Arnold Turner/WireImage.comDave Chappelle is definitely not a fan of Hartford, CT.
At his performance in Chicago on Tuesday night, the 40-year-old funnyman ripped into the East Coast city, saying that he wanted to "pull a reverse Kramer" before cutting his standup set short when audience members heckled him at last week's Funny or Die Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival.
He's referencing, of course, the infamous tantrum Seinfeld alum Michael Richards threw when he tossed out the N-word during a confrontation with African-American hecklers during a 2006 gig at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood.
In audio posted to YouTube of his return to the stage two nights ago, Chappelle finally spoke out about the incident, telling rabid Windy City fans, "I swear to God, f—k that whole city."
"[You're] so much better than Hartford. I'll never go back. I won't even go to Hartford for f--king gas," said Dave. "I don't want anything bad to happen to the United States, but if North Korea ever drops a nuclear bomb on this country, I swear to God I hope it lands in Hartford, Connecticut."
"That crowd was evil," he continued. "A room…full of suburban torturers. Young, white alcoholics just booing and talking all kinds of s--t. You know, I wanted to pull a 'reverse Kramer' and just call them all crackers or something crazy like that."
Chappelle then jokingly imagined the headlines if he went through with it before noting, "Couldn't do that. I felt bad when Kramer did that s--t to us."
He then likened the situation to a gladiator ring.
"That s--t in Hartford was bad," the comedian later added. "And you know that crowd feels lucky that they got to see me freak out. It's just like being at the f--king tiger show the night Siegfried & Roy got their throats bit out by the tiger. It's f--ked up but I know deep down that's why you go to the tiger show. You don't go to see somebody be safe."
The same might be said about doing standup. As the old saying goes, dying's easy, comedy's hard.
(Note: clip below contains explicit language)
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra weighed in on Chappelle's antics via Twitter today, writing, "Dave Chappelle should quit whining, do his job and try some yoga. #HartfordHasIt P.E.S."
In an additional statement to newspaper The Courant, Segarra clarified, "I wasn't at the show, so I can't comment on it specifically. But his recent remarks were immature and inappropriate. Dave Chappelle should stick to his job, give the fans what they paid for and not disparage the good people of Hartford."