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Speaker 1: Pushkin.

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Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Tyler J. Kelly, and I wrote what Happens

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Speaker 2: when Dave Chappelle Buys up Your Town for Bloomberg Business Week,

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Speaker 2: and it's the story of the Week.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety nine, I was interviewing the host of

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Speaker 1: The View and comedian Joy Behar, and one of my

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Speaker 1: pressing questions was, can you get me in the Friars Club?

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Speaker 1: She could, and she did so. For years, I invited

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Speaker 1: people to lunch at the Midtown Manhattan six story townhouse

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Speaker 1: that was called the Monastery. We'd eat the sliced bagel

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Speaker 1: chips that served as a bread basket that were inches

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Speaker 1: away from soupy sales Buddy Hackett and five Ish Finkle.

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Speaker 1: I worked out at the gym there and saw many

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Speaker 1: old people naked who may have once been famous. But

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Speaker 1: the Friar's Club has been closed for months. It hasn't

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Speaker 1: paid its mortgage in a while. Inside, according to court papers,

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Speaker 1: there's trash, mice, quote, unidentified liquid waste, and even more sadly,

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Speaker 1: not one joke about unidentifiable liquid waste. The club's probably

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Speaker 1: gonna go under, as it's current dean said to The

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Speaker 1: New York Times. Quote if there's one thing I've learned.

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Speaker 1: The friars should not be running clubs. They should be

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Speaker 1: telling jokes and singing songs. Obviously, comedians shouldn't run businesses.

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Speaker 1: And it can also get complicated when they buy towns,

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Speaker 1: as the people in tiny Yellow Springs, Ohio found out

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Speaker 1: when Dave Chappelle started buying up main Street. Writing is hard.

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Speaker 1: Who's got that kind of time when you're already busy

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Speaker 1: trying to be Joe stand So it turns on a mic?

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Speaker 1: Made the twitles enough.

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Speaker 2: Because a journalist trand has gotten that Jule job. Single story.

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Speaker 2: Just listen to smart people speak, conversation, film and information.

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Speaker 2: It's the story.

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Speaker 1: Tyler Kelly took a trip to you call like Yellow Springs,

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Speaker 1: Ohio for BusinessWeek to see the town that Dave Chappelle bought. Tyler,

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Speaker 1: thank you for doing this. Are you a Chappelle fan?

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Speaker 2: I am a Chappelle fan. I've been a fan of

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Speaker 2: Chappelle since the Chappelle Show. I have it on DVD.

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Speaker 2: I used to watch it all the time.

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Speaker 1: So you fly out to this town, Yellow Springs, Ohio,

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Speaker 1: and what's it like When you first get there.

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Speaker 2: It's a cute town, you know, low rise two story buildings,

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Speaker 2: kind of a classic Midwestern small town, except I guess

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Speaker 2: I would say I've never been to a place with

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Speaker 2: more window signs, you know, pride flags, masks wearing signs,

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Speaker 2: giant Black Lives Matter banner hanging over the main street.

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Speaker 2: There's many very overt signals. You know that you've crossed

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Speaker 2: into the liberal bastion from you know, rural Ohio.

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Speaker 1: Why is this one small town in the middle of

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Speaker 1: Ohio so liberal?

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Speaker 2: The whole town was founded by these religious utopians in

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Speaker 2: the eighteen hundreds. Anyat College grew out of that town,

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Speaker 2: which is also kind of like a very idealistic, very liberal,

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Speaker 2: you know, bastion of long standing. It was a stop

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Speaker 2: on the underground railroad. So the progressivism, you know, it

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Speaker 2: comes by it authentically and deeply.

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Speaker 1: Antioch was the first college that made rules about consent,

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Speaker 1: and everyone thought it was so absurd. You'd be like,

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Speaker 1: is it okay if I touch your breast young woman?

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Speaker 1: I remember this SNL sketch making fun of that, which now,

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Speaker 1: of course I'm sure they don't erics. It makes them

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Speaker 1: look like jerks. But then I saw Dave Chappelle's dad

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Speaker 1: taught in Antioch did Chappelle grow up in this town?

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Speaker 2: He went to middle school there, like that kind of

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Speaker 2: time period. So you talk to a lot of people

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Speaker 2: who were I guess about Dave Chappelle's age, like mid forties,

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Speaker 2: and they talk about this utopian kind of feeling growing

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Speaker 2: up going to school in maybe the eighties in Yellow Springs,

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Speaker 2: how diverse it was, how affordable it was, how artsy

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Speaker 2: and weird it was, and they all say that that

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Speaker 2: time is over, and that's one of their big laments

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Speaker 2: about what's going on in the village today is sort

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Speaker 2: of the loss of that feeling.

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Speaker 1: What's changed.

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Speaker 2: A lot of things have changed. The kind of middle

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Speaker 2: class manufacturing jobs are mostly gone, so it's become older, whiter,

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Speaker 2: and more expensive in the last couple decades.

