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Chappelle Show Shut Down - E! News

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It is November 2004, just a few weeks into shooting on the third season of "Chappelle's Show"—a process that will soon become far more tortured than anyone ever expected. At the moment, though, all is tranquil. Today's scenes are part of a delicately titled sketch, "The N----r Pixie," in which Chappelle plays a cackling, devil-on-the-shoulder creation who serves as the self-hating conscience of famous black men, such as Tiger Woods and Chappelle himself. Hence the racially combustible costume. In Chappelle's universe, this is high comedy—the kind of brazen stunt that has become his show's calling card. As he heads back for another take, he flashes the journalist a giant grin: "Bet you never met a real live coon before!"
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:lol
 
:lol :lol :lol

Well that proves he wasn't heading in the wrong direction....I hope he gets through this and season 3 comes together.
 
Just heard news that Dave checked himself into a mental health clinic in South Africa earlier today. Looks like the drug rumors were just that rumors. Black man goes a little loopy and it must be because he's a crackhead.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/tv_chappelle_suspended

NEW YORK - Comedy Central star Dave Chappelle has checked himself into a mental health facility in South Africa, the magazine Entertainment Weekly reported on Wednesday.
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The comedian's whereabouts and condition have been unknown since Comedy Central abruptly announced last week that the planned May 31 launch of the third season of "Chappelle's Show" had been postponed and production halted.

Chappelle flew from Newark, N.J., to South Africa on April 28 for treatment, said the magazine, quoting a source close to the show it would not identify. Entertainment Weekly said it had corroborating sources for its story.

"We don't know where he is," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said. "We've heard about South Africa. We don't know. We haven't talked to Dave."

Chappelle's spokesman, Matt Labov, would not comment on the magazine's story.


Read the rest of the story. I hope Dave can get through this alright....
 
levious said:
Cradle of fucking CIVILIZATION!
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I feel so sorry for Dave but Lord strike me down if I didn't think of the exact same quote :lol
sick_green.4088127.gif


Get well soon man!
 
Back on set in November, the pixie is tearing into footage of Rodney King as he pleads, "Can't we all get along?" "Wow, n----r, you are what they call are-tick-you-late!" Chappelle cries. "Now lemme answer your question: no. No, we can't."
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:lol :lol :lol

Sniff, I hope Dave gets over this hump.
 
I was starting to worry until I read that South Africa part. It sounds like a stunt alright to get hype going. If they had said he checked himself into a mental institution on Ohio, Boston or California I would believe it more.
 
evil ways said:
I was starting to worry until I read that South Africa part. It sounds like a stunt alright to get hype going. If they had said he checked himself into a mental institution on Ohio, Boston or California I would believe it more.
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So Dave disappearing from the set, not contacting Comedy Central, and the ads for the new season being PULLED from the network are all some sort of stunt?

Come on.

Let's hope he gets over whatever it is that has him unable to focus his creative energy into the new season.
 
Lyte Edge said:
So Dave disappearing from the set, not contacting Comedy Central, and the ads for the new season being PULLED from the network are all some sort of stunt?

Come on.

Let's hope he gets over whatever it is that has him unable to focus his creative energy into the new season.
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I saw ads for the show last night...
 
This just sounds like something out of a sketch:

"We don't know where he is," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said. "We've heard about South Africa. We don't know. We haven't talked to Dave."
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There must be plenty of great facilities a lot closer to home. If he were really going to rehab, you'd think he would try to be a little less conspicuous about his choice of location, regardless of what international resorts he may or may not favor.
 
from drudge:


**Exclusive**

Dave Chappelle Found! Talks Exclusively with TIME Magazine in South Africa

"I figured, Let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone-stop a speeding car by using my feet as the brakes. I am surprised at what I would do for $50 million. I am surprised at what people around me would do for me to have $50 million," Dave Chappelle tells TIME's Christopher John Farley in an exclusive interview.

The full story, as well as exclusive photos of Chappelle in South Africa, will appear on TIME.com Sunday morning and in the issue that hits newsstands Monday...

Developing...



That about wraps it up. He is almost certainly not coming back now.
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chappelle14may14,0,2559386.story?coll=la-home-business
May 14, 2005
Timing of Comic's Flight Is Bad for Comedy Central
# Executives had hoped 'the hottest thing' on their network would help launch new programs. His absence leaves them scrambling.

By Scott Collins and Matea Gold, Times Staff Writers

Late last month, comic Dave Chappelle called his bosses at the Viacom Inc.-owned cable network Comedy Central with some distressing news. He had suddenly decided to quit "Chappelle's Show," the enormously popular sketch series that has made him a $50-million star and a household name among young fans of his outrageous spoofs and impersonations.

