UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 7
October 17, 1996
Comic to kick off University Center dedication

     Dave Chappelle, who scored big laughs this summer playing
Reggie opposite Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor, will perform
a free, public program at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 19, in the
Multipurpose Room of the Trabant University Center as part of the
week-long, official opening celebration.
     "He has star presence...talent you don't see very
often...his acting ability, stand-up [comedy] and material are so
advanced for his agehe has a very good shot at making it HUGE!"
So wrote the Washington Post about Chappelle.
     Chappelle started performing at comedy clubs at 14 when his
mother would chaperone him since he was too young to enter on his
own.
     Now 21, he recently told the Los Angeles Times, "My mother
doesn't have to come along any more. I can finally start meeting
women after shows."
     Graduating from the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the
Arts High School in Washington, D.C., Chappelle moved to New York
and rapidly made a name for himself within the comedy community.
By the time he was 18, he had appeared on Evening at the Improv,
Caroline's Comedy Hour, MTV's 1/2 Hour Comedy Hour and the PBS
special, Why Bother Voting?
     Now, Chappelle has appeared on more than 20 national
programs, including numerous appearances on Late Night With David
Letterman.
     In addition to The Nutty Professor, in which he played
Reggie Warrington, the nightclub comedian who makes the
overweight professor the butt of his cruel jokes, he has appeared
in Mel Brooks' film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
     He has performed with Aretha Franklin at Radio City Music
Hall and with Whoopi Goldberg at Lincoln Center.
     He starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom Buddies. Much of
Chappelle's training came from the street comedian Charles
Barnett, known for entertaining people in New York's Washington
Square Park. Chappelle plans to make a movie of Barnett's tragic
life, called King of the Park.
     He also has a multiyear deal with Walt Disney Television and
Touchstone Pictures.
     All activites during the opening week are sponsored by the
Trabant Center's Activities and Program Office. Chappelle's
appearance is cosponsored by the Cultural Programming Advisory
Board.
     For information, call UD1-HENS.