It’s Dave Chappelle. This special really is geared toward people who have been paying attention to his previous performances. ... Chappelle clearly wants to go out with a bang. If he meant his YouTube special (8:46) as his own rallying cry that Black Lives Matter, and his IG videos as a way to show other entertainers how to fight for their own rights, then he intends for The Closer to blaze a path for other stand-up comedians to survive and thrive in this moment when anyone and everyone feels they can try to “cancel” you over your words.
The Closer toggles between two modes: aggressive gags about Chappelle’s antagonists, and feeble protests that he never said anything prejudiced in the first place. There’s also much self-regarding commentary on how brave he’s being.
The audience's scores compared to the critics' scores says it all. It's more great, edgy genius comedy by one of the GOATS of stand-up. He touches every nerve and the funny bone, over and over again. Critics are playing the woke part, as usual, making sure we know that they're outraged and offended on behalf of everyone else. Most of them likely laughed their asses off, watching alone in their sad apartments, and then got on their laptops to express the pain they suffered by jokes that have gone "too far" and "hurt" too many. Sticks and stones...
This inability to laugh at ourselves, each other, and the most sensitive topics in our culture is the saddest disability one can have in life. But humorless **** make for great targets in comedy. And the last thing you want is the master Dave Chappelle placing a bulls-eye on your face!
Sticks and stones...
Apart from the special being highly entertaining and funny, as usual, in this one, Dave is perhaps sacrificing his entire career to speak some things that, I believe, reflect what most people are thinking but are now too afraid to utter themselves these days. Because the radical leftists have gained too much social power now. They have the power to literally cancel you for going against their beliefs. Regardless, the comedy king, Dave Chappelle, is standing up against this tyrannous system, and I believe that he should be held in high regard for that. In a time where standing up and speaking against the system can get you chastised, we regular folk ought to support those who are actually brave and daring enough to do that, like Dave is doing in this special. It's the least we can do.
If you feel like people complain about comedy too much, you’ll love this special for addressing most of the criticism leveled at Chappelle’s recent work, however speciously. If you only wanted to get through one of these without a long, crabby detour on gay people and gender identity, Closer’s designed to work your nerves. ... This time, he’s going for the predictable jabs and rehashing takes that were old hat five years ago. His head is up his ass. He needs new ideas.
Criticizing Dave Chapelle's Special on Netflix and being SILENT with Theo Von's Special also on Netflix is to be considered RACISM.
Anyone who watched Dave Chapelle's special interpreting the "jokes" with BRAIN realized that his show was a CRITICAL TO ALL MINORITIES (Latins, LGBTQI+, etc) , that IGNORE the BLACK PEOPLES and the diary persecution they suffer. All LIFE MATTERS! Don't be self-centered. All minority struggles are important! Remember this and respect! The special is a criticism! THINK!
I've been a fan of every Chappelle special except for this one. The highlight of course being STICKS AND STONES, but here it seems like he is too focussed on rehashing his past specials and responding to criticism.
It was OK, the controversial jokes could be seen a mile away. He definitely did that for a reason but it just wasn't entertaining. Though I don't think he did this special to be entertaining, as he makes some very serious points toward the end as he builds up the central theme of this hour. It was his last standup special as part of a Netflix multi-film deal. I encourage you to watch and determine for yourself.
About 20% of it is very very funny, the rest is just some kind of rant about his recent publicity troubles. The last 20 minutes is some kind of paen to a fan of his who was trans - I had to skip it, because it was kind of weak. If you are new to the party, there's not much to enjoy here - try Age of Spin instead. As with this all Chappelle stand ups, there is a lot of what Chappelle calls "victim-blaming" - if you don't find sexual harassment or **** jokes funny you might take offence.