The Closer

[cytg111]

By Dave Chapelle

Its on Netflix

The Closer (2021 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its gotten into a little shitstorm of its own right due to some of its trans content.

If you've seen it, what do you think of it? I think its brilliant. He is walking up to that line on EVERY possible front, and then takes one step over. Or two. He is obviously sick and tired of brittle cancel culture and as he puts it to the test, at the same time he says, look at what's in my heart instead of taking my words out of context.

Ill just say that if you adopt this, conservatives will have zero material going into 2022 and 2024.

 

[soulcougher73]

I thought it started weak and slow. Maybe first half got zero chuckles from me. But the last half wasnt bad. Im not transphobic so i cant 100% relate to his feelings on it. But im also not one to be offended by jokes either. In comedy everyone is fair game IMO.

 

[fskimospy]

If people want to boycott Netflix or whatever because they don't like what he said that's their right. It's also their right to criticize him.

That being said, comedy is supposed to be transgressive - that's half the fun! George Carlin is my all time favorite comedian and I think if you start trying to police it to make it not offensive you're going to make comedy less funny.

 

[nOOky]

I found it comedically boring. It was too political and focused for me to like. I chuckled a few times, but it was nothing like some of his past work. Of course it came across as more of a statement for him justifying his beliefs than an actual comedy show, one final FU to a target audience. I figure he could have accomplished it in an interview instead of devoting all of the show to it. It was no Black Bush or Clayton Bigsby, that's for sure.

 

[Homerboy]

It was the weakest of his specials. that's for sure. Right or wrong his standup has become more and more "serious" with less "whacky jokes". I like both aspects of his talent though for sure.

That being said, and being quite liberal and with a child who is struggling with gender identification myself, I didn't find anything he said to be all that horrible. When you LISTEN as he's asking you to. The only thing that threw me off, and I keep going back to was the comment "I'm team TERF" and the TERF discussion in general. That was a little "out there" for me and I'd like it explained a little more. You can sit there and make jokes about the Nazis and such (like JoJo Rabbit) but you can't then say "I'm team Nazi"... it seems like you then are undercutting your own jokes. I dunno, it just seemed a little like "Wait, what did he just say?" moment.

 

[HomerJS]

By Dave Chapelle

Its on Netflix

The Closer (2021 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its gotten into a little shitstorm of its own right due to some of its trans content.

If you've seen it, what do you think of it? I think its brilliant. He is walking up to that line on EVERY possible front, and then takes one step over. Or two. He is obviously sick and tired of brittle cancel culture and as he puts it to the test, at the same time he says, look at what's in my heart instead of taking my words out of context.

Ill just say that if you adopt this, conservatives will have zero material going into 2022 and 2024.

They will still complain about CRT which isn't being taught in any school district in the country. They are experts at railing against shit that doesn't exist.

Remember...
The War on Christmas
Sharia Law

 

[cytg111]

To my mind the show was crafted as it was as to make cancel culture the main theme of the session, jokes, yea sure, but no O.J. plot to rival the real message he wanted to beam out :
Come cancel me fuckwaffles, if you can, I dare you.
I mean we see this pattern somewhere else in society right? A certain group of people demanding to be taken serious and not made fun of - or else? Like Trumpians?
Dont give them the power! And you only give them the power by leaning into their narrative.

 

[raildogg]

They will still complain about CRT which isn't being taught in any school district in the country. They are experts at railing against shit that doesn't exist.

Remember...
The War on Christmas
Sharia Law

CRT may or may not be being taught but other crap is. It's about time parents are finding out what their children are learning. The establishment will have to work harder to push their agenda down children's throats. This is not to say that the parents are totally clean. Many of them are politically motivated and the right wing outlets are exploiting this whole situation.

 

[raildogg]

If people want to boycott Netflix or whatever because they don't like what he said that's their right. It's also their right to criticize him.

That being said, comedy is supposed to be transgressive - that's half the fun! George Carlin is my all time favorite comedian and I think if you start trying to police it to make it not offensive you're going to make comedy less funny.

Exactly, comedy should have reality in it and should not fit into a neat little box.

 

[ivwshane]

I watched it and I found nothing transphobic about it. In fact what I saw was a man who really wanted to be liked by the trans community but still doesn’t understand what the problem is. I certainly don’t know what the problem is.

