During his set at the Netflix Is a Joke Festival on Friday at the Hollywood Bowl, David Letterman referred to the Dave Chappelle assault incident that took place at the same festival a few days back and tried to make light of the situation.
Letterman took the stage at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles with a naturally curt set of comments. The stage also hosted fellow comics Phil Wang, Sam Morril and Rosebud Baker.
The CBS talk show host veteran thanked the audience for attending before referring to the infamous Dave Chappelle attack. Netflix shared the footage of the same, titled ‘David Letterman on the Dave Chappelle incident‘.
Although the 75-year-old did not mention Chappelle by name, he apparently began adjusting his glasses, pretending to get startled and running to the side of the stage. He later quipped, “I’m sorry – thought I saw a guy coming up here.” He said, “It’s just a waiter? I’m so sorry. It’s just been a little alarming – you know what I mean?”
He then added, “In deference to the people coming out here, let me just say this: When the show is finished, I will be in the lobby, and if anybody wants to come and beat me up, by God, come on out.”
Trying to engage the audience, Letterman said, “How many of you would like to hit me right now?”
On Tuesday, Chappelle was attacked by an armed man, the 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, during his set at the comedy festival. However, the man is not facing felony charges but only four misdemeanour charges.
Letterman will soon return with the latest season of his Netflix talk show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction on May 20th, 2022.
