Enough with the Rick James
On Saturday, I went to a Dave Chappelle stand up show in Fresno. Being a huge fan, I had high expectations.
The first hour or so was good. Chappelle had an apparant set lined up, and he was going through the jokes very nicely. The whole time, however, people were heckling him to do characters or skits from the show. It seemed that it got to him after a while, and he even took a second to pause and say, “Look, I didn’t come here to do the skits, I came here to talk.” The crowd was incessant, though, and it became clear to me that they were not going to stop screaming out things like “I’m Rick James, bitch!”, as though they are being clever. After the umpteenth time, I was getting sick and tired of it, so I can imagine what the hell life is like for him. I only had to hear that for a couple of hours. He has been hearing this same shit for over a year! It was clear that he was ready to snap, to say, “Just shut the fuck up, and let me talk!” I know he wanted to say something like that, but I guess good showmanship calls for performers to continue the show like they are loving every minute of it. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, and I just sat there for a while, just examining the veiled frustration on his face.
Anyway, after an hour of material, he seemd to divert, and just kind of freeballed it the rest of the way. Every time he wanted to get into a bit, someone would scream something from the side (it really was non-stop) and he would sidetrack, and just kind of talk. He’s still a funny dude, he had the spontaneity to interact with the audience and be funny, but I would have loved to hear what kind of material he had lined up. The crowd truly killed the mood for him.
Now I understand why he went nuts and went to Africa.
He mentioned the 3rd season a couple of times, but from his comments, I think it’s clear he won’t do it. Unfortunately, it seems he can’t even enjoy stand up anymore.