The reasons were murky, and network President Doug Herzog stayed on the line for a long time, working hard to turn his star around. Days later, Chappelle relented and said he'd stay after all, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

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But then matters unraveled entirely. Chappelle, who failed to report to work April 29, fled to South Africa and mysteriously cut off contact at least temporarily with some of his family members and closest advisors, according to sources inside Comedy Central and close to Chappelle. The following week, the network announced that the third-season premiere of its No. 2 show (after "South Park") would be postponed indefinitely.

"It's crushing on a lot of levels," Herzog said in a phone interview Friday. "There's no question about it, he was the hottest thing on the network…. It's tough to lose your big power hitter like that."

Clearly, Chappelle's disappearing act comes at a bad time for Comedy Central, which has been piling up record ratings and counting on fresh Chappelle episodes to help launch a full slate of new programs this summer. Now, executives can't say when — or even if — "Chappelle's Show" will return.

The 31-year-old Chappelle, like many performers, has been known to reschedule tapings at the last minute and engage in other unpredictable behavior, Herzog said. But his abrupt and unexplained departure left virtually everyone close to the comic baffled.

"He's never just dropped off the face of the planet like this," Herzog said.

Chappelle's publicist, Matt Labov, declined to comment but confirmed certain details for this article.

As recently as three years ago, Chappelle was a hardworking if somewhat obscure performer with multiple failed network sitcoms under his belt. But since "Chappelle's Show" began in 2002, his spirited goofs on such entertainers as actor Samuel L. Jackson and late funk singer Rick James have turned into a major profit machine for Viacom and Comedy Central.

The first season of "Chappelle" has become the bestselling TV series DVD of all time, with nearly 3 million copies sold, according to Viacom-owned distributor Paramount Home Entertainment. The second-season DVD will be released May 24, intended to coincide with the third-season premiere.

The sudden postponement of the program forced Herzog and his team to scramble, rescheduling series premieres from comics D.L. Hughley and Carlos Mencia. The network originally hoped that Chappelle's vast popularity could encourage viewers to sample those programs. The network also had sold millions of dollars in advertising tied to the show, although executives say much, if not all, of that will be moved to other programs.

But far beyond any question of economic fallout is the mystery of Chappelle himself: how a gifted young performer who had struggled for years to find success suddenly went AWOL just as he seemed poised for his greatest triumph. A landmark deal now in peril guaranteed Chappelle at least $35 million and as much as $50 million if copies of his DVD continued to sell well.

The eldest of three children, Chappelle grew up in Washington, D.C., and Ohio, where his late father taught music at Antioch College. He first tried his hand at stand-up comedy at age 14, hitting open-mike nights at Washington comedy clubs, accompanied by his mother, a Unitarian minister.

Encouraged by the reaction, he took his act to New York, where his first appearance onstage at the Apollo Theater was greeted with boos. Undaunted, Chappelle moved to New York at age 17 and began to hit the local comedy clubs. Within a few years, television and film deals followed. He co-starred in "Buddies," a 1996 midseason ABC sitcom that was quickly canceled. Disney was impressed enough, however, to sign him for a $1-million development contract.

David McFadzean, executive producer of "Buddies," recalled in an interview this week that Chappelle exhibited no personal problems during the arduous, months-long development and production process. "The show was troubled, but not because of David," McFadzean said. "He was alarmingly regular for a TV actor."

The producers were especially impressed with Chappelle's unusual comic gifts. "He had the ability to say … controversial things," McFadzean said, "but he said them in such a way that he was charming and likable. There was no question in my mind that once he found the right place for his voice, people were going to love him."

As Chappelle kept struggling to find that place, however, he seemed to grow increasingly bitter at the Hollywood system.

"I'd done 11 television pilots [before 'Chappelle's Show'], which was very grueling, you know," he said on NPR's "Fresh Air" last fall. "At first I would defer to these [executives] just because they were older than me and they all had suits on and I guess they'd know what they're talking about: 'First, Dave, let me tell you something about TV. People want blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah and blah-blah-blah, and our research shows blah-blah-blah, blah, blah, blah-blah, blah-blah.' … Each time it got progressively more frustrating."

The dry streak ended with "Chappelle's Show." With its incendiary racial humor, the program quickly gained an avid following, averaging 3.1 million viewers a week by the end of its second season.

