Local comedy club books famously controversial comedian; sells out in seconds

“I put in the ticket link, pushed ‘refresh,’ and all tickets were sold out in 19 seconds,” said Bo Stenger, the owner of the Olde Towne East Club that sold out two shows in two consecutive evenings.

The Attic, located on 892 Oak St., is making headlines for a variety of reasons this week: first, the line was wrapped around the block on a Wednesday and Thursday evening, surprising many Olde Towne East residents, who frankly didn’t realize how much popularity their local comedy club was garnering.

Second, The Attic was able to book none other than Dave Chappelle and announce it the day-of, which is quite a big deal considering many of Chappelle’s tour stops this fall are in arenas like the United Center in Chicago, or Madison Square Garden in NYC. 

And lastly, tickets, which were $150 a pop, sold out in minutes on Wednesday evening, and seconds on Thursday evening. 

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Stenger felt incredibly honored that Dave Chappelle, one of his comedy heroes, was performing at his club last night. “He knew my name before I even told him last night,” said Stenger. “Mr. Chappelle said, ‘Thank you so much for this opportunity.’ He sells out arenas across the world – yet he’s here, thanking me?” 

“You get really scared when you meet your heroes, but he was absolutely wonderful – the whole team, everyone on board, just really amazing all around,” emphasized Stenger. 

When asked about the controversy surrounding Chappelle, Stenger responded, “At the end of the day, I have all of the adoration for Chapelle. Comedy can be uplifting to the soul…He’s a phenomenon. There’s a reason why there are certain stances against Chapelle’s jokes and things he’s spoken about, but the whole point of comedy is to turn tragedy into comedy.” 

“Any scrutiny or any sort of hatred towards Dave is completely misplaced. Chapelle operates on a sense of love, peace, graciousness…it’s remarkable to see what he’s accomplished and be as reasonable as a human being can be,” said Stenger.

After they announced the Wednesday, August 9th show, and tickets were already sold out, Stenger said that The Attic received 400-500 phone calls, 200-300 direct text messages begging him to let them in, and 700 followers gained on Instagram.

While phones were put in locked packages so that no one could film, there were audience members that shared on social media about some of the jokes and punchlines that got the crowd going. “It was so intimate,” said one comment on The Attic’s Instagram account. Stenger said the crowd responded enthusiastically, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

And the person who enjoyed himself the most? Definitely Stenger, who says he owes Dave Chappelle his career at this point. “Mr. Chappelle reignited everything I needed to be a human being again,” said Stenger. “I was done with standup for a very long time. But then, my sister ended up getting a position as a chef at Dave’s Yellow Springs shows. When I went, everything was safe and spot-on for Covid regulations: limited spacing, temperature checks, Covid tested. I thought, ‘Of course he was the first person to figure Covid and comedy out.’ His corn field show was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Because of him, I started doing shows in my own backyard. I brought in poets, DJ’s, comics…and I felt back to myself again.”

“Laugher and joy: it’s the only thing that matters,” sighs Stenger. “I don’t associate with people that try to be negative – we’re going to be dead one day. We don’t have time for this. I’d rather spend time with people who put a smile on my heart, and Dave has done that for me since I was a kid.”

Want to read more? Check out our print publication, (614) Magazine. Learn where you can find a free copy of our new August issue here!

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