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Speaker 1: And then the sound's also changed. Because what I learned

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Speaker 1: from your story that I had no idea is that

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Speaker 1: Antioch is gone. Like I didn't know a you know,

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Speaker 1: two hundred year old college could just disappear.

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Speaker 2: It isn't literally gone. It did completely fold in two

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Speaker 2: thousand and eight, but it came back to life in

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Speaker 2: twenty eleven, and so it still exists in a much

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Speaker 2: much diminished version. I think the current class is one

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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty students. Yeah, and just sort of the

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Speaker 2: cultural force that it used to be, it's not anymore.

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Speaker 2: So I think that's part of the Dave store too,

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Speaker 2: is because there's nothing else going on. He's a big,

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Speaker 2: big deal, maybe bigger than he should be in people's minds.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's this superstar comedian who's living in this tiny

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Speaker 1: village because he spent some time growing up there. What

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Speaker 1: made him move back to Yellow Springs.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. He bought a house there, I think

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Speaker 2: while he was filming The Chappelle Show in New York.

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Speaker 2: So that would have been like the early two thousands,

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Speaker 2: and it would go back and forth, like living in

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Speaker 2: a furnished apartment in New York and then going back

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Speaker 2: to Yellow Springs. It appears that he authentically always had

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Speaker 2: long standing had wanted to be there. He likes it there.

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Speaker 2: He's raising his kids there, his kids go to public

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Speaker 2: school there. Oh, he hangs out in town. I mean,

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Speaker 2: he genuinely likes it there. But I think that's pretty unequivocal.

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Speaker 1: So Dave Chappelle in two thousand and four ends his

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Speaker 1: Comedy Central show He's just gotten I think fifty something

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Speaker 1: million dollars to make two more seasons, and then he's

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Speaker 1: he doesn't show up to work anymore. He just takes off,

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Speaker 1: which is, you know, the craziest entertainment story of that time.

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Speaker 1: People were obsessed, like, where is Dave Chappelle? Why is

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Speaker 1: he leaving fifty million dollars on the table? Why isn't

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Speaker 1: even telling his longtime writing partner that he's not going

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Speaker 1: to show up for work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot of rumors that, you know,

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Speaker 2: he had some kind of breakdown, that he was on

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Speaker 2: some kind of drugs, that he was on some spiritual retreat,

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Speaker 2: that he had moved us south that Africa. According to

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Speaker 2: his spokesperson, none of that was true.

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Speaker 1: So he was hiding out in Yellow Springs, which is

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Speaker 1: remote enough that no one figured out he was in America.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm sure he was keeping a low profile.

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Speaker 2: People told me that he would insert bits of misinformation

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Speaker 2: into his like conversations with people he didn't know very well,

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Speaker 2: like he and his wife were going to get a

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Speaker 2: divorce or something like that, and then wait to see

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Speaker 2: if that person leaked it to the media. And that's

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Speaker 2: how he'd I guess, kind of know who his friends.

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Speaker 1: Were that's genius. He'd say something to like the guy

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Speaker 1: at the grocery store about I'm going to leave my

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Speaker 1: wife and then wait to see if it was in

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Speaker 1: the Star magazine. This is classic high school behavior, right,

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Speaker 1: This is what you do in high school to make

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Speaker 1: sure your friends are your friends. Yeah, I should be

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Speaker 1: doing that all the time. I'm sure that mafia does

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Speaker 1: this too, right, Give a little bad information, see if

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Speaker 1: it comes back to them, and then whack the guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that is what it reminds me of. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Oh, so he's living in Yellow Springs, getting along with people,

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Speaker 1: keeping a low profile, and then in the summer of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty, after COVID hits, things change a little bit

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Speaker 1: because he's stuck at home and what happens that kind

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Speaker 1: of causes some conflict in that town.

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Speaker 2: So he started doing these shows in the summer of

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty, basically weekly shows at this property call the

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Speaker 2: Word Pavilion, which is owned by a friend of Dave's.

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Speaker 2: It's outside of the village and the township, and they

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Speaker 2: get permission from the governor's office to do these shows

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Speaker 2: pretty early into the pandemic, and they the Chappelle's people

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Speaker 2: take credit for pioneering a bunch of the ways to

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Speaker 2: have a live performance during the pandemic. COVID tests, masks,

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Speaker 2: temperature checks, social distance seating, all that stuff they did

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Speaker 2: outside in this field where they had these shows.

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Speaker 1: And these shows that he's having have huge stars coming

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Speaker 1: to Yellow Springs somehow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, huge stars, Sarah Silverman, Michelle Wolf, Donnell Rawlings, Chris Rock,

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Speaker 2: John Ham shows up, big musical guests, Tallip Quali Common

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Speaker 2: And I think part of the reason all those big

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Speaker 2: deal comedians come is because there's nothing else to do

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Speaker 2: in the Summit twenty twenty. All their stuff is canceled.

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Speaker 2: They have nowhere to go, And so it was really successful.

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Speaker 2: It did great things for the small businesses of Yellow Springs.