I think we have a couple of transgender people on this forum, perhaps they can give us a different perspective.

 

[woolfe9998]

One problem I see with Chappelle here is that he complains of being canceled, but he hasn't been canceled. He seems to think that being criticized is the same thing.

Opinion: Dave Chappelle's Trumpian claims of 'cancel culture' are laughable

The controversy over Dave Chappelle's Netflix special "The Closer" illustrates how ridiculous Chappelle's claims to be a victim of 'cancel culture' really are, writes critic Clay Cane, who says that the reality he lives every day - being both Black and gay - is what seems most absent from...

www.cnn.com

 

[MrSquished]

If being paid that much money to speak on stage means I'm canceled, can I sign up for that shit? Cancel me now.

 

[MichaelMay]

By Dave Chapelle

Its on Netflix

The Closer (2021 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its gotten into a little shitstorm of its own right due to some of its trans content.

If you've seen it, what do you think of it? I think its brilliant. He is walking up to that line on EVERY possible front, and then takes one step over. Or two. He is obviously sick and tired of brittle cancel culture and as he puts it to the test, at the same time he says, look at what's in my heart instead of taking my words out of context.

Ill just say that if you adopt this, conservatives will have zero material going into 2022 and 2024.

Um, you do realise that they are selling a bunch of made up bullshit as is? Fascists have the ear of the people afraid of immigrants and people different than them, that is their selling point and nothing else.

This whole "cancel culture" idea is in and of itself a lie, no one is canceled but there is a TOS, just like on this forum.

I'm sure tens of thousands of people have gotten banned from this forum over time but so what? There are rules we agree to when we post here and if we step over the line we'll get a warning or get banned. I don't think any of us want it any other way either.

 

[Fenixgoon]

One problem I see with Chappelle here is that he complains of being canceled, but he hasn't been canceled. He seems to think that being criticized is the same thing.

Opinion: Dave Chappelle's Trumpian claims of 'cancel culture' are laughable

The controversy over Dave Chappelle's Netflix special "The Closer" illustrates how ridiculous Chappelle's claims to be a victim of 'cancel culture' really are, writes critic Clay Cane, who says that the reality he lives every day - being both Black and gay - is what seems most absent from...

www.cnn.com

Well thought out article.
I read a different article analyzing "the closer" that pointed out that Chappelle was trying to point out the seemingly disproportionate uproar when something happens to an LBGTQ person while black men seem to get killed with virtual impunity (which admittedly ignores, either by omission or commission, the violence endured by people who bridge both communities such as black trans women)

And I can see why Chapelle feels that way. But the article you linked to makes some smart rebuttals, especially as the author spans both the black and LGBTQ communities.

I'm glad I was able to read both reviews rather than get mired in the controversy per se.

 

[feralkid]

CRT may or may not be being taught but other crap is. It's about time parents are finding out what their children are learning. The establishment will have to work harder to push their agenda down children's throats. This is not to say that the parents are totally clean. Many of them are politically motivated and the right wing outlets are exploiting this whole situation.

Rowie!

 

[purbeast0]

I thought it was okay. Chappelle in general just doesn't seem as happy as he used to be and it comes off in his more serious toned standups. I prefer when he just joked about really stupid shit and made me laugh at dumb jokes. But I get that he's changed and I still like watching him, and I still laugh a lot, just not as much and at different content now.

I did think the whole transgender subject was drawn out way too much on this one though. Like 1/2 through and he was still going on and on about it, I was like "okay can we change subjects now please? I want to hear about more than transgender people this whole special" but it rarely pivoted.

For me personally, out of all his new specials, they basically went in order of being funny/enjoyable to me in the order they were released. This one was def my least favorite of his Netflix stuff, even though I still enjoyed it a bit.

A few months ago a group of us watched hours of his old show on Netflix over the period of a long weekend, and to this day it's still some of the funniest material I have ever seen. And it's stuff I've seen dozens of times already and can rehearse a lot of the skits. I miss that Chappelle.

 

[railer]

By Dave Chapelle

Its on Netflix

The Closer (2021 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Its gotten into a little shitstorm of its own right due to some of its trans content.

