Dave_Chappelle:_Killin'_Them_Softly

<i>Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly</i>

Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly

2000 American stand-up comedy television film

Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly is a 2000 American stand-up comedy television film directed by Stan Lathan and written by and starring comedian Dave Chappelle. Filmed at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., it was Chappelle's first hour-long HBO special,[1] premiering on HBO on July 26, 2000. In the special, Chappelle talks about a variety of topics, including racism, police brutality, and drug use.[2]

Quick Facts Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly, Genre ...

Reception

Shortly after the special's release, Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune gave it a positive review, writing that it "[covers] the predictable black people versus white people and men versus women territory, but doing it with fresh observations and, more important, a sophisticated structure", and noting: "somebody give this guy a TV series".[3]

In 2015, Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly was ranked #6 on a Rolling Stone list of the 25 best stand-up specials and films, with writer Matthew Love stating that the special "delivers everything we know now as the comedian's trademarks: shaggy-dog tales with increasingly absurd details and quick reversals; loose-limbed and playful bits that even inspired the comedian to giggle fits; blistering commentary on race couched in seemingly offhanded storytelling. Weed-dealing three-year-olds and Sesame Street pimps aside, the comic's routines about police brutality are even more painfully prescient today than they were in 2000."[4]

Home media

Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly was released on DVD in 2003.[5]

References

  1. [1]
    Haggins 2007, p. 191.
  2. [2]
    Williams 2007, p. 124–125.
  3. [3]
    Johnson, Steve (August 4, 2000). ""Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly": Chappelle's is..." Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  4. [4]
    Ciabattoni, Steve; Fear, David; Grierson, Tim; Love, Matthew; Murray, Noel; Tobias, Scott (July 29, 2015). "Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  5. [5]
    Brevard 2013, p. 238.

Further reading
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