Chappelle's marathon bid fails

Dave Chappelle has failed to set a new record for stand-up endurance, because he left the stage to go to the toilet.

The comic took the stage at Hollywood's Laugh Factory on Sunday in a bid to break the club record for the longest set, currently held by Dane Cook at seven hours, 34 minutes.

However, Chappelle's attempt failed when he left the stage for a bathroom break after five hours, prompting owner Jamie Masada to disqualify him.

Official word records usually allow brief comfort breaks, but this is an unofficial record set by the Laugh Factory itself.

Cook and Chappelle have hotly contested the record. Chapelle held the title for just one month – with a six-hour set – before Cook took it off him last year.

The original record was set by Richard Pryor who spent a relatively modest two hours and 41 minutes on stage in 1980.

All, however, have a long way to go to beat the word record set by Tommy Tiernan earlier this year, with a 36hr and 15min set in Galway over the Easter weekend. This, however, did allow for five-minute toilet breaks, under Guinness World Record rules.

Published: 21 Oct 2009