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Speaker 2: Something a lot of people say is that there are

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Speaker 2: businesses that would have gone out of business were it

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Speaker 2: not for these shows. But the other thing that happens

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Speaker 2: is some of the people who live near this field

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Speaker 2: start to complain there's noise, there's trash. They are thinking

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Speaker 2: they're living in a rural setting next to this rural property,

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Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, there's four hundred people there.

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Speaker 2: So the township zoning inspector looks into it and decides, actually, yes,

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Speaker 2: this is a violation of the zoning code. And so

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Speaker 2: he tells him, yeah, this isn't violation. You guys need

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Speaker 2: to shut this down. They don't shut it down. They

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Speaker 2: keep going. They ignore him.

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Speaker 1: You can't ignore the zoning Inspector of Yellow Springs, Like,

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Speaker 1: what is he doing?

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Speaker 2: He told me he has the authority to issue a

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Speaker 2: fine of a couple hundred dollars. So he thought that

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Speaker 2: was pointless. Obviously they've got a lot more money than that,

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Speaker 2: So what else could he do?

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Speaker 1: Wow, So Dave Chappelle is too powerful for the government

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Speaker 1: of Yellow Springs.

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Speaker 2: Well, technically this is the government of Miami Township, which

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Speaker 2: surrounds Yellow Springs. Okay, but yeah, actively and so then

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Speaker 2: in August, I think Steve Worrig, who owns the field,

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Speaker 2: applies for a zoning variance, an exemption from the zoning code,

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Speaker 2: and wins it. Their initial justification for the variant says, oh,

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Speaker 2: we need these to lift our spirits, we need these

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Speaker 2: to get together. We're so depressed because of the pandemic.

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Speaker 2: The Zoning Board of Appeals goes for that. So then

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Speaker 2: he gets I think a year's worth of shows that

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Speaker 2: brings him to twenty twenty one. Then the following spring

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Speaker 2: he gets another variants and another variance the next time around,

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Speaker 2: there saying well, we need these for businesses. The businesses

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Speaker 2: are going to go to business without this. The zoning

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Speaker 2: Board of Appeals goes for that the third time around.

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Speaker 2: I interviewed a member of the board who said that

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Speaker 2: she felt unequivocally that it did not merit a variance

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Speaker 2: this time, and she was going to vote against it,

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Speaker 2: but somehow she felt intimidated enough by all the Chappelle

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Speaker 2: supporters in the room and the kind of general like

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Speaker 2: rah Ra Chappelle, pro Chappelle culture personality thing that was

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Speaker 2: going on in the village that she voted yes against

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Speaker 2: her conscience. And then she told me that she felt

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Speaker 2: so dirty afterwards that she quit the zoning board.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god. So she felt like she caved to

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Speaker 1: the Chappell machine and she couldn't love herself anymore.

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Speaker 2: Cave just a word, she used.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Wow, I've never done a story with so much anonymity

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Speaker 2: and people so worried about their identity than this one.

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Speaker 1: Really, because if you're on the wrong side of it,

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Speaker 1: what happens to.

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Speaker 2: You, you'll get slammed on social media. People are worried

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Speaker 2: about losing business. There's also sort of this cult of

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Speaker 2: personality around Dave that a lot of you know, certain

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Speaker 2: members of the community are a part of. And I

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Speaker 2: think they're worried about reprisals less from Dave and more

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Speaker 2: from this sort of cult of personality.

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Speaker 1: So the people who didn't want to go on the

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Speaker 1: record with you were the Chappelle critics.

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Speaker 2: Correct.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I heard him talk about this fight when he

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Speaker 1: was on SNL in like twenty twenty.

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Speaker 2: He did.

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Speaker 1: Chappelle makes this joke that just seems so mean to me.

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Speaker 1: He imagines someone from Yellow Springs saying, honey, come quick,

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Speaker 1: come quick, the guy from the grocery store is on

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Speaker 1: the television, and then Chappelle says, no, you big dummy,

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Speaker 1: the guy from television is at the grocery store. That's rough.

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Speaker 2: So Chappelle is telling people that he's the guy from

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Speaker 2: television and should be treated as such. He's not the

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Speaker 2: guy from the grocery store. And I was like, Wow,

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Speaker 2: to me, it says a lot about how he views himself.

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Speaker 2: I guess in respect to the village.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy. His take is like I'm a super famous person,

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Speaker 1: and you should treat me as such when I'm in

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Speaker 1: your town. I just happen to be in your town,

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Speaker 1: but I am a global celebrity. Yeah, that's awful. He

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Speaker 1: said stuff that seemed really mean about the town, like

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Speaker 1: these hicks basically shouldn't decide my fate, which I thought

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Speaker 1: was was not nice. But now I'm thinking, like, if

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Speaker 1: it's already tense in this town, why would you want

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Speaker 1: to go piss off people on television.

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Speaker 2: I don't think risk aversion is one of Chappelle's traits.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it ever has been so true. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: he said they don't deserve to decide a guy like

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Speaker 2: me's fate. They haven't seen enough. They haven't they don't

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Speaker 2: know enough. And he also said he saved the town,

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Speaker 2: which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. That

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Speaker 2: made a lot of people, I think feel like he

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Speaker 2: had gone too far in terms of sort of claiming

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Speaker 2: to be the kind of single benefactor of the whole village.

