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I attended the Memphis show and I can honestly say that I was, in a word, baffled by the crowd. First, the crowd was very diverse. Excellent because that is what a Dave Chappelle crowd offers. He has taken comedy and used it to cross lines of age and race. Dave has been an artist that I classify as the Richard of our day and age. The comedy event in Memphis never had a chance to even succeed. This is because the crowd began shouting questions and ignorant random things from the very beginning.

The show and his presentation reminds me of Richard when he was at the phase of his career that had him giving concerts based primarily of improv work. He had me thinking that I would surely hear a "Mongo Santa Maria" type of bit, which I did, and that was perfect. He also gave us some new material that gave us a reminder of the genus that he is. Real fans will be able to appreciate the way his work has evolved and the courage that it takes to make such a drastically different move. No, he did not do sketch and bits, he did his show based on his interactions and based on what the crowd gave him. The problem is that today's crowds seem to only want bit work and pre-written jokes.

The problem with many of the reviews here is that people were expecting him to come and perform "sketch comedy". Things that you can easily see if you turn on an ole episode of his highly successful show. Pay attention and you will see that none of his stand up work has ever really referenced the show. Many of the people at the show seem to have only heard of his show because of Half Baked and his television series. His body of work is much more than that. Source and More Detail