Comedians Dave Chappelle and Chris Tucker will headline the Saenger Theatre in 2017. The stand-up comics perform Feb. 15.
Chappelle made his Saturday Night Live debut on the series’ first episode following the 2016 presidential election, opening with a stellar, cathartic 10-minute monologue, revisiting some of his characters from his groundbreaking Comedy Central sketch series Chappelle’s Show, and reintroducing himself to a massive audience with an acclaimed, versatile performance. Chappelle also recently signed with Netflix to release three stand-up comedy specials through the streaming service in 2017.
Chappelle had been largely on hiatus for a decade until 2014. That year, he performed two shows at the Saenger following a sort of last-minute announcement amid his “return” tour, which included 10 shows at Radio City Music Hall. He paced the stage, smoked, hilariously blasted people in the crowd for shooting video on their phones, and delivered a relaxed, brilliant, devastatingly funny set spanning politics, ISIS, sex, racism and police violence, admitting he had been assaulted by police in New Orleans early in his career. It was his first show in New Orleans in more than a decade; his 2004 show at the UNO Lakefront Arena landed before his departure from Chappelle’s Show.
Tucker, meanwhile, was off the stand-up circuit for several years, but he made his return to his high-energy comedy and screen stardom in 2011, appearing in the Academy Award-nominated Silver Linings Playbook in 2012, his first role following the Rush Hour franchise and hit films like The Fifth Element and Friday. Tickets are $59.75-$99.75 and go on sale 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Source: Best Of New Orleans