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Speaker 2: So those are the people who are complaining to the

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Speaker 2: zoning inspector, the ones he's talking about in that bit,

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Speaker 2: And yeah, he went after them.

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Speaker 1: When we come back, Chappelle starts buying up properties all

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Speaker 1: over town, effectively turning Yellow Springs into Chappelleville. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: Chell fighting with his neighbors in rural Yellow Springs, Ohio

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Speaker 1: over the village's owning laws for these outdoor comedy shows

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Speaker 1: he's doing. And what does Chappelle own in this town?

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Speaker 2: At that point midsummer of twenty one. By this time,

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Speaker 2: he had bought half a dozen properties downtown and nothing

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Speaker 2: had really happened with any of them.

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Speaker 1: What is he buying?

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Speaker 2: It's mostly these little storefronts. He has a smoke shop

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Speaker 2: and a merch store. He has two kind of gift shops.

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Speaker 2: He bought this old kind of Birkenstocks and hippie novel

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Speaker 2: two store. When the owner passed away, which is basically abandoned.

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Speaker 2: He bought a two story building and kind of kicked

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Speaker 2: out the two tenants.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy. It's like, it does feel like he owns

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Speaker 1: a bunch of this town.

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Speaker 2: And a lot of people wanted to know what his

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Speaker 2: plans were.

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Speaker 1: So then there's this town meeting.

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Speaker 2: It's not a town meeting, it's a private meeting of

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Speaker 2: business owners.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, so they're all getting together to find out

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Speaker 1: what Dave's up to is Dave at this meeting.

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Speaker 2: Dave is at this meeting.

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Speaker 1: Well, they're going to find out.

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Speaker 2: Then they're going to find out. And it's at the

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Speaker 2: Word Pavilion, at Dave's invitation.

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Speaker 1: At this this pseudo cornfield that doesn't actually grow corn

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Speaker 1: where he throws the show's okay.

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Speaker 2: And some of the business owners this rubs them the

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Speaker 2: wrong way immediately because they think, well, this is kind

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Speaker 2: of like on Chappelle's turf. Chappelle has an outsized influence

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Speaker 2: on this meeting, and they don't like that.

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Speaker 1: So this is the first rule of a gang war.

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Speaker 1: You have to have it no neutral turf, right exactly.

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Speaker 1: I'm basing this mostly on West Side Story, but I

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Speaker 1: think if you have a meet, you go to a

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Speaker 1: neutral's place. Yes, okay, So they meet Dave here and

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Speaker 1: how does it? What happens?

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Speaker 2: So they have the meeting. Dave is the last speaker,

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Speaker 2: and so you know, he sort of does two things.

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Speaker 2: He gets up and says, I want to make yellow

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Speaker 2: springs of cultural Mecca. I have a vision, like I

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Speaker 2: want you to get on board with me. This is

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Speaker 2: going to be amazing, saying you know, but he also

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Speaker 2: has this whole story of how hurt he feels by

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Speaker 2: the distrust by the criticism, and so he gets I think,

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Speaker 2: pretty upset. He also says, you know, you better get

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Speaker 2: on board, you know, and I feel like you're disrespecting me.

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Speaker 2: So following the meeting, the owner of the local T

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Speaker 2: shirt shop goes and prints up all these signs that

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Speaker 2: say thanks Dave, respect with Chappelle's logo for the sea

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Speaker 2: and in respect, and he kind of hands him out

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Speaker 2: to all the downtown business owners.

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Speaker 1: What a kiss ass? Oh my god, I hate this guy.

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Speaker 1: First of all, he owns a T shirt shop and

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Speaker 1: instead he makes signs instead of T shirts.

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Speaker 2: He's he's actually into a lot of different lines of business,

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Speaker 2: so he prints stuff. He can print anything.

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Speaker 1: Sounds like you're in his back pocket too. He can

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Speaker 1: print anything.

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Speaker 2: He prints. Actually, I went to his print shop. I

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Speaker 2: watched him printing all kinds of stuff.

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Speaker 1: What's this guy? Like? I really inherently don't like him.

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Speaker 2: Are you allowed to say that? I'm not allowed to

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Speaker 2: say that.

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Speaker 1: As a journal and I'm like Chappelle, I don't care.

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Speaker 2: Well, okay, I think this the guy who made these

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Speaker 2: signs is very pro Chappelle, and I guess maybe from

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Speaker 2: his perspective, there is no downside to Dave because the

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Speaker 2: more tourists come to town and buy T shirts, it's

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Speaker 2: all for the good. He makes the signs, right about

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Speaker 2: one hundred of them wow and hands them out or

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Speaker 2: make it known that they're available, and a lot of

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Speaker 2: people who essentially want to suck up to Dave come

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Speaker 2: and get these signs.

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Speaker 1: So now you have to pick a SiGe. Either you're

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Speaker 1: going to put up sign in your window or you're not.

