Comedian Dave Chappelle reopened Radio City Music Hall Saturday night for the first time since Covid hit. It was the vaccine-mandatory world premiere of "Dave Chappelle: This Time This Place", the closing film of the Tribeca Film Festival. The movie, which played to a packed house of 6000, is a series of comedy shows in Dave's neighbor’s cornfield in Yellow Springs, Ohio that drew his friends and colleagues, from Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart and Trevor Noah. It also drew fans to the Ohio town he calls home. Chappelle’s neighbors, Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, are filmmakers who won an Oscar for their 2019 documentary "American Factory, " and Dave says he “literally knocked on their door,” to film the comedy shows that lasted for months. I can't wait until this film hits streaming and theaters!
After the film, Chappelle said, " I love New York City. I made my name in New York City. I met my wife in New York City. I had two of my three children in New York City, I am proud to be the opening night of Radio City Music Hall."
The next night, June 20th, Dave joined Foo Fighters on stage as they opened the first post pandemic concert at Madison Square Garden and helped them sing "Creep."
The Tribeca Film Festival wrapped yesterday, and it was the first in person festival event in North America since the pandemic shut down everything in Spring 2020.
Photo: Getty