Controlled Danger: Dave Chappelle & John Mayer Epic New Year’s Eve Celebration Rocks L.A.

Can you wrap your head around raw comic Dave Chappelle and soft-rocker John Mayer teaming up and taking their show on the road? Apparently, lots of people can—their limited “Controlled Danger” tour has sold out every venue.

The two have been friends for over 10 years but this is the first time they’ve officially collaborated in a series of live events. The Netflix stand-up king and the “Your Body Is a Wonderland” singer first brought their magical mix to a live to San Francisco audience in April. 

They played a couple of other dates, and leading up to their big New Year’s Eve show at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood, did a show at the Hollywood Palladium in which attendees were required to place their cellphones in small locked bags that kept anyone from shooting photos or videos. The tradition continued for the NYE show.

They were not kidding about no cell-phones. Anyone who brought a device would be “ejected.” But you know what they say: Pictures or it didn't happen! The suspense is killing us...

So there’s no clips from the show, but here’s a video of an interview the pair did with CNN on New Year’s Eve.

And, here's an idea of what the performance might have looked like, based on this earlier 2017 show.

One of the highlights of the performance on this epic mini-tour is Chappelle singing the Radiohead song Creep. “As [Meyer] expertly picked out Radiohead’s moody arpeggios, Chappelle delivered the song’s bitter words about self-disgust while simultaneously miming his enjoyment of the fleshly display surrounding him. And when Mayer reached Creep’s chorus, with its signature eruption of distorted guitar, the comedian flared his eyes in a pitch-perfect parody of white-guy rage,” says a Los Angeles Times review of the Palladium Show. “The two-hour concert began with Mayer performing a brief solo set, then had Chappelle doing stand-up; after that, Mayer returned and the pair spent the rest of the show onstage together.”

We’re dying to see video! Maybe someone managed to get by security… #ControlledDanger