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last night with dave chappelle
10/29/2008 @ 1:49:33 PM | 69 days ago | permanent link | posted in 2008 / sanfrancisco / show

I woke up early yesterday to see a new chappelle show posted. A few clicks later, I scored two $65 tickets to see my favorite stand up comedian at the Punch Line. After frantically looking for someone to go with all day, Kira said she would get out of dance early to make the show (thx for steppin up Carm, owe u a drink)

We left for the show shortly after 10p. Driving downtown is so eerie at night. Not a soul. The one way streets/no left turns don't make sense this late but it's all good

I love strolling to the Punch Line around showtime, zero waiting and the envy of that line for extra seats filled with zombies (been there). And I actually got pretty good seats, the best I've had there.. maybe even too close for comfort. You still see the banker types but there's also a more eclectic "cool" crowd (like, hip-hop). I think people are hip to the strict no camera policy, that box they use to keep your stuff with post-its is now more of an iPhone consignment center (leave yours at home/in the car)

The opener was a brutal dude, wish I remembered his name (Black dude from Virginia, cool with a fro-ish). He was super comfortable on stage, telling all the truths with ease and punched thru one of the best opening sets I've seen there. Raw

Dave came on almost immediately after, no time to eat the whack chicken quesadillas ($9, hot tea and oj is a cool $8). The man looked great and he owned that stage

Dave chainsmoked thru a great set with old favorites: the "Houston Rapist", his son's "school incident", Osama and the Al-Qaeda training tape, the "racial hot seat". It occured to me during the SF favorite "zoo attack" bit how he must have conceived of sketches for his defunct sting on Comedy Central. You could see him composing scenes in his head and running wild with it ("I cannot hold off the tiger for much longer" or that digression into Boyz N The Hood)

It can suck to get stuff you've heard before (I would cut that song thing, although it's a cool song: "alley-cat coat" lol) but I love how Dave adds different twists, evolving the jokes. And it's almost off the top of his head, you know it cuz he wows himself, like "I can't believe I took it there". Some of the best stuff consistently comes from the crowd (the boot) or stuff he went thru recently (the fam, "Seanie boy")

Recapping a comedy show is prolly retarded so I will stop

When Dave ran out of gas, he had only gone for 2 hours, an unusually short set for him. The flow of the night was so fresh I don't think anyone cared. Kira and I both agreed it was a better show than the last one we saw


Catch Dave Chappelle's next show by subscribing to the Punch Line's RSS Feed, nerd power. More Dave Chappelle


Links
- blog post 6/11/2008 - Chappelle @ Punch Line
- blog post 6/10/2007 - 5:47