Dave Chappelle's Hollywood Bowl performance Tuesday night came to a temporary screeching halt when someone rushed the stage and attacked the comedian, and it was especially scary because we've learned the guy pulled out a gun.

It went down toward the end of Dave's show -- part of the "Netflix Is A Joke" festival -- when a man in the audience somehow got on stage and manhandled Dave, tackling him violently and slamming him on the hard stage.

Law enforcement tells TMZ, the attacker actually pointed the gun at Chapelle as he rushed him. We're told the gun was not real, it was a replica of a semi-automatic. It also weirdly had a knife attached to the gun.