Netflix Announces Giant Comedy Festival With Dave Chappelle, But Not Hannah Gadsby

Netflix has recently announced that the “Netflix Is A Joke” comedy festival, which was originally scheduled to debut in 2020, will now take place from April 28 to May 8, 2022.

The festival will take place in some of Los Angeles’ most acclaimed venues and will feature over 100 live shows by the biggest names in comedy.

“We were so disappointed to postpone the event last spring and our line-up of comedians can’t wait to bring much-needed laughs to audiences in LA and around the world on Netflix,” director Robbie Praw stated. “The ‘Netflix Is A Joke” Festival is going to give comedy fans the opportunity to see the greats and discover new voices in one of the greatest cities in the world.”

Some of these performances will be filmed and streamed on Netflix at a later date, but some are going to be exclusive to in-person audiences. It has yet to be revealed which performances will be streamed and which will only be available live, but presale tickets go on sale Friday, December 10.

Although there are too many to name, according to Deadline, some of the biggest names that will headline the event are Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer, Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld, David Letterman, Chris Rock, AliWong, HasanMinhaj, and GabrielIglesias, who his fans refer to as “Fluffy.”

Also performing is Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen, Kevin Hart, Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Handler, Ken Jeong, Conan O’Brien, Ellen DeGeneres, John Mulaney, and Bill Burr, who recently spoke about his own opinions on cancel culture in the stand-up comedy community.

“I’m not saying that I never have made mistakes, and most times I’ve, you know, pissed somebody off and made somebody cry,” Burr admitted on The Pat McAfee Show.

“If they come up to me, and they have a legitimate thing, then I’ll apologize to them,” he continued. “But I’m not apologizing to a bunch of f—ing people because I told a joke [at a show] that they weren’t at.”

Comedian Dave Chappelle was allegedly “canceled” after he said comments that were deemed transphobic during his recent Netflix special “The Closer.”

After Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the special, it led to an employee walkout and two transgender Netflix employees filed labor complaints against the company. One employee has since resigned.

Noticeably absent from the list of performers participating in the festival is Hannah Gadsby, who Dave Chappelle took a swing at after Sarandos dragged her name into the controversy by listing her as an example of the “diverse content” that Netflix provides.

“Hey, Ted Sarandos! Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn’t drag my name into your mess,” she wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “You didn’t pay me nearly enough to deal with the real-world consequences of the hate speech dog-whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted.”

Fans looking for more information can visit netflixisajokefest.com.