Dave In DC

Caught Dave Chapelle last night in D.C. The Kennedy Center, no less. Why is Mr. Chapelle playing the Kennedy Center? Well, it was benefit for the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts (A D.C. based public high school that Chapelle graduated from as a youngster).

The venue was stuffy, but Dave didn't care. He let loose with unflinching enthusiasm and didn't try and tone it down for the kiddies as more than a handfull of teens and even pre-teens were in the seats.

Some observations:

Show was too short! For the three figure ticket prices, we could have had more than 90 minutes--especially considering he's known to roll for hours at comedy clubs.

Chapelle loves stand-up. He's incredibly comfortable behind the mic and he's goofy enough to just simply bend over and chuckle at some of the hilarious quips that come out of his mouth.

He's substantially disillusioned with show business--or at least everything outside of stand up. It's a game, he reapeated over and over. Before you say, what isn't?, he really emphasized the shadiness in the entertainment biz that's sickening to him.

He's a closeted Cheaters fan. The reality TV show that showcases cheating lovers gets Dave's endorsement. He excitedly recreated an episode where--guess what?--the male cheater was caught on tape and then exposed to his lady. This took about 15 minutes! Funny, but too long when you consider the limited time he was on stage.

Often times, he was hella serious. He's deep into Pimp--Iceberg Slick's seminal biography that examines the cold, crude and violent pimp game from a man who lived it. Dave recounted a scene in detail that involved one of Iceberg's "girls" and how he concocted an elaborate scheme to mentally improson her. It worked and as that worked on this lady--who he dubbed a "bottom bitch"--it works on the American people by our government or the entertainment biz brass on their "stars" like Chapelle--or wherever you wanna take it. America pimps it's people was the message. While folks dug the story, this took another 15 minutes and just as quick as he began, he was out. Over. Done.

Best Moment: Dave recalling a pre-Grammy encounter with Jessica Simpson, who kissed Dave on the cheek after a brief exchange. Dave copped to lying about how he told her "I like your work" or something to that effect.

The night's theme was something repeated several times by Chapelle before launching into an elongated story. "It's not funny, but it's interesting." Sort of an audience warning. Too much of the night and especially during storytime, he was only interesting, but the 30-40 minutes of hilarity made the show well worth it.

Final Take: Chapelle is smart as hell. He's articulate, intelligent, conflicted and oh yeah, hilarious. He actually did this gig expressly for the high school's benefit at no charge.