Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly
Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly is a 2000 American stand-up comedy television film directed by Stan Lathan and written by and starring comedian Dave Chappelle. Filmed at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., it was Chappelle's first hour-long HBO special, premiering on HBO on July 26, 2000. In the special, Chappelle talks about a variety of topics, including racism, police brutality, and drug use. Reception. Shortly after the special's release, Steve Johnson of the "Chicago Tribune" gave it a positive review, writing that it "[covers] the predictable black people versus white  people and men versus women territory, but doing it with fresh observations and, more important, a sophisticated structure", and noting: "somebody give this guy a TV series". In 2015, "Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly" was ranked #6 on a "Rolling Stone" list of the 25 best stand-up specials and films, with writer Matthew Love stating that the special "delivers everything we know now as the comedian's trademarks: shaggy-dog tales with increasingly absurd details and quick reversals; loose-limbed and playful bits that even inspired the comedian to giggle fits; blistering commentary on race couched in seemingly offhanded  storytelling. Weed-dealing three-year-olds and "Sesame Street" pimps aside, the comic's routines about police brutality are even more painfully prescient today than they were in 2000." Home media. "Dave Chappelle: Killin' Them Softly" was released on DVD in 2003.