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Speaker 2: Exactly a lot of people said if you didn't put

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Speaker 2: one up, it meant something. So it's not as if

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Speaker 2: Dave created this dynamic or necessarily wanted this dynamic to occur,

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Speaker 2: But this is what happened, right, So again there's this

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Speaker 2: small town everybody's sort of afraid of a backlash. I

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Speaker 2: think apparently more than half the downtown businesses had one

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Speaker 2: of the signs at the apex.

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Speaker 1: Of this, and would people not shop in stories that

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Speaker 1: didn't have it thanks Dave's sign, or only shop one

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Speaker 1: that did. Everything's Dave's sience.

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Speaker 2: Nobody admitted to that to me, but I think people

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Speaker 2: felt like if they didn't put one up, maybe they

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Speaker 2: would lose business.

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Speaker 1: But there's a fair amount of holdouts, like almost fifty

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Speaker 1: percent of people don't do it. That must make things

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Speaker 1: way more tense.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure it does. So now we're going into winter

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Speaker 2: of twenty two, so you have this tension, you have

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Speaker 2: this division. There's a clear pro Dave and clear anti

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Speaker 2: Day faction. And so the next thing that happens is

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Speaker 2: these plans come out for a big development on the

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Speaker 2: south end of the village on this fifty two acre

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Speaker 2: property that abuts Dave's property, Dave's home, okay, And the

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Speaker 2: plan needs a approval from the village council, and there's

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Speaker 2: a meeting scheduled for February of twenty two when they're

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Speaker 2: going to vote on this. And Dave is opposed to

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Speaker 2: this development.

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Speaker 1: And why is Dave Chappelle against this housing development?

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Speaker 2: It literally is his backyard. I mean it's not his

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Speaker 2: backyard because it's not his property, but his house backs

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Speaker 2: up to this.

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Speaker 1: Why did he just buy it? He's buying everything else.

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Speaker 2: He was offered it by the former owners before they

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Speaker 2: sold the developer. The rumor is he would have bought

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Speaker 2: part of it, but he didn't want to buy the

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Speaker 2: whole thing, so he declined, so he has the opportunity,

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Speaker 2: he has right of first refusal, he refuses it. Then

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Speaker 2: they sell to developer for one point seven million. The

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Speaker 2: developer goes ahead with the plan, and then the plan

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Speaker 2: gets unveiled and Dave starts rallying opposition to the plant.

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Speaker 2: There's a whole anti this development faction. The village has

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Speaker 2: stopped lots of developments. They hate change. There's a huge

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Speaker 2: change of verse population, so it's not surprising that a

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Speaker 2: lot of people are opposed to this thing. But you know,

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Speaker 2: Dave is a major I think mover behind the opposition.

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Speaker 1: So there's this fight over the development and how does

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Speaker 1: it come to a boil?

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Speaker 2: Okay, So they have the public meeting. It's a zoom meeting,

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Speaker 2: but the anti development faction rents out the hotel ballroom

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Speaker 2: to broadcast their comments to the zoom meeting from the ballroom.

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Speaker 2: And this is very kind of convivial atmosphere there. And

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Speaker 2: a lot of the people are wearing Chappelle branded face masks.

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Speaker 1: Oh so if you're pro Chappelle, the kind of mask

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Speaker 1: you wear might be the Chappelle mask compared to just

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Speaker 1: a normal.

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Speaker 2: Nine five definitely, So the anti development faction feels very

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Speaker 2: much like they're in Chappelle's pocket because they're in the ballroom.

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Speaker 2: Some of the arguments against it are pretty I would

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Speaker 2: consider them to be pretty far fetched.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: They say, this is going to be the disintegration of

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Speaker 2: our community. This is welcoming Walmart and Panera bread.

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Speaker 1: Oh oh, Banera bread. That's the best argument. I'm not

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Speaker 1: really afraid of Walmart, but I'm totally afraid of for Theera.

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Speaker 2: And to be fair to Yellow Springs, I think there

397
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Speaker 2: are maybe one or there's a subway and there's a

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Speaker 2: speedway gas station. Those are I believe, the only chain

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Speaker 2: stores in the.

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Speaker 1: Entire Oh wow.

401
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Speaker 2: So they have a really really good track record, and

402
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Speaker 2: they've done it on purpose in terms of how they've

403
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Speaker 2: controlled development of keeping these chainstores out. So Chappelle's the

404
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Speaker 2: last person who comes to the mic, and then he

405
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Speaker 2: compares the size of his kind of operations. I forget

406
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Speaker 2: how many millions of dollars. He says it is to

407
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Speaker 2: the price of the development or something. And then he says,

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Speaker 2: you look like clowns. I will take it off the table.

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Speaker 2: I can't believe you'd make the audition for you. I'm

410
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Speaker 2: not bluffing, thank you, and that is understood by everybody

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Speaker 2: to be Chappelle's threat to liquid in all his holdings

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Speaker 2: and pull out of the village, which he had threatened

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Speaker 2: to do before.

