Dave Chappelle silenced our cell phones and made us happy last night at the Music Hall

The ubiquity of smartphones has made the experience of going to shows – concerts and comedy, in particular – an experience that is no longer just about that moment. At every show, attendees record dozens of photos and hours of video they are unlikely to ever watch, simply to upload to social media, ignorant of the fact that they are likely obscuring someone else’s view with their glowing screen. More often than not you see someone watching the show through their phone, not looking at the stage. I am here, see? See?

There are a handful of artists who  request that cell phones not be used during performances, including Jack White, Neutral Milk Hotel and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But few go to the lengths that Dave Chappelle does to get people off of their fucking phones for a couple of hours. Guests are strongly encouraged to  not bring phones in to the show, and those who do are asked to put their phones into provided cases that are locked by venue staff (think the security locks on clothing in retail stores). These cases are unlocked at the end of the show.

Thank you, Dave. It’s the first time I have been in a room full of hundreds of people, none of which are using their phones, in well over a decade. It’s weird now – and great.

Of course the show was much more than that – attendees trickled in to the Music Hall before 7, and as they made their way into their seats, DJ Trauma scratched along to hip hop, R&B and pop music. Trauma brought out comedian Donnell Rawlings around 7:20, joking that we might remember him better as “Ashy Larry” from Chappelle’s Show. Rawlings warmed up the crowd for 20 minutes with material on race, politics and dating.

During the break between sets, Trauma hosted a party, urging the audience to remain on its feet to dance and join in for a singalong to the theme from Cheers, before reminding people not to heckle or record the show, on threat of immediate ejection. Serious business. Chappelle arrived onstage in a black tank top around 8 to a warm reception.

Chappelle is now a bigger guy than we remember from times where he did permit himself to be videotaped, and he clearly has been hitting the protein powder. Guy is swole – and chain smoking, which has always been a hallmark of his performances. Chappelle and Keith Richards may be the last men alive who would be allowed even to smoke in hospital rooms. Who is going to say no?

His performance was even throughout the night, and strong, a mix of worked material and improvisation. He took a turn at politics, joking that white people are making a comeback when it comes to regaining the presidency – “we obviously thought we needed to get the two angriest white people we could find,” when referring to Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. 

“Cruz though … he was never going to get into the White House with that face … dude is just ugly.” As he did often throughout the night, he hit his hip with the mic like a rim shot.

Chappelle made a foray into musing about transgenderism, noting that even though he isn’t the most evolved on the topic, he’s not “North Carolina fucked up. It’s just a goddamn Wal-Mart.” 

A large chunk of his set incorporated crowd work. A tangent in which he chatted with an attractive mother and daughter about the mother’s divorce combined with a story about his own wife and kids ate up an engrossing 30 minutes. Chappelle made the time feel unique to this audience and to this set. He also replaced an audience member’s Bud Light earlier in the evening, saying he couldn’t look at the drink, saying it tasted like “poor white people’s problems.” He replaced it with a beer from the green room, Stella Artois, which he laughed and said is “Belgian for Bud Light.”

Last night, Kansas City had a wealth of entertainment options – the Cure and Sarah Silverman were also in town – but an evening with Chappelle felt singular. It reminded us why he is just as great, if not better, than when he was at the tip of the pop culture spear with Chappelle’s Show. If you have a chance to see him, do – and leave your phone at home.