The seventh stand-up special for Netflix, “Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer,” begins with a quote from Henry David Thoreau about the nature of success before capturing the comedian in stark black-and-white, moving slowly through the crowd to Radiohead’s “Daydreaming” (cigarette in hand, of course). We’re in Washington, D.C., at the Lincoln Theatre, the same location where Chappelle filmed his first stand-up special, “Killin’ Them Softly,” 24 years ago. The 50-year-old is quick to point out that a lot has changed since then. In the beginning, he had to distribute cards on the street to fill it; today, viewers demand them. He is currently the biggest stand-up artist in the world, and his specials are more of the writer variety than the joke-y variety.
A personal account of his father passing away before he could see that first special quickly replaces his memories for the location, and Norm Macdonald, a late comedian, is thanked for bringing him back to life by inviting him to the “Man on the Moon” set to meet Jim Carrey, one of the comedians’ all-time favorites. However, Chappelle was left frustrated and unhappy because Carrey played Andy Kaufman the entire time. Up until the joke, which reads, “I wanted to meet Jim Carrey, but I had to believe this n**** was Andy Kaufman the entire evening. And it was obvious that he was Jim Carrey. He was Jim Carrey, as far as I could tell by looking at him. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I feel that way about transgender people.”
Before saying, “Here we go!” he grinned broadly, aware of the drill. “You’ve come to the wrong show if you came here to this show tonight thinking I’m going to make fun of those people again. I’m no longer f—king with those people. The trouble wasn’t worth it. I’m not saying anything negative about transgender people. That’s all, maybe three or four times now. I’m sick of bringing them up. And you want to understand why I’m sick of bringing them up? Because these people acted like I needed them to be amusing. Also, that’s ridiculous! I don’t need you. I got a whole new perspective. You guys will never see this coming, I assure you. I ain’t doing trans jokes no more. You know what I’m gonna do tomorrow? Now, I’m doing all disability jokes. Well, they’re not as organized as the homosexuals, and I love punching down.”
Chappelle says he’s tried to “repair his connection with the transgender community” and did so by writing “a very sad play, but it’s moving” about “a Black, transgender woman whose pronoun is, regrettably, n*****. It’s a tearjerker. At the end of the day, she dies of loneliness because white liberals don’t know how to speak to her.”
There’s more, of course, including a joke about how if he were convicted of a crime, Chappelle would claim he identifies as a woman so he could be sent to a women’s prison and make the inmates “suck this girl d—k I got and don’t make me explain myself” — this particular line sends him into a giggle fit onstage.
It’s unfortunate that Chappelle’s “The Dreamer” is, like some of his previous Netflix specials, intensely fixated on the trans group, because it’s not an area he excels at, resorting to childish premises and punchlines. There are, of course, ways to artistically tell a trans joke — take Michelle Wolf’s new Netflix special “It’s Great to Be Here” — but Chappelle is obviously incapable of having most of his bits extend beyond mocking genitalia or pronouns. It’s not just tired but uninspired.
It’s a relief when, after a 15-minute storm of trans jokes to open the special (with a dig at former senator Madison Cawthorn’s palsy thrown in for good measure), Chappelle segues to different material, such as a fun little tale about why he likes to go to strip clubs alone, his response to Will Smith slapping the piss out of his pal Chris Rock at the Oscars, and his own brush with an onstage assailant at the Hollywood Bowl, resulting in Chappelle consoling his wife by giving her the key to his safety deposit box (the payoff is hilarious) and all his celebrity friends whooping the intruder’s ass.
“I’ve never been in a situation that serious. However, I am now aware of Will Smith’s alternative course of action, which is to relax for the rest of his night.”
“People would frequently ask me questions. What would you do if you were Chris Rock and Will Smith slapped you in the face, they did ask, Dave? The response has remained the same ever since: Also,
