Popular comic livens IU

Don't get me wrong, I think Dave Chappelle is a funny guy. A veteran of the comedy club circuit since the age of 15, he certainly knows how to make an audience laugh. A consistent viewer of the second season of Chappelle's widely popular Comedy Central program, "Chappelle's Show," I've laughed as hard as anybody at his parodies of Rick James, Prince, Gallagher and Lil' Jon. But as Chappelle said his final goodbye and thank you to the audience Sunday night at the IU Auditorium, I couldn't help but liken his performance to "Elimidate" or "The Fifth Wheel." There was an unhealthy amount of dirty sex talk combined with the feeling this kind of material is unoriginal and been done before.\nWithout human genitalia, sex, porn and an assortment of four-letter words, Chappelle might have had a difficult time filling out his repertoire of jokes. He talked about masturbation's contribution to society as well as his personal preferences on porn. His jokes and punch lines were at times rather hilarious, but after a few minutes of him talking about masturbation, the jokes ran stale. The sexual humor jokes also weren't very original. Many comics use these as their 'bit,' and I can't help but think Chappelle just overused them. Vulgarity and sexual humor are used on his show but work better in this arena because they are curtailed by the network executives and the Federal Communications Commission. Working within the confined space of what's appropriate for cable, Chappelle doesn't dwell for an extended period of time on these subjects like he did Sunday night.\nHe did digress from these subjects, and this is where he shined. When Chappelle brought up his thoughts on the war with Iraq, he quipped, "I started to protest the war, but then I saw what happened to those Dixie Chicks. If all that happened to three white girls, I thought 'they'll tear my black ass apart.'" He also made mention of the Elizabeth Smart abduction, gave his thoughts on Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," and told of his apparent encounter with Native Americans in New Mexico and Michael Jackson's current situation. Most of these subjects were attacked with what Chappelle does bes -- a blend of racial humor that can be borderline offensive. \n"I heard on the news that we made progress in Iraq because we changed their money. Saddam Hussein is no longer on their money. Our money should be like that. Right now it's like baseball cards for slave owners. All we got is Lincoln on the fives, fives and pennies for everyone," he said. "How can George Washington write in the Constitution 'All men are created equal' when he's asking his slave to get him a sandwich?"\nAnother thing that makes Chappelle's somewhat racially-charged humor work is his delivery. He does an excellent job of changing his tone and inflection to get a laugh. There is something about when the way he raises his voice that is just, well -- downright hilarious. The highlight of the night was his encore. The house lights were turned on and the audience got up to leave, but as soon as everyone was standing, Chappelle reappeared. He didn't seem to come out with too much set material. Instead, he played off the audience, which was yelling catch phrases from the show, such as Lil' Jon's "Whhhaaaat" and "Okaaaay." \nChappelle told the audience to stop using his own jokes against him and tried to put those members of the audience in their place. Of the set material he did have were some 'your momma' jokes that again incorporated some sexual humor. Perhaps, Chappelle summed up my feelings best when he said, "I know these jokes are corny, but they're just so funny"