chappelle is the most talented stand up comedian of all time. there is no particular clear second place. he's created his entire own category of “chappelle-standup” that’s distinct from “standup comedy” modern chappelle combines supernatural comedic timing, and possibly the most comfortable presence someone will ever inhabit on a stage, with a bunch of topical stuff that he’s phoning in these days the trappings of his own life are the source of most of his comedy after his return to the limelight in the 2010s. he leverages his proximity to show business but also his ironic detachment from show business to generate a feeling for the fans that they’re part of the cabal. the audience at these events is unfortunately truly insufferable. it’s a religious gathering for a lot of these people, they’re hanging onto Dave’s every word, they’re laughing before he even says anything, they’re doing rhythmic babble like they’re at some kind of secular liturgy the guy is old and the superstardom has definitely gotten to him a bit. you see this tendency in many people where to get famous they have to be consistently at their peak hilarity, top performance, and as time goes on the mic becomes a soapbox. happens to many good posters too. it starts with jokes that are funny because you have a worldview and enhanced by your opinions and then transitions to mostly lecturing about your worldview in these comedy club routines he’s clearly just kind of winging it. there’s not much sense of beginning middle and end. there’s no real through line, unlike his netflix specials which tend to have some sort of exquisite story arc that always lands the joke material he leaves hanging throughout the show. at the live shows, he’s mostly riffing with the audience and his guest star about insider dave-chappelle-superfan-throwback stuff and the general culture, which he still maintains a preternatural finger on the pulse of. he does mention the creation of "digital gods" at one point and a sort of omnicausal sense that the world is ending even he admits “this is not going well”, and he’s getting progressively drunker as the show ends unceremoniously “damn I need to figure out my closer”. chappelle at 20% power is still somehow the absolute goat. the distribution of human talents is so uneven it’s absurd. it's always a pleasure to observe this level of greatness of any form up close. anyways i need to figure out my closer