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Speaker 1: So the Zoom meeting, how does the vote go now

415
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Speaker 1: to vote.

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Speaker 2: Yes and to vote no, which equals the motion does

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Speaker 2: not pass. So the development is is killed.

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Speaker 1: So what's going to happen to this land?

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Speaker 2: Chappelle has quietly bought up the entire property.

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Speaker 1: He could have just done this in the first place.

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Speaker 2: He could have done in the first place, and I

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Speaker 2: bet he could have done a lot cheaper in the

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Speaker 2: first place.

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Speaker 1: Is he a good business person? Is he getting good

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Speaker 1: deals and all this stuff or turning them into good things?

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Speaker 1: Or is he making money in Yellow Springs.

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Speaker 2: The most sort of high profile things he's doing in

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Speaker 2: town the old schoolhouse which is getting turned into a

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Speaker 2: home for the NPR affiliate Wyso. That hasn't been finished yet.

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Speaker 2: It's under construction, so we don't really know. And then

431
00:22:37,064 --> 00:22:41,344
Speaker 2: the other project, the comedy club, also under construction, not finished.

432
00:22:41,824 --> 00:22:44,664
Speaker 2: So those could be great boons for the village, but

433
00:22:44,704 --> 00:22:46,344
Speaker 2: we don't know yet. It's too early to say.

434
00:22:47,144 --> 00:22:51,624
Speaker 1: Wow. Normally, if you are a developer of a mall

435
00:22:51,944 --> 00:22:55,544
Speaker 1: or whatever you're building in town, you spend a lot

436
00:22:55,584 --> 00:22:58,744
Speaker 1: of time winning over the town. You spend a lot

437
00:22:58,744 --> 00:23:01,224
Speaker 1: of time going to meetings and meeting with politicians and

438
00:23:01,384 --> 00:23:03,904
Speaker 1: telling people your plans. That doesn't seem to be a

439
00:23:03,944 --> 00:23:04,864
Speaker 1: Chappelle's style.

440
00:23:05,904 --> 00:23:09,064
Speaker 2: No, And so that's the interesting thing about considering Chappelle

441
00:23:09,184 --> 00:23:12,024
Speaker 2: as a developer. So, you know, does he have the

442
00:23:12,064 --> 00:23:15,864
Speaker 2: responsibilities of a public figure, does he have the responsibilities

443
00:23:15,904 --> 00:23:20,504
Speaker 2: of a developer, or, as his spokesperson insisted to me,

444
00:23:20,624 --> 00:23:23,024
Speaker 2: does he just have the responsibilities of a private citizen

445
00:23:23,064 --> 00:23:27,264
Speaker 2: like you and me, who don't owe anybody anything when

446
00:23:27,264 --> 00:23:30,304
Speaker 2: it comes to what we buy, the decisions we make

447
00:23:30,344 --> 00:23:32,384
Speaker 2: with our money. And I think that's sort of one

448
00:23:32,424 --> 00:23:36,944
Speaker 2: of the fundamental tensions with Chappelle in this town is

449
00:23:36,984 --> 00:23:39,224
Speaker 2: I think when it suits him, he wants to be

450
00:23:39,224 --> 00:23:41,424
Speaker 2: a famous person who can do whatever he wants, and

451
00:23:41,464 --> 00:23:42,984
Speaker 2: when it suits him, he wants to be a private

452
00:23:42,984 --> 00:23:44,824
Speaker 2: citizen who gets to be left alone and not asked

453
00:23:44,904 --> 00:23:47,224
Speaker 2: questions of It doesn't seem like he can really have

454
00:23:47,264 --> 00:23:50,184
Speaker 2: it both ways, but I think he wants to What do.

455
00:23:50,104 --> 00:23:52,464
Speaker 1: You think is going to happen to this town. Where

456
00:23:52,464 --> 00:23:54,424
Speaker 1: do you think is it going to become like Chappelleville.

457
00:23:57,504 --> 00:24:00,304
Speaker 2: It's at a turning point right now. It could become

458
00:24:00,904 --> 00:24:03,904
Speaker 2: the asspen of Ohio. It could become a really expensive,

459
00:24:04,464 --> 00:24:10,144
Speaker 2: really white, really deluxe if are kind of allowed to

460
00:24:10,224 --> 00:24:17,544
Speaker 2: go the way they're headed, or maybe through enlightened planning,

461
00:24:18,544 --> 00:24:24,224
Speaker 2: savvy investments and the kind of enlightened activities of someone

462
00:24:24,264 --> 00:24:28,824
Speaker 2: like Chappelle, it could become a really unique cultural mecca

463
00:24:29,224 --> 00:24:31,824
Speaker 2: kind of place. So there's some things Dave can do.

464
00:24:31,864 --> 00:24:33,464
Speaker 2: There's a lot of things he can't do. There's a

465
00:24:33,504 --> 00:24:35,984
Speaker 2: lot of decisions the village needs to make, and it's

466
00:24:36,024 --> 00:24:37,904
Speaker 2: really hard to get anything done in this town because

467
00:24:37,944 --> 00:24:40,304
Speaker 2: everybody wants to have input on everything. Everybody wants to

468
00:24:40,384 --> 00:24:44,144
Speaker 2: argue about everything. Everybody feels entitled to opine on everything.

