Chappelle Live in 2012

Dave Chappelle 1/18/12 
The Independent in San Francisco 
Last Show Wednesday @ 10:30pm

Weed smells from the crowd, farts, and booze fill my nose. I am in the front row staring at one of the most influential comedians to walk away from the spotlight. He is sitting on a stool with his feet up on the feedback speaker. He keeps shifting his beanie over his head and exhales a puff of smoke, "all this weed is bringing me back. Memory Sense, that is what actors call it. Just one smell and they go right back to the moment."  I believe he said as he snaps his fingers to the words. Interesting shit to be honest, but no one laughs. Dave surveys the room with his eyes and taps his cigarette. Bits of entrails from the tip fall to the floor and he stamps it with his feet. He is watching us, feeling the vibe of the room. He is in complete control.

As an aspiring comedian, watching him handle a crowded room, must have been 100 - 300 people, was intoxicating. His jokes were few and short, but powerful. Then he said something like "I smelled my balls, that is the punchline. I write my jokes by starting with the punchline then feel it all out." Then he goes into the bit and we all die laughing. After the show I eagerly wait with a friend with the hopes of seeing him. He doesn't show. Only vomit beneath what is possibly his rental car for the day and two onlookers who came to his show yesterday hoping to get a glimpse as well. "Turtle pussy," they mention came out of his mouth during the Tuesday show, then they wander off.

His performance was a mix of heckler challenges, talks about the things on his mind, and confrontation with almost every woman he could gander at. I was not short-changed. This was a personal show. Dave is a strong performer and after seeing Paul Mooney a few weeks prior, is also reminiscent of him as well. I laughed hard and enjoyed it thoroughly. He mentions going clubbing, the type of pipe he smokes out of, and to push his buttons hecklers. He has had worse.

Multiple times during the show he motioned at me. I looked down and away. The intimidation was too much to handle. "What is your name?" He asks out of nowhere. "Shan... Shan." "Hmmm, never heard that before." I have a unique name and have a comedy routine built around it as well, but my mind is blank when he talks to me. I told him about my day job and he made a fake movie pitch about it and laughed that I lived and worked with my friend who was sitting right next to me. He made a few Street Fighter jokes, "Shan likes these jokes." I mentioned I was a gamer. He asked what my most exotic vacation was, "traveling across America" I replied, not exotic but all I had. "North or south?"  I reply, "north." Then he made a remark about his knowledge of the country and asked the audience for more feedback on vacations, "who keeps saying Antarctica." A couple next to us offers a view of her breasts for him to stay longer. He counters with a nipple bump. Nothing ever goes down, he mainly dazzles the audience with this act for over half an hour. 

He looked ruffled, distressed, and mostly tired. Five shows prior and this was his last. I ate it all up and wanted more. I whispered to my friend "I am ready for Rooster's and I need more of this." This was my fourth comedy show I have been to as an audience member: Paul Mooney on New Year's Eve, Anthony Jeselnik last Fall, and a three-man show at Rooster's three years prior. All I do now is study and practice comedy, it is my life, my passion. Rooster's T competition is next month and I have been knocked out of three comedy competition's last year. I need any boost of confidence or inspiration to get me through my second year of comedy. I need to kill.

It was a pleasure to watch him perform a personal and intimate show for over two hours with us. Even playing Lil Wayne's "She will" and talking about it was an interesting approach. In my opinion, he can make a joke about almost anything and play with the audience till the end of the world. He said something like "my jokes are dope, I can write." I do not think anyone would doubt that Chappelle. He asked a staff member to the side how much longer he had doing this as she handed him coffee to keep him up. She said, with everyone in agreement, he is long from gone.

I hope to meet him one day, me as a working comic, maybe he will remember the jokes he cracked with the audience, my friend, and me. Maybe he won't. Either way, I am glad I saw him and now more determined to step my game up in the comedy world.