Chappelle Doesn’t Stick the Landing in Latest Comedy Special

“The Closer” lacked Dave Chappelle’s usual humorous, inspiring material

Opening credits for Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer” feature a set of vinyl records highlighting the comedian’s previous comedy specials such as, “The Age of Spin,” “Equanimity” and “Sticks and Stones.”

Finally, a listener grabs “The Closer” and plays the record on a turntable. In the background, claps renounce in unison and “Tribute” by Black Star plays before cutting to the Fillmore Detroit venue.

One of the prestigious comedians to receive the Mark Twain Prize for Humor, Chappelle’s 30- year stint in the comedy industry has shown how he has made a name for being one of the most prolific comedians.

His 6th comedy special deal with Netflix, “The Closer, '' marks this Chappelle’s final standup partnership with Netflix.

However, this supposed thrilling end doesn't prove to be a grand finale.

Chappelle walks on stage triumphantly, adorning a “C” labeled pin across his chest in reference to both his name and the special — a symbolic fashion choice he’s flaunted in recent specials.

The set begins with Chappelle poking fun at current events such as the Israel and Palestine conflict and the coronavirus. With the former outlined as a movie idea where aliens originally inhabit, leave and return back to Earth to reclaim it as their land. He jokingly titles this film as “Space Jews.”

While these jokes were not the worst parts of the set, they feel out of place.

The main part of Chappelle’s set arises when he critiques the privileges of white women and the LGBTQ+ community. From the outside, his comments may appear offensive, yet there is not enough tact or meaningfulness behind them to be considered either humorous or damaging.

For example, Chappelle addresses the rapper DaBaby’s homophobic comments at the Rolling Loud festival. Here, DaBaby’s offensive statements led to a heated debate and anger stemming from the LGBTQ+ community and other celebrities.

As a result, DaBaby was dropped by future venues and removed from the track “Levitating” (by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby). Although Chappelle admits during his set that the comments are offensive, he quickly shifts the discussion to society’s hypocrisy through “cancel culture.”

Chappelle argues how society has failed to acknowledge that DaBaby murdered a Black man. He notes that society is more impelled in villanizing the homophobic comments of an individual rather than a person’s history of murder.

The issues arising from society’s penchant to exclude the woes of Black people for people from the LGBTQ+ continued to be addressed in his set as he constructs analogies between the two communities.

However, his analogies are both lackluster and poorly constructed. For example, he outlines a verbal altercation he made with a transgender woman where he replied with “were you all kidnapped in Transylvania and brought here as slaves?”

Although his crude response elevates the abuse that Black people have faced through slavery, it marginalizes the abuse that transgender people have faced. In fighting to highlight the social injustices of black people, he punches down on the injustices of transgender people.

As the set slogs on, one might assume that Chappelle’s critical comments against the LGBTQ+ is the rapport stemming from the communities’ continued critical comments against his jokes, but his anger shifts to telling the narrative of Daphne Dorman.

Initially mentioned in Chappelle’s previous special, “Sticks and Stones,” Daphne Dorman was a starting out transgender female stand-up comedian. The two bonded with one another after Chappelle met her at a show in the Bay Area. Although Chappelle has had a history of making transphobic jokes, the two formed an unlikely friendship.

However, Dorman became the fodder of backlash against the LGBTQ+ community after she defended Chappelle’s comments in “Sticks and Stones.” Unfortunately, shortly after the release of “Sticks and Stones,” Dorman killed herself. While Chappelle admits that her suicide was not due to the online backlash, he states that the disparaging comments did not help.

The point of Chappelle’s set wasn’t to remark homophobic comments, but to highlight the memory of Dorman as a talented stand-up comedian and how her own community let her down.

But Chappelle’s set doesn’t serve as any great recognition of the death of this tragic comic; rather, it feels lazy and haphazard. The failed analogies between the LGBTQ+ and black community barely highlight the layered privilege between the communities and reinforce a rift.

While Chappelle’s older sets have been both iconic and hilarious, this set does not stand up with the rest of the bunch.