Dave Chappelle hasn’t been involved with any TV or movie projects in a couple years, but he has been staying busy performing semi-secret stand-up shows across the country (which sell out almost instantly), and from the looks of it, tearing phone books in half. When I saw him perform a few months back, he seemed to be going onstage without much if any prepared material, with a plan to just improvise and riff for the better part of two hours (a plan which worked, mostly, and was impressive as hell). The downside of that style is that if you get side tracked, the set can go south in a hurry. Which is what sounds like happened at a recent charity event in Miami, where Dave reportedly “told one joke and then stood onstage and sighed for 45 minutes” when an audience member wouldn’t stop filming him. Not exactly helping the audience’s case was CNN reporter Roland Martin, who live-tweeted the event. Which Dave knew, because he’d taken to checking his cell phone during the set. Aw, just like my girlfriend does during sex. “Ugh, so bored rite now lol. #finishalready”

Here’s the twitter chronicle, as compiled by Vulture:

This Dave Chappelle set is bizarre. He’s spent more time going back & forth with one audience member, & pretty much stopped telling jokes

One woman just yelled, “Can you tell a joke so we can enjoy ourselves!” He got texted four times during his show and actually checked them

I’m jut not understanding what threw him off. He’s complained about folks videotaping his set, yelling out loud. I don’t get it

“This crowd is serious as hell,” he says. Dave, we’re trying to figure out what we’ve listened to for the last 25 minutes.

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_{(old picture, not from this event, in case that was unclear)}

Dave Chappelle at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco, April 16th, 2011

I know this post isn’t strictly movie-related, but then, when has this site ever been strict about anything? And anyway, plenty of people seem to be interested in what Dave Chappelle is up to these days, so why shouldn’t I be the one to bring you the first-hand report? Don’t answer that, just go with it.  So, did Dave really go nuts? Is he actually a Muslim? Is he planning a comeback? Is he still funny?  READ ON, FOR POSSIBLY DEFINITIVE ANSWERS TO ALL THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE!

Chappelle dropped in to Cobb’s Comedy Club on short notice this past Friday, and a friend of mine (one of the more generous ones, luckily) who’d just happened to be perusing the club’s website that afternoon, was able to procure me a $70 ticket (they started at $55, I hear). The line outside the club 40 minutes before showtime was evidence that Dave doesn’t need much time (an hour, reportedly) or any press to sell out a show, even at double what most other comics charge.  At least, not in a town where he filmed one of his more famous specials.  Starting his 10:30 show (the second of the night) a little before 11 (insanely punctual by Chappelle standards), Chappelle’s opener, a big black guy whose name escapes me (TJ something?), performed for about 15 minutes. When he was finished, he told the crowd that Dave would be coming up shortly, said that he would be trying out some new stuff.  In the nicest way possible, he warned any A-holes who might be in attendance not to shout requests for famous bits or yell dumb crap from The Chappelle Show (this will come into play later).  The opener then exited stage left, leaving an abandoned microphone while a DJ played tracks over the PA.  If leaving an empty stage between performers seems normal for a concert, it’s something I’ve never seen at any comedy show I’ve either performed at or attended, including past shows at Cobb’s (Jim Norton, Bill Burr) or the last time I saw Chappelle five or six years ago.  Like the old HBO tagline, it all had an air of “This isn’t comedy; it’s Dave Chappelle.”

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Blue Streak and Undercover Brother actor Dave Chappelle (see? totally movie related) was recently deemed a security risk on a flight from New Jersey to Chicago, causing the plane to make an emergency landing in Pittsburgh.  Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the comedian being a muslim, and, if Chappelle’s reps are to be believed, everything to do with him being a finnicky dump taker.

During the flight, we’re told Dave “freaked out” and refused to put his seat belt on. Then — according to sources — Dave repeatedly walked into the cockpit, asking how much longer the flight would be, and started grabbing the pilot’s arms.
Sources say the pilot determined Chappelle was a safety risk and diverted the plane to Pittsburgh.
A rep for Chappelle explains the incident to TMZ by saying Dave really needed to use the restroom — he ate something that didn’t sit well — and the bathroom on the plane was “not the kind he needed.”
We’re told Chappelle then checked into a nearby hotel for the night. Sources at the hotel tell us Dave has been telling hotel employees he wanted to rent a car to drive back to Ohio … only he couldn’t remember where he lived. [TMZ]

I tend to think this story’s being blown out of proportion.  Something about saying a guy “freaked out” and refused to put his seatbelt on without explaining what the supposed freak out was doesn’t sit well.  “He ‘freaked out’ and refused to bring his seat back to the full upright position!”  Hmm, did he actually freak out, did he just not follow a rule that was kind of silly anyway?  I’ll tell you this, though, his rep who’s supposed to make him sound not crazy sure isn’t helping.  “Your honor, I’ll have you know that my client only poops in special toilets.”  Oh, our mistake.  Totally makes sense now.

The first part of a viral marketing/mockumentary short about Raaaandy, Aziz Ansari’s character who will play some part in Judd Apatow’s Funny People, has hit the web. I got through about a minute of it. Everyone thinks this Randy character is hilarious, and nothing against Aziz Ansari (who was in a really good Flight of the Conchords episode), but I don’t quite get it.  I guess it’s supposed to be a parody of a bad comedian.  So it’s like, unfunny on purpose?  And if that’s the case, isn’t the Raaaaaaaandy character a lot like Dave Chappelle’s Reggie Warrington character in the Nutty Professor?  (See clip below) 

Or maybe I’m just racist for thinking all deliberately bad, fictional black comedian parodies look the same.
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