What's in a Name?

After his former high school, Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington DC, decides to rename its theatre after him, comedian Dave Chappelle gives a speech at the school. He talks about his history with the school, what the school means to him and the importance of art.

An interesting, sometimes moving, presentation from Dave Chappelle. I wanted to say "stand-up routine" as that what I always think of when I see Chappelle up on stage. But it is clearly much more than that. There are elements of humour - you can't expect Chappelle to NOT be funny - but it is a wonderfully sincere and moving telling of what the school means to him and what it has done for him.

His discussion of the importance of art and not bowing to conformity is also quite telling as it essentially outlines why art exists and why it should never be censored.

Haters gonna hate and they just show their bias and their lack of knowledge and empathy.

This "special" is a gem for fans, but not a special in the literal sense of the word. Dave reflects on his time at Duke Ellington and debunks the allegation of being a gender bigot. People are way to narrow-minded and overly sensitive and refuse to listen to context or take the context into consideration. Does Dave give you the biggest belly laughs ever? Well, sometimes he does, but he always makes you think and that's his superpower.

The ending is beautiful and explains the reason for showing this speech to the world.

I'm so glad he's coming to Amsterdam and I'll be able to see him live for the very first time.

Chris Rock will be there too.

Dave Chappelle is one of if the best comedian to live in this and last century. This story has touched me as it should touch anyone who has a heart and believes in artistic expression and the freedom to practice it without interference. He tells it like it is and very humble at that. You will not be disappointed.

Enjoy And Thank you Dave Cheppelle from the bottom of my heart.

Dave shines the light squarely on group think. Many of us (especially those of us who grew up in an urban environment in the 70's and 80's) think of mob mentality as a fault of autocratic types. Dave's message is that anyone can fall prey to censorship and ignore the art even when they think they're standing up for something.

Some people that I watched with felt Dave was crowing about himself too much. I responded that this is Dave's reply to the critics. When I saw him live at his documentary screening he was in pain at how so many had reacted to his art. He now has his chance to respond and it was done in a way only Dave could do.

If you like Dave you won't need a review to watch this. But if you judged him and his art based on The Closer, you should watch this before you continue to judge.

The sweet is pretty obvious and abundant. Dave's recounting of his high school try-out and transfer is sweet. And any time a person sticks out for the truly individualistic in general and the arts in particular, well that is just dandy as candy to me. Add in a tasty Loren Michaels' impersonation and anecdote and sweet is covered.

The short might refer to the 39 minutes for this special (which I only stumbled across in some other online mention, it's hard to say anything Dave does is snuck out there, but Netflix has demanded my attention for a lot of other stuff that's for sure).

But I think the short might apply to Dave's temper, as has to deal with pre-assembled opinions on anything he does or says. I'm hoping he doesn't just say the hell with it all (again) and go off on another decade-long walkabout.

I hope not, and I also hope whenever he hits my brittle spirit in the funny bone, I will always laugh.