from Hacker News

How Dave Chappelle Is Creating a “No-Phone Zone” for His Chicago Shows

by fudgy73 on 12/2/15, 5:47 AM with 63 comments

• by DarkTree on 12/3/15, 1:10 AM

  I was just listening to an Episode of the Nerdist podcast featuring Aziz Ansari today and he talked about the issue of people taking pictures or filming his live material and leaking it to the public. He said he had no issue with people recording material that is already public, but that it really stinks when new material is leaked because it waters down the humor for future attendees of his shows. To combat this, at the beginning of his shows, he asks everyone to take out their phones/cameras and stands there while they take pictures of him. Then he nicely asks them to not use their phones/cameras during the rest of the show. Obviously this doesn't stop everyone but I think it's a pretty low-cost, high reward option.

• by jrockway on 12/3/15, 1:33 AM

  Ah, starting an arms race, eh. A GoPro under your shirt (poking out between the buttons) would work fine if you aren't even trying, and there are plenty of more stealthy solutions that a visit to Amazon and $10 will get you.

  My first thought was "I almost want to go to his show and leak the video". But then I realized, that's probably exactly what he wants. Free publicity for announcing this scheme. Free publicity when the video leaks. Free publicity when Twitter discusses it. Free publicity when he "gets mad". Free publicity as analysts analyze what it all means.

  Brilliant. I haven't heard from Dave Chappelle in years, but here he is on the front page of a startup-oriented news site.

  Also good marketing from that startup that makes the pouches.

• by rahimnathwani on 12/3/15, 12:56 AM

  1) Looks like a submarine.

  2) Someone who wants to record the show could easily do it even with these checks. I expect there's another motive.

  3) Dave Chappelle has had some difficulty with audience interaction in the past, and this may be a way to keep the audience more focused on the material and performer, increasing their enjoyment of the show.

  I hope he's as funny as he used to be.

• by justifier on 12/3/15, 3:32 AM

      one in which comedians can breathe a little bit easier
      knowing their bluest material won't wind up online 
      before last call
  

  "bluest" has to be the best word to describe my feelings about this effort

  walt whitman made a legacy from releasing 'blue' material, perhaps most notable in his second addition of leaves of grass which he affectionately called 'my blue book'(o)

  it was the edition that he carried in his pocket to do edits and addendums

  this fear of showing development is odd to me and seemingly harmful to future generations

  mathematicians are often teased for it, being accused of hiding mountains of failures while presenting discoveries, seemingly conjured like magicians

  expression is hard work(i), why would anyone additionally expel one's limited effort to make it appear easy?

  (o) http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/1860-Blue_book/image...

  i was only able to find a paid link: 1.99$ from amazon video even if you're a prime subscriber; season 1 episode 11, froot loops for dinner, follows a comedian working material like a comedian

  (i) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CJNQVA/ref=atv_feed_cat...

• by Animats on 12/3/15, 3:07 AM

  This is much better than phone jammers, which some venues tried about a decade ago. The FCC and telcos have been reasonably successful at stopping that.[1] Many (most?) cell phone sites now detect and report interference, so jammers get noticed quickly.[2]

  The company that does this will probably lose a few percent of their cases per use, but, like 3D glasses, most people will return them at the drop-off bins.

  [1] https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/jamming-cell-phones-and-gps... [2] http://www.tbo.com/news/business/fcc-seffner-man-was-using-c...

• by datashovel on 12/3/15, 2:54 AM

  I've thought about this problem before, and came to a different (though perhaps inferior) solution.

  Why not broadcast the material via wifi directly to the audience's devices, and have audience listening with headphones? What if audience member doesn't own a device? There would be spare devices at box office that would be provided / rented. It would certainly change the ambiance of the performance since the acoustics of the venue wouldn't be heard, but it wouldn't prevent people from (for example) hearing the laughter of the crowd around them.

