Here's something I love about Dave Chappelle, which he's done in his stand-up since Killing em Softly and probably before: that moment, which he does more than once so it's either a playful thing he can't control or a timed movement, where after making a particularly outrageous or spot-on joke or puch-to-the-gut-line, he tapes a step or two back, falls halfway over, and laughs a little. The thing to remember though is that by the time we're seeing The Age of Spin, he's given this same piece of material to people in nightclubs over and over, as is the way that stand-ups do it through trial and error (if there is someone that can come fully formed to the stage for a live *taped* one-hour special he or she would be as special as... well, one of the superheroes that Chappelle 'pitches' to the gay and white-hatred-filled executives, perhaps). But it's always an infectious beat, whether he's doing it as part of his performance or if it's a natural reaction - it lets us know, 'g-ddamn, did I say that... yeah, I did, hahah!'
Speaking of that super-heroes bit, let's look at that briefly (how can one not, it's one of the highlights). This is one of those pieces that can (and probably already has) set off some "HEY!" remarks from both LGBTQ people (he actually addresses that too by the way, those in that acronym), and... actually I'm not sure if I've heard much from the white-trash contingent of the internet yet. Yet framing is always paramount, and here Chappelle starts off this piece about how he is put upon at some post-Oscars party or other about any movie ideas - he tells us, the audience, that he had none, but he can't say that to executives, so he comes up with the most (no pun intended) half- baked ideas based on the stereotypes that come with either being gay or a white, Texan scumbag: the former involves elements (I won't mention here, won't spoil the joke) that might appeal to the gay person, and the latter involves things that are more leaning on what might be the *male* hatred of women (if you want save the world, you got to touch a vagina, and since women find that gross, well... how about some rape to save the world?!)
It's easy to see why Chappelle's words would be offensive to people, I get it. If you are, then I'm sorry that he f***ed you over in a comedy routine. But, again, the framing of it counts: in Age of Spin he's not going after gays or women/feminists or transgendered or even Bill Cosby... okay, he does go after him, but it's about so much else *around* these issues, perceptions and types and things that make individuals become these types and are seen as less than. As a black man he knows the less-than part clearly, and immediately does something clever: the early bits here are about being black but also what fame does when that's thrown in (i.e. when he's with his friend and his friend is put in the back of the cop car but he isn't, or that piece about not going to Flynt). At worst he may seem to be out of touch as a celebrity more than he was back in 2000 or even 2004. But then what's to be made later on when he brings up his son's overwhelming adoration (and Dave's own jealousy/envy) of Kevin Hart and his live show?
I found this special brilliant and, more importantly, awesomely funny all around for how Chappelle constructs his jokes and gets in the absurdity and humor in just the right spots, hits things as if a boxer does when knowing to stand back a little and (in a beat) be serious, and then throw in a joke as if it's nothing, and then to go for the bigger hits. He even has an overriding arc involving four stories of meeting OJ Simpson - someone who, before Cosby, was likely the most notorious case of a black American hero to many people who fell down hard - and each one takes us through different periods in Dave's as well as OJ's rise and falls in the past 25 years. If anything that adds another layer to the context of the other bits, which involve largely celebrity and how we look at "others" and people's reactions who are on the outside to how the other is too (the highlight of that is Dave reenacting a contentious night doing stand-up where a woman confronted him during his act about how much women have suffered, and he's with her struggle... up to a point).
So in some ways he's deepened a little with his bits. In other ways... he's the same old Dave. What a welcome return this was!
