I did not make it to Dave Chappelle’s show on Tuesday night. As often happens, I heard about it roughly five minutes after tickets sold out. I’m also not really one to jump through hoops for a “surprise” show. Still, I thought it was great that he was here, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the dumbasses who apparently heckled all the way through the show:

Chappelle put on an almost two-hour set Tuesday night that got sidetracked early by hecklers and fans with recording devices and never really recovered.

Taking the stage in jeans and a light blue t-shirt, a buff and chain-smoking Chappelle brought the packed house to a standing ovation. Chappelle, who allegedly arrived to Austin from Dallas on his motorcycle, said he never dreamed he would have this much fun in Texas. Of course, the provincial and self-righteous Austinites in the crowd yelled out how Austin was not like the rest of Texas. And so it began. A night of shouting, (presumably drunk) morons interrupting the once King of Comedy with their worthless insights.

Now, the city of Austin is taking a drubbing all over the internet:

Thanks a lot, dicks! You just treated one of this era’s greatest comic geniuses — a guy who’s slowly begun to reemerge after a self-imposed exile – like Howard Stern treats a guy doing air sex on America’s Got Talent or something. Sure, his act may not have been polished, but this is what comedians do — they pop up in random places to test out/hone their act before going on an official tour (like the one Chappelle may do with Chris Rock). I guess even the doltish as$holes are bigger in Texas.

We’re supposed to be better than this, Austin. What I’ve read suggests that Dave Chappelle is either still re-honing his craft, or that he was phoning it in on Tuesday night. Neither of those are any kind of excuse for the raging douchebaggery that was reportedly on display. Robyn Ross at Mass Effect summed it up:

He showed up in Austin with less than 30 minutes of jokes, likely thinking he’d get enough from the crowd to improv his way through the rest of the night. His mistake was in coming to a town that’s been on the Coolest Places To Live lists for ten years too long. 2% of the crowd was hellbent on ruining the show for everyone else with their requests, outbursts, insults, shout-outs to Texas pride, and random pig squeals. Dave’s long pauses, water breaks, and cigarette drags caused him to lose control of the audience fifteen minutes into the night and he never got them back. The 2% had taken over.

She places much of the blame on “rednecks and obnoxious hipsters” who grabbed up tickets just so they could say they were there, not out of any actual desire to see the show. That’s a great observation, because it seems to me like some people go to events just for the experience of being there. The problem with that is, if you think of it as an experience you are having, you think that you become a part of it, and that is not how entertainment works (most of the time). People prepare a show, whether it is music, comedy, theater, ballet, or whatever. Other people pay money to watch them (not you) perform. If the performer(s) invite somebody from the audience to participate, that is all well and good, but everyone else needs to STFU and watch. Laugh when it’s funny, cry when it’s sad, but keep the advice to yourself (and possibly your blog).

The audience paid money to hear someone speak/sing/play music/tell jokes/etc. All you need to know to succeed in this aspect of grownup life is that this someone is not you.

Photo credit: ‘Statler and Waldorf: The Original Trolls’ [Fair use], via dawnitaweston8.tumblr.com.