Chappelle Quells Cells At Chicago Shows

Dave Chappelle, notoriously spotlight-averse, will be taking an additional step to make sure his upcoming tour doesn’t find its way onto the web before he’s ready. Chappelle will team with San Francisco-based Yondr to keep his upcoming set of 13 sold-out shows in Chicago inside the theater by using their smartphone-locking pouches. Attendees will be instructed to put their phone into the pouch, close it, and carry their phone as normal into the theater. The pouches lock automatically after entering. If you need to use your phone, you can exit past the sensors, take out your phone, and use as normal. Hannibal Buress, subject to insane levels of harassment after his rape allegations against Bill Cosby went viral, was the first to use the Yondr technology. He told Live Nation he was happy with the tech. Yondr founder Graham Dugoni told The Hollywood Reporter that, "the deal came together pretty quickly." "It's a huge thing for Chappelle, like all comedians: how to make the show phone-free," Dugoni said. The Yondr pouches are a great idea for a lot of reasons. Independent of comedy, concerts have been annoyingly ruined by people holding up cell phones to capture grainy, shaky video that they will never look at again. The question is always: Why? Nobody goes to a concert to watch it through a screen, and whatever jealousy you incite with a sick Snapchat is offset by the annoyance it causes other people. Also, have you watched those videos? They’re terrible. Some other places the pouches should be handed out include: brunch, coffee shops that have WiFi, and on the street in Soho. Have you ever tried to walk around Soho? Nightmare.