469
00:24:44,224 --> 00:24:46,504
Speaker 1: Is it still pretty divided, like the signs in the

470
00:24:46,504 --> 00:24:49,704
Speaker 1: windows that thanks Dave versus the non thinkers.

471
00:24:50,144 --> 00:24:53,264
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's still very divided. There is a decent argument

472
00:24:53,424 --> 00:24:56,144
Speaker 2: made that some of the skepticism of what Dave is

473
00:24:56,184 --> 00:25:00,624
Speaker 2: doing is based on race. He's he's, you know, probably

474
00:25:00,624 --> 00:25:05,024
Speaker 2: the wealthiest, most high profile black person in that town,

475
00:25:05,064 --> 00:25:09,504
Speaker 2: if not you know, in that county. And it's a

476
00:25:09,584 --> 00:25:12,744
Speaker 2: mostly white village. And you know, a couple of people

477
00:25:12,784 --> 00:25:15,704
Speaker 2: said to me, why are people so suspicious of Dave?

478
00:25:15,824 --> 00:25:18,944
Speaker 2: And I think it is worth asking, you know, how

479
00:25:19,024 --> 00:25:22,304
Speaker 2: much of this is discomfort with a black man with

480
00:25:22,344 --> 00:25:24,144
Speaker 2: power and money whom they can't control.

481
00:25:24,424 --> 00:25:28,104
Speaker 1: But you've also got this incredibly progressive town. And the

482
00:25:28,184 --> 00:25:32,344
Speaker 1: last year Dave Chappelle said that stuff and is special

483
00:25:32,384 --> 00:25:35,784
Speaker 1: about trans people. He said all that stuff on that's

484
00:25:35,784 --> 00:25:40,024
Speaker 1: now about Jews. He kind of rowed down with Elon

485
00:25:40,184 --> 00:25:44,624
Speaker 1: Musk on stage. Is the town really just pissed him

486
00:25:44,664 --> 00:25:47,224
Speaker 1: for these more conservative stances he's taken over the last year.

487
00:25:48,024 --> 00:25:51,144
Speaker 2: You know, people never mentioned any of that stuff to

488
00:25:51,184 --> 00:25:55,504
Speaker 2: me when I was there, So, to almost an odd degree,

489
00:25:55,664 --> 00:25:57,744
Speaker 2: I feel like the people in Yellow Springs are only

490
00:25:57,784 --> 00:26:00,224
Speaker 2: concerned with the local controversy. It's only concerned with the

491
00:26:00,264 --> 00:26:03,024
Speaker 2: local Dave and really don't seem to care that much

492
00:26:03,064 --> 00:26:04,344
Speaker 2: what he does when he's out of town.

493
00:26:04,984 --> 00:26:06,624
Speaker 1: Would you move to Yellow Springs?

494
00:26:08,184 --> 00:26:11,264
Speaker 2: By the fourth day I was there, I was running

495
00:26:11,304 --> 00:26:13,384
Speaker 2: into people that I knew at the coffee shop, people

496
00:26:13,424 --> 00:26:14,104
Speaker 2: who I'd interviewed.

497
00:26:14,184 --> 00:26:15,944
Speaker 1: Oh, I kind of love that. Do you like that?

498
00:26:16,304 --> 00:26:19,904
Speaker 2: No? I don't like that I don't know. I lived

499
00:26:19,904 --> 00:26:22,184
Speaker 2: in New York. I like the anonymity. I like being

500
00:26:22,264 --> 00:26:26,024
Speaker 2: left alone. I don't know. Yeah, I don't. I don't

501
00:26:26,024 --> 00:26:27,824
Speaker 2: want to meet everybody that I know every day.

502
00:26:28,744 --> 00:26:30,264
Speaker 1: Have you heard anything from Chappelle.

503
00:26:31,344 --> 00:26:34,224
Speaker 2: No, but he did post a story on Instagram. He

504
00:26:34,264 --> 00:26:36,464
Speaker 2: made a joke that I can't say on the radio.

505
00:26:36,224 --> 00:26:39,224
Speaker 1: About then say it. This isn't the radio.

506
00:26:40,224 --> 00:26:44,344
Speaker 2: Okay. So the cartoon for the cover page of the

507
00:26:44,424 --> 00:26:49,024
Speaker 2: article was a big balloon of Dave floating over the town. Yep,

508
00:26:49,504 --> 00:26:53,864
Speaker 2: Dave posted it and said, Clifford the big black N word.

509
00:26:54,144 --> 00:26:56,344
Speaker 1: Whoa, you can't say it here. I was one hundred

510
00:26:56,344 --> 00:26:58,464
Speaker 1: percent wrong. I know he's not say it's the radio.

511
00:26:58,504 --> 00:26:59,744
Speaker 1: You just can't say it anywhere.

