humor involving the hood (the 'baby' bit is classic). With this special, Chappelle comes off from his hit TV show, and so some of his initial energy could be lacking. It isn't, but one doesn't see exactly the same brilliance here. I mean that though in just the overall sense, that there are a couple of bits that aren't totally consistently funny (the 'Monkey' bit, the bit on the 15 year old kidnapped girl). Throughout, however, there are bits that really do make it known why Chappelle is where he's at today.

For example, his take on why he can't smoke weed with black people anymore (and the pros and cons of smoking with white people) is gut-busting, or his take on the Michael Jackson case (last year this was filmed, by the way, which should be taken into perspective), or his lines on how he's dealing with his newfound fame (and what he'll do with a certain part of his privates). He is on fire I'd say 80 percent of the time, and the other 20 percent he's still witty even when the punchlines don't connect.

The Chappelle fans who love everything about his show will find much happiness with the DVD, and those who are just casual comedy stand-up fans will still see some of the low-key smarts and absurdities that launched Chappelle in the past half decade.

10aoa8212

Best Performance of his Career

This Showtime stand-up special is the best performance of his career. Filmed in front of a live audience in San Francisco, he starts things off with a bang by comparing SF to another large city in the bay area. Another thing that stands out is that he talks about Utah kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart, who isn't usually fodder for comedians. The way that he makes a tragedy funny, without being obscene or disrespectful to the victim is commendable.

Dave does discuss the usual targets such as Michael Jackson and R. Kelly, but does so in a very original way without dehumanizing them like many people would. If you like edgy comedy that's hardcore without being obscene, and tough talk, but from a really nice guy, then this is for you.

chaos-rampant

Outer city

There's another Chapelle show from DC a few years before that I prefer by a slight margin; this one he taped in Fillmore. Both shows are hit or miss, some jokes work for me, others not, the way it always is. More than jokes however, it's the base layer fabric that connects jokes that really interests me in stand up, how a narrator carries himself up and down a world he conjures, all that imperceptible presence - a self - that holds everything together to which the jokes are really tips of the iceberg; mannerisms, posture, air, pauses of empty space, all these no less a part of 'joking'.

Jokes are years in the making in most cases because they're working on all those things; but so is the self, the narrator, it's the work in progress of learning to be the person you are, growing (or not) in how you inhabit yourself. Louis CK, who is my favorite, is a pleasure to watch for this, he can inhabit himself without compunctions; Louis channels being a slob in body and behavior but he's not a slob in mind.

So he struck me as smoother in DC, or maybe it was that the distance between the twenty-something guy on stage and the twenty-something guy who lives in his jokes felt much closer, like he had just drove off from the streets he depicts and landed on that stage. He's more of a professional here. I still like him as a presence, the sense of goofing out on the sidewalk at night, bite without snide, but I'm a visual creature and I would also like more world.

Storyline

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Quotes
Dave Chappelle: [On the Michael Jackson child sexual abuse allegations] Or maybe he did it. Who knows? Who knows? That's the thing, that's what I want to say: Who knows? Who the fuck knows? Mike, God, and this little boy know, that's about it. That's about it. Only reason I can even talk about this shit is everybody's speculating. They all think he did it, and I don't think he did it. I'm alone in this. I don't think he did it. I'm not gonna say "I don't think he did it", that's too strong. Let me just say I'm reserving judgment until all the facts come out. But so far from what I've heard, I mean the kid said he was dying of cancer, he was in Make-A-Wish Foundation, he claims he had two weeks to live, and it was his dying wish to meet Michael Jackson. Come on, Man. Give me a fucking break. This kid is 10-years-old, he don't remember "Thriller". The fuck you want to meet Michael Jackson for, honestly? I remember "Thriller" and I just kinda wanted to meet this nigga. Like, I wouldn't break an appointment to meet him, I'll put it that way. I'd have to already be free. That's ridiculous, that'd be like if I'm dying in two weeks and go "Oh, mama, get me in a room with Chubby Checker." I wouldn't wanna meet that motherfucker. Not in my last two weeks. why not Usher, or somebody like this. So then the kid claims he goes to Michael's house - this is where it all gets crazy - I don't... like, you know, he does everything you'd expect at Michael's house, they climb trees, and rode roller coasters and Ferris wheels, the chef made cookies, pies, and cakes, they was petting a monkey and giraffes, sing songs: kid shit. And in the middle of all this child like activity, for some reason, Mike pulled out some wine and some pills and sucked this kid's dick - folks it hurts me to say it - and the kid had the nerve to call that abuse. Motherfucker, that is a good host. Goddamn, what else do you want? What else do you want? I'm lucky to get a glass of grape drink at my friend's house, let alone a roller coaster ride and my dick sucked. Mike must be confused, like "I brought you in my house, I fed you, I sucked your dick, and this is how you repay me, motherfucker? This was your wish not mine. I thought you were dying in two weeks, what happened to that motherfucker? I've been in court for a year and a half, you get stronger every time I see you."