*Dave Chappelle the storyteller strikes again, this time in a new 27-minute race relations routine and I admit to being among the nearly 20 million people who have strolled over to Netflix’s YouTube channel to view his latest routine and first in the social distancing era, “8:46.”
I cannot call it a comedy routine in the strictest sense, because although there were statements that garnered laughs here and there, not much of it was funny; just real and uncut. In fact, the video has a disclaimer of sorts, which says: “From Dave: Normally I wouldn’t show you something so unrefined, I hope you understand.” In other words, you’ve been warned.
We all know Dave Chappelle is a storyteller who tells it like he sees it; actually, like a lot of people see it. As the title 8:46 suggests, Dave’s passion-filled monologue is about the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd and the aftermath of his murder. He packs quite a bit in the short 27-minute show, including mentioning Black conservative commentator and Trump supporter, Candace Owens, Don Lemon’s calling out of Black celebrities, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham’s statement to LeBron James, as well as reminding us about Christopher Dorner, the former Los Angeles Police officer who created a manifesto about the LAPD and then killed and wounded several police officers and their families. He also mentioned how the late Kobe Bryant saved the country and among other things, how “Every institution that we trust, lies to us.”
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While Dave touched on a lot of things, including mentioning the names of several of the Black men murdered by the police, there was something he omitted: any mention of Sandra Bland or Breonna Taylor, both Black women murdered by the police. Whether it was intentional or just showed an indifference towards Black women, who knows?
Actually, he only mentioned three women and none were in a positive light…hmmm. Also, I bristle when I hear the ‘N’ word being used, especially in this day and climate. Dave used it a little too liberally for my taste, but then again, he did warn that it was unrefined.
On balance, I enjoyed “8:46.” There were some good thought-provoking statements in Dave’s routine; a lot of on-point comments. Speaking of comments, one of the YouTube comments said it best:
“Here were are, laughing hysterically at politicians and listening intently to comedians.”
That should tell us something. Go and check out 8:46, so 20 million people can’t tell you what you missed.
Marilyn Smith is a Los Angeles based writer/reviewer. Contact her via [email protected].
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