If you've seen it, what do you think of it? I think its brilliant. He is walking up to that line on EVERY possible front, and then takes one step over. Or two. He is obviously sick and tired of brittle cancel culture and as he puts it to the test, at the same time he says, look at what's in my heart instead of taking my words out of context.

Ill just say that if you adopt this, conservatives will have zero material going into 2022 and 2024.

I thought it was excellent. Not quite as funny as sticks and stones, but it was more poignant and every bit as entertaining. As far as controversy....that's mostly media created shit, as usual, and the whining of a handful of people on twitter. If you watch the entire special, it's not particularly controversial at all, IMO. But if 15 people on twitter don't like it, the media will run that narrative for a month or until the next crises is invented.

 

[MrSquished]

If people want to boycott Netflix or whatever because they don't like what he said that's their right. It's also their right to criticize him.

That being said, comedy is supposed to be transgressive - that's half the fun! George Carlin is my all time favorite comedian and I think if you start trying to police it to make it not offensive you're going to make comedy less funny.

George Carlin is the GOAT. Bill Hicks was taken from us way too soon. Arizona Bay, Rant in E-Minor, Relentless - all excellent. Chappelle's vintage stuff is really good too.

 

[cytg111]

Um, you do realise that they are selling a bunch of made up bullshit as is? Fascists have the ear of the people afraid of immigrants and people different than them, that is their selling point and nothing else.

This whole "cancel culture" idea is in and of itself a lie, no one is canceled but there is a TOS, just like on this forum.

I'm sure tens of thousands of people have gotten banned from this forum over time but so what? There are rules we agree to when we post here and if we step over the line we'll get a warning or get banned. I don't think any of us want it any other way either.

Sure, though I've read enough to know that a certain number believes that cancel culture is THE WORST. It cant hurt to remove one more card from the GQP's deck can it.

 

[woolfe9998]

Well thought out article.
I read a different article analyzing "the closer" that pointed out that Chappelle was trying to point out the seemingly disproportionate uproar when something happens to an LBGTQ person while black men seem to get killed with virtual impunity (which admittedly ignores, either by omission or commission, the violence endured by people who bridge both communities such as black trans women)

And I can see why Chapelle feels that way. But the article you linked to makes some smart rebuttals, especially as the author spans both the black and LGBTQ communities.

I'm glad I was able to read both reviews rather than get mired in the controversy per se.

That part of his act is the part I wasn't wild about. I don't think it's ever a good idea to play "oppression Olympics." Those who are members of oppressed classes should have unity.

I also think that kind of complaint is an excuse for homophobia in the black community. During the campaign for prop 8 in CA, opponents of it tried to appeal to the AA community by emphasizing common experience between blacks and gays, and specifically with regard to anti-miscegenation laws. The argument was evidently not well received, and also blacks voted in favor of prop 8 by 12 points.

 

[maluckey1]

I thought it was alright, and he has a few good points that he wants us all to ponder. My take is that I watch comedy as a clever spotlight, that pokes fun at where it hurts, and I'll wager many others do as well. George Carlin, Redd Foxx , Lenny Bruce and others made us laugh, while at the same time poking at where it hurt. Chappelle made me ponder, but few belly laughs to be had. It felt like a party with my in-laws family (as the only güero), more than a Chappelle show.

 

[kitkat22]

I watched a few minutes. I got to the transgender part and really did not need a loud reminder of being trans or someone poking fun at me. So I turned it off. Sorry I can't be much more help than that <shrugs>

 

[ivwshane]

I watched a few minutes. I got to the transgender part and really did not need a loud reminder of being trans or someone poking fun at me. So I turned it off. Sorry I can't be much more help than that <shrugs>

How was it a reminder? Just talking about the subject or something else? Also what part did you feel was making fun of transgender people? I ask because I don’t remember any transgender jokes, certainly not the type that outright made fun of someone just for being transgender.

 

[hal2kilo]

Rowie!

I love pioneer gibberish!

 

[TheVrolok]

How was it a reminder? Just talking about the subject or something else? Also what part did you feel was making fun of transgender people? I ask because I don’t remember any transgender jokes, certainly not the type that outright made fun of someone just for being transgender.

I would also be curious to hear more from anyone in the community. Would be helpful insight, I think. Hope he responds if he's comfortable doing so.