Dave Chappelle: Pulling Up

It was only a decade ago that US comedy megastar Dave Chappelle made his London stage debut – at a slew of dates that were generally hailed as a triumph. It’s hard to deny that in the years since, Chappelle’s edginess has curdled somewhat, not least because of his insistence on including transphobic jokes in basically everything he does now (he insists he’s not transphobic), plus that time he invited Elon Musk out on stage to a hail of boos didn’t exactly help. Is he still one of the all time great comedians? Well probably, yeah, certainly when on form, and his dedication to playing relatively small venues – as opposed to hoovering up cash he doesn’t need on the area circuit – is heartening, even if the prices are eye-watering. He returns to the Hammersmith Apollo for his second set of London dates in under a year, this time under the aegis of a new show called Pulling Up.