I remember watching Dave Chappelles 2021 Netflix special The Closer the day it went live and thinking, with a smirk of excitement and intrigue on my face, Yikesthis is gonna ruffle a few feathers.

What I didnt expect was no fewer than five straight weeks of tweets, angry think pieces and general division over the special, which courted an unprecedented degree of controversy over his jokes targeting the transgender community. (FYI, this isnt an angry think piece, per se.)

Fallout from The Closer included a suspension of a trans Netflix employee and a staff walkout from Netflixs Los Angeles office .

My lifelong allyship didnt douse my overall enjoyment of The Closer, and I defended Chappelles ability to deliver transgressive jokes in an incisive fashion, reminding everyone that its a large part of the reason hes one of the greatest living comedians. I also told his detractors that the best way to take attention away from his special was to not talk about it at all.

As I watched The Dreamer, Chappelles latest Netflix special, that intrigue and excitement I had for its predecessor was replaced with a nagging feeling of boredom.

The Dreamer, which contains several jokes I heard when I saw him live in Chicago in September, starts off with a story that not even I can defend: Its an obvious fuck you to all the souls who were excited at the prospect of Netflix closing its doors to him after the 2021 debacle.

Shortly after, he announces that hes leaving trans folks alone (save for three or four jokes) to go after the disabled community because theyre not as organized as the gays, and I like punching down. Another wink-wink response to all his detractors who said that his trans jokes are, well, punching down.

The rest of the special had its funny bits but felt like not enough innovation; not enough of an attempt to improve on his craft to justify my time and energy. And thats a crying shame.

The cachet hes earned after 30-plus years in standup, several movie roles and one legendary sketch comedy show provides him the ability to deliver jokes that would get most younger comedians bounced out of the profession. The problem is that Chappelle is leaning a bit too heavily on that privilege, resulting in less creativity and more shock for the sake of shock value.

Chappelle is organically funny, so his routine in which he mimics a disabled fan upset that they wont hear trans jokes will at the very least elicit uncomfortable chuckles. But it doesnt feel anywhere near as ingenious as his How Old is 15 Really ? routine arguably the only funny bit in comedy history about statutory rape from his 2004 special, For What Its Worth.