by MARK SLUTSKY

Dave Chappelle may be the funniest comedian in America right now. By all rights he’s the most popular—the first season of Chappelle’s Show remains the best-selling DVD of a television show to date. It’s no surprise he’s a star, with his easy-going charm and gift for mimicry, although it took him years to get there, first appearing on TV comedy shows as far back as 1992.

Of course, if you’ve been following his career at all you know that Chappelle walked away from his colossal $50-million deal with Comedy Central last year, in the middle of the production of the third season of Chappelle’s Show. He’s only recently re-surfaced, with an appearance on Oprah, and although the fate of the show remains in doubt, his return does coincide with the release of his new movie Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.

And the good news is, it’s great. Directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Block Party is largely exactly what the title implies: a big concert and street party organized and staged by Chappelle & co. in 2004 on a block in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighbourhood. The movie cuts back and forth between the preparations for the event in the week leading up to it and the block party itself. Chappelle says in the film that he’s basically put together his dream concert, and quite a line-up it is: Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, the Roots (drummer Ahmir ?uestlove was one of the concert’s organizers and arranged all the music), Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Dead Prez and even the Fugees, who make a rare appearance together.

But just as entertaining as the musicians are the non-stars who make up the movie. Chappelle travels to Dayton, Ohio (near his home in Yellow Springs), and invites residents to New York for the party. Their reactions are hilarious and touching and frequently both—in one of the movie’s best scenes, an entire high school marching band freaks out when they learn they’re all going to go and perform (later, in another of the movie’s highlights, the band performs “Jesus Walks” with West). There are also the awesome kids who attend the day care on the block the party is being held on and the crazy hippie couple who are renovating a weird church nearby—the film is made up of great, funny moments with these people and the stars alike. And that’s what Block Party does best. It’s part concert film, part documentary, part comedy and it balances those three parts with great finesse—you feel like you spend exactly the right amount of time with everyone. Chappelle himself is both the subject of the movie and the party’s host, and whether he’s battling amateur MCs onstage, trying to convince old Ohio ladies to come to the party or explaining why Dead Prez’s radical songs never get played on the radio, he stays at the centre of things without crowding anybody else out. His Block Party is pure fun to watch and the most enjoyable movie of the year so far, by far.

DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY OPENS FRIDAY, MARCH 3

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