DC native Donell Rawlings talks Netflix special, Howard Theatre show | NBC4 Washington

comedian Donell Rawlings is a DMV native who has been making people laugh for decades he's also impressed as an actor in hits like Chappelle Show and The Wire his first ever Netflix special a new day debuted this week now Donald is kicking off a new comedy tour with the show this weekend at Howard Theater news Force Tony Perkins spoke with Donell about what it's like coming home first of all you are coming back to town Howard Theater March 3rd um is it exciting for you to come home and to do a b

ig show like this does it does it you know what to be quite honest I hate it no I'm just joking the reason why I'm saying that because you can lie to a lot of people Tony but you can't lie to those people that know you from you was 12 years old you can't lie to those people that used to go to these go gos with you you're one of the guys you're one of many guys actually who came from DC have made good uh on the comedy circuit um did DC help to shape your comedic sensibilities in any way oh 100% a

nd I notice I get this question a lot it's just something about the camaraderie of the DC Comic it's something about the the the the the the the healthy competition you know what I'm saying we got the history you got guys Tony Woods you got Tommy Davidson you got Martin Lawrence you got Dave Chappelle you got these people that like I'm not just saying this if you look at the list of some of the most successful Commings out there with the work ethics that are really really funny and I'm not talki

ng about Flash in the pants the ones that have been able to stand the test the time and the word these kid use so much nowadays to maintain relevance you mentioned Dave Chappelle you guys are good friends um your concert here is going to be the first show that you've done uh since the debut of your Netflix comedy special a new day which Dave produced uh I know you tour with Dave I know your friends but tell me how how that came to be because he doesn't produce a lot of shows Dave SEL is like and

this is what I respect about him you get to a certain L level of success at some point you got to give back at some point you should it's one thing to put somebody on but it's another thing to put somebody on that's qualified and there's a lot of specials out here right now but the thing that really feels good about this special for me is that it just feels good you know what I mean you you're going to look at a guy that's that's that's in touch with himself there uh does some self-deprecating

comedy observational comedy it's okay to get somebody say d why don't you date women your own age I'm like obviously you don't know how old I am I'm older than hip hop this whole cancel culture thing um do you think it's gone too far do you think it's too much to ask a comedian to only stay on the straight and narrow and not go here not go there I think that it went too far but the other side of that it had to go far for people to see how absurd it is and particularly to my good friend Dave Chap

pelle if you take one of his specials right and you ask a 100 people how they felt about that special you might get three people to say he's this he's that or whatever and hate on it and you'll have 97 people that love it but they're not going to put the focus on the 97% they're going to put the focus on the 3% but with this going on and on how crazy is getting and I've seen I've noticed the change people are frustrated they're saying enough is enough it's a new day it's a new dawn it's a new li

fe for me and I'm feeling good and uh in March the 3D at the Howard Theater we all going to feel good