For the last few years, it has seemed like Dave Chappelle is only in the news for bad reasons. Granted, it’s not really news when a famous person successfully takes out the garbage or walks their dog, but it’s still unfortunate. There was the time some asshole threw a banana peel at him, the time he wished that Hartford would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb, the time he got mad about people filming his set and refused to tell any jokes, and then, of course, the endless parade of hecklers who think that yelling out lines from Chappelle’s Show is a good use of their time.
The latest installment in the “Maybe We Should Just Let Dave Chappelle Do His Thing And Not Make Things Hard For Him” saga comes to us from—where else?—TMZ, which reports that Chappelle had a bit of an “off night” at a show last week in Detroit. According to people in the crowd, he spent most of his time on stage “quietly smoking, rambling, and slurring his speech.” TMZ also says that “many” are calling it “a drunken catastrophe.” Now, because the venue says it’s not responsible for what a performer does, angry fans are unable to have their tickets—which reportedly cost between $50 and $240—refunded. Well, at least they now all have their own “Complaining About Dave Chappelle” story.
TMZ talked to one of Chappelle’s reps, however, and he says that “the incident inspired some additional sharp-witted material” from Chappelle, and “he came back with a vengeance” for his show the next day. So maybe that should be the headline here? “Dave Chappelle has bad show, followed by good show.”