512
00:27:00,424 --> 00:27:02,264
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's making a joke about Clifford the big

513
00:27:02,304 --> 00:27:04,224
Speaker 2: red dog, you know, because it's like Dave the big

514
00:27:04,544 --> 00:27:06,824
Speaker 2: cartoon floating over the town.

515
00:27:07,064 --> 00:27:11,424
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, Well he read it and he had thoughts and.

516
00:27:11,344 --> 00:27:13,584
Speaker 2: He beamed it out to his followers or whatever.

517
00:27:13,704 --> 00:27:15,504
Speaker 1: So this is gonna be one of your better read stories.

518
00:27:15,784 --> 00:27:20,304
Speaker 1: Oh definitely, Yeah, Tyler Kelly, you wrote what happens when

519
00:27:20,344 --> 00:27:23,504
Speaker 1: Dave Chappelle buys up your town for Business Week. Thank

520
00:27:23,544 --> 00:27:24,504
Speaker 1: you for coming.

521
00:27:24,304 --> 00:27:26,344
Speaker 2: On, Joel, I've really enjoyed it. Thank you.

522
00:27:27,544 --> 00:27:30,664
Speaker 1: I could never buy up my hometown of Edison, New Jersey,

523
00:27:31,504 --> 00:27:34,344
Speaker 1: but my lovely wife Cassandra is from a way cheaper

524
00:27:34,384 --> 00:27:39,584
Speaker 1: town called get this, Whosick Falls, New York, and we

525
00:27:39,784 --> 00:27:44,024
Speaker 1: totally considered buying it up. Whosick Falls population has been

526
00:27:44,064 --> 00:27:48,824
Speaker 1: shrinking steadily since eighteen ninety. When I asked my wife

527
00:27:48,864 --> 00:27:50,864
Speaker 1: what the boarded up shops in town used to be,

528
00:27:51,464 --> 00:27:55,744
Speaker 1: she said, boarded up shops. We were still talking about

529
00:27:55,784 --> 00:27:59,384
Speaker 1: it when in twenty seventeen a group of artists bought

530
00:27:59,384 --> 00:28:02,304
Speaker 1: the gorgeous eighteen eighty former opera house in the middle

531
00:28:02,304 --> 00:28:06,264
Speaker 1: of town and moved in. Now there's this great coffee shop,

532
00:28:06,704 --> 00:28:11,544
Speaker 1: a barbecue joint with live music, a brewery, a French restaurant,

533
00:28:12,104 --> 00:28:15,344
Speaker 1: and something called a package store that I'm pretty sure

534
00:28:15,344 --> 00:28:18,664
Speaker 1: it's just a hipster word for a liquor store. Thank

535
00:28:18,744 --> 00:28:22,784
Speaker 1: god wheden by it at best Story of the Weekville

536
00:28:22,784 --> 00:28:24,864
Speaker 1: would have had a lame little podcast studio.

537
00:28:27,824 --> 00:28:31,024
Speaker 2: At the end of the show, what's next for joel Stein?

538
00:28:31,184 --> 00:28:34,704
Speaker 2: Maybe he'll take a Napple poker round online.

539
00:28:36,184 --> 00:28:40,904
Speaker 1: Our show Today was produced by Molebard and Nisha Bencott.

540
00:28:41,664 --> 00:28:44,904
Speaker 1: It was edited by Lydia jen Kott. Our engineer is

541
00:28:45,144 --> 00:28:49,744
Speaker 1: Amanda kay Wang and our executive producer is Katherine Shira

542
00:28:49,864 --> 00:28:52,624
Speaker 1: dah And our theme song was written and performed by

543
00:28:52,824 --> 00:28:55,824
Speaker 1: Jonathan Colton and a special thanks to my voice coach

544
00:28:56,064 --> 00:29:00,184
Speaker 1: Vicky Merrick and my consulting producer Laurence Alasnik. To find

545
00:29:00,224 --> 00:29:04,664
Speaker 1: more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

546
00:29:05,064 --> 00:29:08,144
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your podcasts. I'm Joel Stein,

547
00:29:08,664 --> 00:29:11,344
Speaker 1: and this is Story of the Week, And you stayed

548
00:29:11,344 --> 00:29:13,864
Speaker 1: at a hotel in Yellow Springs itself.

549
00:29:13,984 --> 00:29:16,864
Speaker 2: I stayed in an Airbnb actually in Springfield, but it's

550
00:29:16,864 --> 00:29:19,304
Speaker 2: like twenty minutes away, but it's way way cheaper. I

551
00:29:19,304 --> 00:29:23,144
Speaker 2: couldn't have the Yellow Springs airbnbs were way too expensive.

552
00:29:22,744 --> 00:29:25,264
Speaker 1: For me, even for Michael Bloomberg.

553
00:29:25,664 --> 00:29:28,464
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I try not to like push it

554
00:29:28,504 --> 00:29:29,944
Speaker 2: too far when it comes to expenses.

555
00:29:30,544 --> 00:29:33,144
Speaker 1: Uh, you've a lot to learn, probably,