  I think if the app was designed right, it could possibly stop people from recording. Not that it would technically be possible to prevent people from recording, but since you control the stream of data to the device you can embed "watermarks" in real time during the performance. So if someone did try to record it would be theoretically possible to trace back to precisely which user / device was responsible for leaking the performance.

  EDIT: On second thought, perhaps it would be safe enough to allow the user to retain a copy (with watermarks included), accessible via the app they used to listen to the performance live.

• by slyall on 12/3/15, 1:42 AM

  I can see somebody's phone starts ringing or otherwise making a noise and they can't get to it to turn it off.

  I play chess and phones are banned from events (they sometimes have metal detectors at the door of large tournaments). Which causes a problem if you don't have a nearby car or hotel room to leave them in. Although recently they have tweaked the rules to allow phones to be in your bag (turned off).

• by brandonmenc on 12/3/15, 1:07 AM

  I went to a Prince concert a couple years ago that had a "no phones" policy announced ahead of time.

  At first I thought, "bummer," and although I would love to have pics from that night, I think audience participation was much higher than it would've been if everyone had their phones out.

  This pouch would've been great, because I had to leave my phone in the office a half mile away as I walked to the venue.

• by enobrev on 12/3/15, 3:31 AM

  I was at the [fantastic] show last night. The team handling the Yondr pouches were friendly and efficient. It's weird to have your phone in your pocket without being able to use it. Akin to a dead battery, but bigger. I'd been concerned that it was going to take forever to leave the venue because we had to line up to get our phones out of the pouches, but they were also friendly and perfectly efficient on the way out. I'd say it didn't add any more time than getting a 21+ wristband on the way in, and even quicker while leaving.

  The show was absolutely more enjoyable. I don't personally care if people check their phones and record live shows, but I absolutely despise when my view is obstructed by someone waving their device around trying to get a shot. I'm here to watch a relatively expensive live show, not watch other people record it.

  As a potential downside, the opening comedian hadn't showed up, which left us sitting and watching / listening to the DJ for 2 hours before Dave Chapelle hit the stage. The DJ did an excellent job keeping the crowd entertained, but there were a few lulls where I would have loved to pop into HN or Reddit or something since it was literally idle time.

  Sure, there was plenty of interaction, chatting, some dancing, and other fun with people around us. And maybe there was more than there would have been otherwise. But I still felt a bit like I was being punished. I know perfectly well how to balance being social with staring at a screen, and I'd rather not have that option taken from me. There were three times in that two hours that a quick google or calendar lookup would have enlightened rather than hindered the moment.

  Who knows the consequence for someone who is "on-call"? I haven't been on call in a few years, but I'd hate to have to miss a great show because of it.

  All in all, I'd say it was well implemented and an interesting exercise that might be a bit hard to swallow depending on the show, the venue, and our various communication needs. I was happy to do it for one of my all-time favorite comedians. It's not likely I would have participated for a smaller show.

  Edit: sidebar - in the article it says...

      Simply leave the designated zone (and head, say, to the lobby bar), and, as you move past several strategically placed stations, the pouches can now magically be unlocked.
  

  We had to go to the tables at the exit (or to the downstairs bar outside of the venue) for them to release the locks with a big magnet akin to the anti-theft contraptions at retail clothing stores. Maybe they just used those because it's a much smaller venue, or maybe the "designated zone" isn't prime-time yet.

• by EvanPlaice on 12/4/15, 3:50 AM

  How about we collectively make it socially acceptable to punch people who hold up their phone blocking the view in the back of the head.

  Just because you can doesn't mean you should...

• by monochromatic on 12/3/15, 3:39 AM

  ... and anybody with a pocket knife can defeat the purpose.

• by eps on 12/3/15, 12:59 AM

  Won't work, not for stopping leaks.

  Moreover, by asking people to put their phone under a lock, the venue implies that they view every attendee as a thief. That sure as hell won't go down well with some and they will find a way to record and post to YouTube purely out of spite.