Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits (2017) Reviews

• Half-funny

  ratioexmachina2017-04-08

  Contains a mild spoiler that will give away one joke from his routine. That's all. So consider yourselves warned. ;-) I liked all of Dave's work pre-meltdown or however you want to call it. This new stuff didn't convince me. But it's Dave Chappelle, you kinda know what to expect, the man's really witty so let's cut him some slack. However, he started ranting against doctors and appeared to be on the antivax train and that's f*cking troublesome. He takes some recent facts and spins them to fit that (antivax) narrative. Not cool, man, not cool. I mean, yes, freedom of speech, and all that! But when you're in a position where people look up to you and you're spitting out fake news sh*t then you probably should fact-check your routine before. The rest of his stuff was not that great either. Too much weird stuff in the beginning put me off. Luckily he picks up in the second half. But by then it was too late for me.

• Funny but the material is an odd mix of questionable opinion or good ol' simple crudity

  bob the moo2017-05-06

  This is the first of the Netflix specials that were widely hyped due to it being his 'return'. I've never quite seen him as brilliant as others, so I decided to let all the hype and fuss pass before watching in a few weeks. This first special was actually a year or so ago when it was recorded, and some of the references are dated – an issue for some, but they still worked without being up to the minute fresh. The crowd are good, and Chappelle does seem to enjoy being on stage – and his charisma and timing is evident throughout, and I did laugh quite a lot. That said, some of his material gave me pause. I know he is a comedian and not a politician, but even with that 'pass' he did seem quite relaxed about his jokes about homosexual stereotypes, and transgender people; when he does African-American jokes it sort of feels more 'okay' simply because he is doing it from within rather than pointing at others. With this material it was not cruel, and it did have an opinion behind it, but it didn't totally sit with me. Likewise, his apparent attack on mandatory vaccinations came out of nowhere. These and a few others made me wonder why I was mostly okay with Chappelle doing this, but with someone else I would not be. Some of his other material is a bit broad too. Some of it doesn't really fly as a narrative, but then you have others which rely too much on crudity – crudity with wit works when he does it (as he mostly does), but somethings there seems to be less below the surface. A solid and mostly funny special – but the content limited it for me, and I do hope the next special can be stronger.

• lies please

  cobtidoq2017-06-23

  he used to be great but he has relied upon the same jokes now for about 10 years and there is nothing "special" about this special. I am sure there are plenty of bad reviews based on his politics but this special just stinks. While he blames the bad reviews on the "alt- right", he should probably be looking in the mirror. I am sure any 10 review is solely based on his political statements not this special.

• didn't like really

  melosodida2017-06-17

  he used to be funny but this "special" is beyond awful. I was at one point embarrassed for this young lady as it was so unfunny and at times very awkward. he has had shows that were funny but this is not one of those. If you want to watch a good comedy special SKIP this one because that is time you'll never get back!!

• unfunny and disgraced

  maoroloko2017-06-20

  dave needs to rethink his career choice of stand-up comedy and stick with material that somebody else wrote for him. This stand-up is not funny or entertaining at all. There are some comics I really enjoy that can pull off raunchy comedy with a lot of humor. dave was just raunchy to be raunchy and not funny at all. After watching this I felt like Ace Ventura after he found out Einhorn was a man. Had to vomit, burn the clothes I was wearing, try to plunger the show out of my head, and just sat in the shower trying to wash this show away. So bad. So awful. Doesn't even deserve 1 star.