Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly
{{short description|2000 American stand-up comedy television film}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Dave Chappelle, Killin' Them Softly (2000) DVD cover.jpg
| caption = DVD cover
| genre = Stand-up comedy
| writer = Dave Chappelle
| director = Stan Lathan
| starring = Dave Chappelle
| country = United States
| language = English
| executive_producer = Dave Chappelle
Howard Klein
Stan Lathan
Michael Rotenberg
| producer = Kimber Rickabaugh
| editor = Jeff U'ren
| runtime = 57 minutes
| company =
| network = HBO
| released = {{Start date|2000|07|26}}
}}
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,{{sfn|Haggins|2007|p=191}} premiering on HBO on July 26, 2000. In the special, Chappelle talks about a variety of topics, including racism, police brutality, and drug use.{{sfn|Williams|2007|p=124–125}}
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".{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-08-04-0008040013-story.html|title="Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly": Chappelle's is...|last=Johnson|first=Steve|date=August 4, 2000|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=September 17, 2019}}
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."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/divine-comedy-25-best-stand-up-specials-and-movies-70696/|title=Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies|last1=Ciabattoni|first1=Steve|last2=Fear|first2=David|last3=Grierson|first3=Tim|last4=Love|first4=Matthew|last5=Murray|first5=Noel|last6=Tobias|first6=Scott|date=July 29, 2015|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=September 17, 2019}}
Home media
Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly was released on DVD in 2003.{{sfn|Brevard|2013|p=238}}
References
{{reflist}}
=Further reading=
- {{cite book|last=Brevard|first=Lisa Pertillar|title=Whoopi Goldberg on Stage and Screen|year=2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786468874}}
- {{cite book|last=Haggins|first=Bambi|title=Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-Soul America|year=2007|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0813539850}}
- {{cite book|last=Williams|first=Dana A.|title=African American Humor, Irony and Satire: Ishmael Reed, Satirically Speaking|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1847182142}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0251654|title=Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes|dave_chappelle_killin_them_softly|Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly}}
{{Dave Chappelle}}
{{Stan Lathan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly}}
Category:Stand-up comedy specials and films
Category:Films shot in Washington, D.C.