The special draws its energy from one of the hottest debates in popular culture, about competing claims to victimhood.
An alternative title for the special might be A Response to My Critics.Īrtists tend to be annoyed when critics grade their work on its political content rather than its technical and creative choices, and yet responding to The Closer any other way is hard. The stoner who never gave a shit seems genuinely frustrated and goaded on by social-media pile-ons. Chappelle once delivered his most offensive jokes with a goofy, quizzical, little-lost-boy smile, removing some of their sting, but here the humor feels sour and curdled. Was it even meant to be? The emotion that defines The Closer is not laughter, but anger. At the end of Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix stand-up special-after 72 brutal, bruised, combative minutes that conclude with the story of a suicide-my other half turned to me and said: “That wasn’t very funny, was it?”