Chris D’elia’s new special, ‘Grow up or Die’, which is only available at ChrisDelia.com, is selling like COVID tests were the first week they came out. It’s really killing it. As hard as everybody in comedy and media have tried to cancel the guy, he still packs out theatres everywhere, his podcast is a major hit, and his fans adore him.

The best I can figure is that they’ve sifted through the evidence, and found him just as damned as he’s found himself. Just as liable as he’s admitted to having have been. In fact, just as culpable as any one of his accusers, which is guilty short of them going to the police and pressing charges which is what you would do when you felt someone had truly wronged you. When someone has done something horrid, something maybe immoral when they’ve done something that has ruined you, destroyed or crippled you, bankrupted you, he should be destroyed. Ruined. Cast aside forever into a life of disgrace and darkness, Yet, if you don’t file legal charges maybe it’s because you know the truth in your heart. If they do file charges, if somewhere up the road he’s found guilty in court then I assume things will be different. To this date that hasn’t happened.

Most of his fans I bet have read and seen all the tweets, articles, and You Tube documentaries and said, ‘Yeah, that was some seriously gross shit, he better grow the hell up, but I’m not gonna banish him, I like him. Until I hear where he did something more, maybe something heinous, maybe something even heinous adjacent, maybe if he has a trial and is found guilty, until then, I’m still going to see him as long as he makes me laugh.’ That’s what seems to be happening.

YOU GROW OR YOU DIE

If you watch Grow or Die, he’s the first in line to talk about how much he’s screwed up, how horribly he feels about everything. How hard it’s been to live with it. It’s not a downer though, it’s fun and it’s real, it’s emotional. Is it his funniest ever? Maybe not. It’s his best work in the sense that he’s facing up to being a human being. A flawed human being, imperfect as hell, trying to figure out how to move on from here. I will say it’s a tough thing to do in a special, a tough thing to hear. It is well done, directed by his brother, Matt D’elia. He’s in a safe place, so he goes out on the ice, I personally wish he went out a little further, but I appreciate his effort and what he’s going for.

‘LET’S START WITH THE MURDERERS’

I happen to think he messed up, but he also was a perfect example of unlucky timing, an example of how much society’s judgement right now, case by case on things, is severely out of whack. One funny routine, which he rolls out very light-heartedly, exemplifies this succinctly when Netflix takes him off an episode of a show and leaves Caitlyn Jenner in it during the time frame when she kills someone in a car wreck. ‘If we’re gonna be canceling people, let’s start with the murderers.‘

A DESPERATE NEED TO BE FORGIVEN

Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t play the part of the victim. He accepts his guilt. Owns up to his mistakes, un-peels his pain, and the pain he’s caused others. He’s looking for truth and some light, some growth, and laughs. Most of it works. As I said, I wish he’d burrowed in a little further, owned up to more, dealt with more, but I’m sure there are reasons he didn’t. This is a special absolutely worth watching. At the core it’s a reality check. Chris D’elia is a good guy. He did some stupid shit. But he didn’t rape, beat, destroy, steal or kill anyone. I think some of the most damage he did was to himself and his family. Sift through the stories. Most of these people knew what they were doing. They made mistakes themselves. They’re flawed as well. With that said they’re not bad people either. We’re all just doing our best.

I come at all this from a place of someone who’s made a lot of mistakes. I can never be too hard on anyone. I’ve messed up a lot. I know what it’s like to desperately need to be forgiven. If you’ve never spent any time on that side of town, you happen to be very blessed. You should thank God, and rub up close on the word ‘Yet.’

‘DON’T TELL ME WE’RE LETTING CHRIS D’ELIA BACK?’

Chris mentions during the special a recent article where the reporter voices something along the lines of ‘please don’t tell me we’re letting Chris D’elia back?’ It’s a common whinge I’ve heard since sometime around 2018 or so about one comic or another who was ‘Me-Too’d’ as if these guy should be set adrift for life. God forbid artists that have never been charged, let alone convicted, of any crimes should be allowed to resume the work they’ve done for decades. No, they need to be shunned, or made pariah’s for the crime of wanting to be loved, or get laid, which happens to be the reason that ninety-nine percent of people get into stand up comedy, either as artists, or as fans, to begin with. Yes, the other one percent want to build orphanages and establish world peace, I get it, but we all can’t be that perfect. The ones that are though, the Saints out there, you would think would be vibrating at a level that would allow them to forgive all of us lowly sinners.

Go to CHRISDELIA.COM and get GROW OR DIE, or else you’re just really a messed up individual like the rest of us.

LOVE YOU!!!

https://www.chrisdelia.com/