Comedian Dave Chappelle is set to headline at Netflix is a Joke: The Festival, an 11-day stand-up comedy mega-festival in Los Angeles, California.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will be featuring 130 comics, including Chappelle, even after the recent controversy over his special, The Closer.
The festival will be hosted in 25 venues across California, including special locations such as The Greek Theater and The Hollywood Bowl.
The lineup features iconic comedians such as Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, who will be making history as the first stand-up comedian to ever perform at Dodger Stadium, and Kevin Hart, who will headline at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the STAPLES Center).
There’s will also be an LGBTQ+ Celebration event that includes comics Sandra Bernhard, Wanda Sykes, Tig Notaro, Eddie Izzard, Margaret Cho, and more.
The event was initially supposed to occur last spring but was rescheduled due to COVID-19.
Netflix’s stand-up and comedy formats director Robbie Praw said at the time, “We were so disappointed to postpone the event last spring, and our lineup of comedians can’t wait to bring much-needed laughs to audiences in LA and around the world on Netflix.”
“Netflix Is A Joke Festival is going to give comedy fans the opportunity to see the greats and discover new voices in one of the greatest cities in the world.”
Chappelle is set to perform at The Hollywood Bowl. After the release of the comic’s The Closer in October, many questioned whether Netflix would conduct business with the comedian again.
As previously reported, the special raised some eyebrows after many called out the content on the show to be transphobic, and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was criticized for his defense of the special.
At the time, Sarandos apologized to the LGBTQ+ community and admitted to not taking Netflix employees’ feelings into account. He said, “I screwed up” but still stood up fro Chappelle saying that the show was “consistent with our comedy offering, it’s consistent with Dave Chappelle’s comedy brand, and this is … one of those times when there’s something on Netflix that you’re not going to like.”
The festival will go on from April 28 to May 8.
