Comedian Dave Chappelle began his first tour in more than 10 years in Charleston, SC, on February 1 and 2. He sold out four shows in two nights in record time for the Charleston Music Hall. Normally, I would post a picture of the artist in this slot but cell phones were banned at all of his performances. I will explain all of that later in this review.

First, I must say that I loved his sketch comedy when he had his TV show. His willingness to poke fun at himself and all manner of people made for must see TV. The anticipation at the Hall was electric for those lucky enough to secure tickets to one of the shows. Dave was preceded by two comedians who gave their best for the 10-15 minutes they were allotted.

A DJ pounded music and made the introductions for the performers. Chappelle came out smoking a cigarette and he kept that up all night. It’s unusual these days to see a performer smoking on stage. Chappelle spent the first 20 minutes or more on politics, namely ragging on President Trump. He did take a few pot shots at Mrs. Clinton but I would say that 90% of his time talking politics was ragging on Trump. Depending on your politics, you either loved it or looked for him to change the subject so everyone could laugh. I understand that comedians find politicians an easy target, but I also like when the artist gets creative in their monologue. When it gets personal and nasty, you lose part of your audience. In today’s hyper partisan political atmosphere, ragging that hard on one side alienates half of your audience. I spoke to several fans that loved the show and agreed with me that he spent too much time and energy on Trump. Last November, I saw Louis CK and three other comedians perform in Charleston and their political humor fell flat on many in attendance. Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon are very adept at their political humor while Steven Colbert comes off as mean and angry in his.

Once Chappelle moved on to other subjects, the audience was fully engaged and rolling in the aisle as he took on himself and his family (his wife is Filipino and they have three children). He acknowledged that his audience is predominately white or not black, as he said; they are the only ones who can afford his ticket prices! He lives among the “basket of deplorables” in Ohio on a 65 acre ranch and made some very funny observations about the world he lives in when not on tour. Dave doesn’t live in the hood! He’s very successful financially (estimated to be worth more than $20 million) and is living the ‘American Dream.’

Before the show, every ticketholder, security personnel and the Music Hall staff had to put their phone on silent or turn it off and place it in a cloth pouch with a magnetic lock(similar to the units that department stores hang on clothes to prevent shoplifting). The pouch, from a company called YONDR, is new technology being implemented in concert halls for certain performers (at their cost). It was explained to us that comedians guard their intellectual property intensely and don’t want their performances recorded for fear of their jokes getting out for others to steal. I guess it’s different when they do a Comedy Central or HBO special where they get paid millions.

Everybody had to secure their phones in these pouches and kept them on their person during the performance. Once the show ended, the Hall staff had special magnetic tools to unlock the unit. I had many positive comments from the audience that they enjoyed not being a slave to their phones for 2 hours! I won’t be surprised to see this new technology used for more types of artists in the future!

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