A Dave Chappelle show is akin to witnessing a stunt performance.
You watch the daredevil casually set up the obstacles, all the while certain it will end in tears, only for him to emerge heroically unscathed.
In his debut Middle Eastern gig, the first of two shows at the Dubai Comedy Festival on Thursday night, the 42-year-old certainly made it challenging for himself – and us – by fearlessly wading into controversial subject matter.
Nothing was spared: Bill Cosby, racism, sexism, parenthood and even the use of our two feet.
Just when you thought Chappelle pinned himself in a corner by being outrageously offensive, like Houdini, he somehow freed himself with a zinger more startlingly revelatory than a mere punch line.
We were clearly in the presence of master craftsman.
Wearing a rather awful looking beige suit, or as he described as his “ Forrest Gump suit”, Chappelle was deceptively casual on stage.
Often luring us with quick rapid fire jokes, most of which aimed at people strolling back to their seats from a toilet break, Chappelle would use the chuckles to build momentum until reaching a point to unleash sharp observations about important issues.
A seemingly harmless exchange with an Arab crowd member about his former experience living in the US, was a catalyst to delve in to the state of American race relations.
“In America there is always a racial hot seat and the people from the Middle East are now in it,” he states, only to add “and we African Americans and Mexicans would like to thank you for that.”
His riff on whether to label Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) “a he or she” after the recent gender change could have easily descended in puerile material. However, while Chappelle was certainly crass, he used the topic to ask the audience the more probing question: “to what extent do I have to participate in your self-image?”
It is this blend of total irreverence and social commentary that made Chappelle’s show easily one of the best comic performances the region has witnessed yet.
Earlier in the evening, the support acts, Palestinian American comic Mohammed Amer and Chappelle Show collaborator Donnell Rawlings, did a fine job of warming up the stage.
The latter was in particularly hilarious form when recalling an earlier experience performing in Abu Dhabi.
“I was there for four days and I still didn’t know how to pronounce the place,” he recalled. “I would call my friends and say ‘hey, I am having a great time in Aba Cadaba.”
Dave Chappelle performs tonight, Friday, October 23 on the Dubai Comedy Festival Main Stage (Skydive Dubai) for ages 18 and up. Tickets cost from Dh295 to Dh1,200. Doors open at 6pm; show starts at 8pm. For booking details, visit www.dubaicomedyfest.ae
ssaeed@thenational.ae
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
More from UAE Human Development Report:
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 1 (Cantwell 75') Manchester United 2 (Aghalo 51' 118') After extra time.
Man of the match Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
Match info
Liverpool 4
Salah (19'), Mane (45 2', 53'), Sturridge (87')
West Ham United 0
MATCH INFO
Group B
Bayern Munich v Tottenham, midnight (Thursday)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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