Review: Dave Chappelle surprises Charlotte crowd by saying he almost canceled himself

It had nothing to do with Israel, or Palestine, or the controversial comments he made about the intensifying Middle Eastern conflict a week ago in Boston.

On Thursday night in Charlotte, however, Dave Chappelle said he came very close to getting canceled — by himself.

After stepping out onto the boxing-ring-sized stage in the middle of Spectrum Center, but before he said anything engineered to make the nearly 20,000 fans in attendance laugh, the 50-year-old comedian launched into an announcement that began suspensefully then quickly took a sobering turn.

“I almost canceled the show tonight,” Chappelle said, as audible gasps and murmurs coursed through the crowd.

Since scores of news outlets had reported that he’d been sharply critical of Israel’s bombing of Gaza during his remarks at a Boston stop on his current tour — and because some have been sharply critical of those remarks — it wouldn’t have been crazy for someone to assume he’d tie his reason for almost canceling to the controversy.

Then again, that would have been a terrible guess.

The explanation was much more straightforward (and, for the headliner, much sadder) than that: Chappelle said the brother of his wife, Elaine Chappelle, had died suddenly. “We were hanging out one night, and the next day ... just dropped dead.”

“She was the one that told me to not cancel my tour,” he said, solemnly, as thousands roared approvingly and clapped.

A beat later, a man in the audience shouted, “We love your wife!”

Chappelle chuckled. “Guy in the audience screaming out, ‘We love your wife!’” he parroted, before adding, “N----, you don’t know her,” which instantly lightened the mood.

And over the next 80 minutes — armed with all sorts of unexpected segues, unexpected set-ups and unexpected punchlines — Chappelle otherwise did pretty much exactly what’s come to be expected of him: He wove together a tapestry of jokes and stories that were by turns offensive, or uproarious, and often both at the same time.

Jokes about Asians having slanted eyes (his own wife is Filipino, by the way); jokes about Indians smelling like food; jokes about homeless people; jokes about the OceanGate submersible; jokes about strippers, and strip clubs in general, and Floyd Mayweather’s Las Vegas strip club specifically; jokes about Jamie Foxx using his genitals as a weapon; and joke after joke after joke about members of the LGBTQ community, which he’s been at odds with for years.

At one point early on, Chappelle announced, “I am done talking about them transgender (people). ... I got a whole new angle. ... Tonight I’m doing all handicapped jokes.”

He then mimicked a made-up response to that by a made-up person in a wheelchair: “ ‘I came here to laugh at transgender people.’ ”

That led into a roasting of Madison Cawthorn — the former U.S. representative for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district who is partially paralyzed — via a series of crude jokes about his wheelchair and his inability to walk that elicited laughs and head-shaking from fans in equal measure.

But for those keeping score from their seats, there were a heck of a lot more jokes about transgender people than there were about disabled persons on Thursday night. And a whole lot more about gay people. And about pronouns. And Lil Nas X.

Chappelle even managed to sprinkle in a joke about North Carolina’s infamous bathroom bill, tying it to a reference to a visit he made to “some bar” in Charlotte that “was doing a whole transgender party.” He claimed “the lady — ?? — at the door” wouldn’t let him come in because of the perception that he is anti-trans. “I was like, ‘Can I use the bathroom?,’” he said he asked the staff member, smiling and winking at the crowd.

(Quick interesting side note No. 1: I’m not 100% positive, but it sounded an awful lot like he was referring to “Petra’s,” which some from these parts will know is the name of a gay-friendly club in Plaza Midwood.)

(Quick interesting side note No. 2: The first of his four opening acts was transgender comic Flame Monroe.)

I wish I could go into greater detail about some of the more noteworthy jokes and the stories Chappelle told in Charlotte.

I will say that the strongest part of his set was his analysis of the Chris Rock and Will Smith “slap” situation, while a long windup for a joke involving a Russian mobster had a surprisingly lame payoff. Beyond that, though, I’ll mostly stop spilling. The tour is serious about protecting his material — and with good reason; a lot of it will likely end up on Netflix, as suggested by the fact that the show opened with the “N” logo displayed on the video screens while the streamer’s iconic “ta-dum” sound was piped in over the P.A.

(Quick interesting side note No. 3: In 2019, I did publish a bunch of the jokes Chappelle told at a show at Charlotte’s Belk Theater in an early version of a review I wrote, and later that year I’d turn on the TV to discover him telling jokes about me in his “Sticks & Stones” special for Netflix. I’ll tell you the whole story over a beer sometime.)

In fact, Chappelle is so serious about protecting his material that, as he’s done for years now, he required all of his guests to place their cellphones and smartwatches in special locked pouches before entering the arena on Thursday night.

To that end, after singling out and mocking members of Generation Z, opener Rick Ingraham quipped: “I already knew who the Gen-Zers were by the f------ panic on their faces that they don’t have their phone right now. ... They’ve never had to live in the moment they were in. And I see the Gen-Xers looking around like, ‘This is great. Nobody can contact me right now!’”

I actually am a Gen-Xer, and I actually kind of agree with that sentiment. But the policy did make for an awkward moment for me.

Like many — most? all? — I had a mobile ticket for Chappelle’s show. Before entering the building, an usher checked my ticket on my phone, wrote down my seat info on a card, and gave it to me. After my phone was locked up, when I arrived at my seat, someone was sitting in it. I had to go to the guest services counter, all the way on the other side of the arena, so they could temporarily unlock my phone and confirm my mobile ticket.

(Although, quick interesting side note No. 4: That wasn’t nearly as awkward as Donnell “Ashy Larry” Rawlings shouting, “What’s up, Raleigh?” over and over as he approached the stage for his warm-up set. At first I thought it might be some bizarre joke. But he called us “Raleigh” again as he was exiting. His routine was very good. His awareness of his surroundings, not so much.)

Anyway, I do think the no-cellphone rule makes the overall viewing experience better. I do also think it makes sense for upper-tier comedians to lock them up, because they have so much riding on stand-up specials.

So I’ll share just one more of Chappelle’s jokes, and I feel OK doing so because it was off-the-cuff and almost certainly won’t be on TV.

As he was entering the homestretch, meditating on the power of dreaming big, and on how strong his dream for his life and for his comedy career have always been, a woman could be heard yelling ... something. And she kept on yelling. Chappelle, who is famously adept at dealing with hecklers, said without breaking stride: “My dream is so strong that this b---- up there is trying to scream over my dream — but I won’t let her.”

Oh, and one final interesting side note, since you’re probably wondering...

Yes, Chappelle did briefly address the Israel-Hamas conflict once more, one night after acknowledging it — and the controversy around his Boston take on it — at a show in Raleigh.

As an American,” he told the Charlotte crowd, “I think we should all make our countrymen who are Jewish feel safe. We should make ’em feel safe, so that they don’t feel like they have to support the destruction of another people to be safe.”

Then he added: “Getting married is one of the hardest things that people do. And to me, Israel and Palestine are married to one another.

“Whether they like it or not, they’re gonna have to figure that s--- out.”