Dave Chappelle's Cornfield Summer Camp

By Lauren Elizabeth Campbell, Editor-in-Chief

Dave Chappelle is hosting socially distanced comedy shows in his hometown of Yellow Springs, OH, a hippie farm town 18 miles east of Dayton.

These shows, which have gained popularity on social media under the name, "Chappelle Summer Camp," are held in a cornfield, with a gazebo for a stage, four miles away from Chappelle's home. Every show features different comedians, and the audience never knows who might show up.

Jon Hamm, Common, Questlove, Michelle Wolf, Michael Che, David Letterman, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, and controversially, Louis C.K. have all been surprise guests.

Due to limited space, and with extreme social distancing measures set in place, only two-hundred people can purchase tickets, and given the way the audience seats are set, everyone who wants to buy a ticket must buy two, with a maximum of 400 people in the audience. Every show has sold out in minutes.

Spray-painted in the grass and spaced out across the cornfield are circles with two fold-out chairs each attendee must sit in the entire duration of the show while wearing a mask. These circles are roughly 10 feet away from another circle.

The same spray-painted circles, without chairs, line the walkways to get in. Attendees only move up a circle after the person in front of them moves. There are employees heavily enforcing this. Employees also check everyone’s temperature, hand out personalized Dave Chappelle face masks, as well as spray hand sanitizer.

The performers are the only people not wearing a mask. However, they are required to be tested for COVID-19 before and after performing.

I attended the show on August 8th. The morning of the show, Ticketmaster changed the show’s name from Dave Chappelle & Friends: An Intimate Socially Distanced Affair to Controlled Danger, a show Chappelle does with John Mayer, so it was no surprise who the main guest would be that evening.

My mom took my second ticket and we arrived at the field around 8 p.m. for the 9 p.m. show. Several were already there.

After giving the parking attendant my name, we parked, left our phones in the car as instructed, went through the entry process, and found seats in one of the twohundred spray-painted circles.

Sarah Silverman opened the show, which is kinda crazy to be at an event where Sarah Silverman opens. However, by her use of flashcards, it was easy to tell she was working on new material, much of which was heavily influenced by Judaism. Her set probably would have worked better with a New York crowd, rather than in a cornfield in Ohio.

After her set, Mayer played a solo acoustic set, noting this was his first time out of quarantine in months.

He played fan favorites, "Neon," "Who Says," and "New Light," took a crowd suggestion to play the Grateful Dead’s "Althea," then played two new songs that will likely be on his next album, "Till the Right One Comes" and "Shot in the Dark."

Mayer then played an electric guitar intro for Chappelle who came out and did about thirty minutes of solo stand-up comedy.

But the night’s real magic happened when Chappelle brought Mayer back on stage. Both Chappelle and Mayer improv'd jokes while Mayer played guitar to go along with the jokes.

During their set, Tiffany Haddish surprised the crowd by coming out to tell jokes and make up a song about her boyfriend, Common, who was also there, just not on stage, to Mayer's guitar playing.

The show lasted until around 1 a.m.. It was beyond hilarious and a night to remember.

Chappelle will continue hosting these shows through October 4th.