The Letterman interview of Dave Chappelle on Netflix

I can’t express to you how good this episode is.

Don’t come for the comedy though.

 

I worked on 3 different Dave Chappelle unsold pilots in the 1990s, and I kept raving to people, saying, "hey! This guy is really funny!" But the shows went nowhere. I was really glad for him in 2003 when Chapelle's Show finally took off on Comedy Central and became a fairly big hit.

 

I've been enjoying many of the interviews on Letterman's ' My Next Guest Is". Even Kim Kardashian!

 

It's the same with those sitdown interviews with George Carlin, they got real. But of course they get real; I think that both men go beyond comedy, as comedy is just the vector for the message. If the message stands on its own, that's the hallmark of a great American orator. It doesn't come from politicians because their delivery mechanism is inherently corrupt. So it comes from a purer source to the masses.

Really, not since Mark Twain have we had this level of social commentary from master craftsmen. We're blessed that in our lifetimes we've had two such Americans.

The only thing I didn't like was how Letterman was all up on Dave's nuts. It seemed a little weird, but maybe that's because Dave & Dave were probably really high.

 

It is great. Hope to watch it again, with my son who is also a big fan.

 

I tired to watch it but these letterman shows have cuts so many annoying edits and camera cuts. Literally there are MINUTES that go by with the camera cutting angles every 1 to 2 seconds. I'm not exaggerating - it's unwatchable.

Maybe they could make these into podcasts and I could listen instead. Just UNWATCHABLE.

And I like them both.

 

For the short attention span types.

 

Close your eyes and just listen or do something while listening.

 

That still makes me dizzy.

I'm going to rip the audio from them and treat it as a podcast.

here's someone from 2018 on it:

 

I didn't even notice and thought it was excellent.

 

Dizzy? Really? I do it all the time, no issues.

 

this is really great..
https://youtu.be/sQ1MYAQq92Q

 

Here is collection of all Chapelle’s appearances on Letterman.
Just finished the Netflix special and it was as good as I hoped it would be.
https://youtu.be/QpD7BYULwpY

 

it definitely was the one to watch out of this latest batch. chappelle may very well be the most brilliant comic in popular culture this side of the atlantic.

 

According to the comments, one of the editors of the show reached out to the author of that video and the 2 had an offsite chat. The context is kept hush-hush since the editor doesn't want to lose his job over it but it's insinuated that a lot of the cuts are done on purpose, either due to necessity because something or someone caused a distraction in the shot or because the employer (either Dave or whomever is employing the editor) wants it edited this way.

Either way, the result is the same. It's not a rave and I don't need constant cuts to keep my attention. Hate that "style" (if you can call it that) in any genre. In action, I like Jackie Chan's movies because he insists on wide shots so you can see everything and not miss anything but most other action flicks are filmed very closely with shaky-cam and with tons of cuts so you don't even end up knowing what happened half the time. Looking at you, Borne trilogy!

 

I'd be shocked if Dave likes it edited this way. He's a grumpy old curmudgeon like most of us here. I would bet it annoys him but he's been persuaded to go along with it under the premise that it will appeal to younger viewers or somesuch nonsense. Somebody obviously thinks it's a good idea though, and you are correct that it would be the director or producer(s), not the editors, who are making that decision.

Ultimately what it comes down to is that (regardless of the reason) good editing should be invisible. Particularly on a show like this where the intent is to focus on the conversation. The editing on this show is extremely obtrusive, and hence it's distracting, and distracting the viewer from the words being said does not serve the show well.

 

If the camera is relatively stationary I feel like I'm watching two people talk and I'm kind of a part of it. Like they know I'm there and are talking and don't mind me listening in.

If the camera is circling and stalking them I feel like I'm a masked serial killer stalking them.

Maybe the next batch will have the camera crouching behind some plants to really make you feel disconnected.

Or, as always, it could just be me.

 

It's not.