Success brought new tensions. Chappelle believed that he was not fairly compensated for the enormous popularity of the show on DVD — which Comedy Central has said it addressed with last summer's contract, which would pay Chappelle as much as $50 million for two more seasons of new episodes, plus a percentage of DVD revenue. Executives grew irritated when Chappelle gave interviews talking about his newfound wealth.

The network originally slated the third season to begin in February 2005 but pushed the date back to the spring when Chappelle complained of illness and that he needed more time to write with his longtime partner, Neal Brennan. (Through his agents at CAA, Brennan declined to comment.)

When Chappelle returned to work in late winter, he seemed uneasy. One source at the network says he would suddenly quit in the middle of sketches, expressing dissatisfaction with the quality of the work and disappearing for hours at a time.

Even so, by late last month he and Brennan had completed taping enough sketches to fill four of 10 episodes for season three, although they were missing the "wrap-arounds" in which Chappelle introduced the bits. Brennan showed the completed sketches to the show's staff this week, and Comedy Central executives have said they're pleased with what they've seen.

In his last contact with Comedy Central's Herzog, Chappelle said he would continue working but asked the network to give him one more postponement. But the network, reasoning that it had already sold ads for the show and spent heavily on promotion for "Chappelle" and the rest of the summer lineup, refused. Days later, Chappelle disappeared and has made no public statements since.

Comedy Central will have to soldier on, Herzog said, noting that the network continues to have its best year ever, with such fare as "South Park," and "Blue Collar TV."

"We're planning for life without Dave at least for calendar year 2005," Herzog said. "Life goes on…. We can't put the business on hold for this."
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Well, it seems like the pressure got to him. But it does seem like he'll wind up back. We just don't know when.
 
skinnyrattler said:
Well, it seems like the pressure got to him. But it does seem like he'll wind up back. We just don't know when.
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Well, I think there's a bigger question: to what will he return to? Pressure or not, he can only mess with Comedy Central so many times before there's no longer an interest in working with him. It seems obvious that other entertainment companies are similarly worried. I read in one article that his book was quietly scrapped in February if I recall right.

It's just not like he can come back and say "I got my shit together, show me the money and I'll get back to work." You don't sign a $50 million deal and then not deliver while undoubtedly pissing off a large corporate and advertisers. I can't imagine this will fare well for either CC or Chappelle in the short term.

On the other hand, this whole debacle as raised his profile EVEN FURTHER, which is certainly not what Chappelle wanted. When you suddenly have big huge stories in Newsweek and Time about your issues, people take notice, and not just those people that watched your show. I know my dad read the Newsweek piece, and he's never seen the show. He only knows Chappelle from You've Got Mail.

Interesting stuff all around...
 
ShadowRed said:
Just heard news that Dave checked himself into a mental health clinic in South Africa earlier today. Looks like the drug rumors were just that rumors. Black man goes a little loopy and it must be because he's a crackhead.
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ha he makes his living off of that type of image.
 
UPDATED from Drudge:

dc.jpg


CHAPPELLE tells TIME he's not in mental hospital or drug rehab, debunking earlier reports in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and elsewhere.
 
Read the article.

-He isn't in a mental hospital, he's staying with a friend, gaining perspective and all that jazz
-He isn't on drugs
 
Bacon said:
Read the article.

-He isn't in a mental hospital, he's staying with a friend, gaining perspective and all that jazz
-He isn't on drugs
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Thank God. Hopefully everything works out for him.

This guy is comic gold - he damn well needs to come back.
 
His school yard juvenile humor hit it's limit and he can't come up with any more. "Nigg*r", poop and fart jokes are tapped out and since he can't get real dirty on network TV he is at a dead end. The "I need more time to get to know blah blah blah" is just a front.
 
The breakdown in trust within his inner circle seems to have led him to question the material they were producing. He seems obsessed with making sure the material is good and honest and something that he will be proud. "I want to make sure I'm dancing and not shuffling," he says. "What ever decisions I make right now I'm going to have live with. Your soul is priceless." The first two seasons of his show "had a real spirit to them," he says. "I want to make sure whatever I do has spirit."
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http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1061415,00.html

I guess it's hard to argue with that.
 
In this week's TIME, Christopher John Farley reveals why Dave Chappelle decided to leave his hit show and what he's been up to since he disappeared to South Africa two weeks ago. Last Friday night, TIME Johannesburg bureau chief Simon Robinson met with the comic at uShaka Marine World on the beach in the South African port of Durban. In a ninety minute conversation, Chappelle was eager to set the record straight on why he suddenly left the U.S. and what he's doing in South Africa. Here's Robinson's account:
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So it looks like THE STORY won't actually come out until we have the print version... cockteases...
 
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