comments:

1. why debut something in July if you're gonna release it the same month on DVD?
2. shame on you charlie murphy and donnell rawlings...you shoulda bounced when dave did


Chappelle back on TV for 3 episodes
Posted 7/5/2006 10:29 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this





By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Dave Chappelle walked away from his Comedy Central hit series, but not before he completed enough sketches to give viewers another taste of his skewered humor.
Three "lost episodes" of Chappelle's Show — assembled from footage shot for the planned third season — begin airing Sunday (9 p.m. ET/PT). Several of the sketches, which were filmed starting in fall 2004, play off the comedian's newfound fame and fortune:

• An $8 haircut suddenly costs $11,000 when the barber realizes Chappelle is a $50 million man; a $28 car wash becomes $873.

• He exacts dark revenge on characters who wronged him, including a girlfriend who dumped him as he was about to propose, a casting agent who said he didn't have "it" and a comedy-club owner who banned him.

• A third sketch has him visiting a "Wizard of Hollywood," to whom "he lays out a lot of his issues, his struggle with the mainstream entertainment business," network chief Doug Herzog says.

Herzog describes the episodes as a fascinating window into the comedian, to whom he has not spoken since December. "If Dave were a recording artist and this was his third album, critics would say he turned the lens on himself a little. Given everything that's gone on, it's a little fascinating and a little heartbreaking."

Chappelle's Show co-writer and executive producer, Neal Brennan, says that "Dave became one of the focal points of pop culture" and that viewers probably will look for clues into his sudden exit by "parsing Dave's psyche" through his sketches. He defends the new episodes from any implication they're cut-rate material: "This is not the outlet mall of sketches; these are not defective."

Chappelle stunned Hollywood and fans in April 2005 by fleeing to South Africa just a month before his third season was scheduled to start.

Various reports said he had checked into a mental hospital, he had partied too much or he had considered the material subpar. But Chappelle told Time magazine he had gone on an unplanned "spiritual retreat" and was "definitely stressed out." He promptly fired most of his handlers and never returned to the show.

In an interview in January with Oprah Winfrey, he blamed his exit on creative interference, which Comedy Central and Brennan denied, and said he would go back to work if the network allowed him to donate his paycheck to charity.

When he didn't return, the network enlisted co-stars Donnell Rawlings and Charlie Murphy as "guest hosts." The episodes kick off original programming on Sundays and are followed by Mind of Mencia and Reno 911. (The network also airs original prime-time series on Wednesdays.)

The three Chappelle episodes will be released on DVD July 25.

But Chappelle won't be the $50 million man the sketches portray. That payday envisioned 10-episode third and fourth seasons and lucrative DVD sales.


Posted 7/5/2006 10:29 PM ET

and i'll be watching...

missfee said:

Me too! I love, love, love him!

Comedy Central can f**k right off.

Too bad Dave had to burn so many bridges, but i support him as long as he's funny.

Thats a shame.. i saw a really long preview of the a lot of episodes for season 3... about 2 months ago.. and it looked absolutely hilarious...

meltwithu said:

I don't get it. Why do you think they shouldn't have done it? I'm a huge fan of Chappel's Show, but DC wasn't SOLELY responsible for it's success, and imho he did alot of people wrong by leaving in the way he did. I think it's cool Murphy and Rawlings are hosting them. They're both hilarious.

npgmaverick said:

Why?

i know Dave has said he'd be happy if we don't watch...

but come on mahn!?!

i miss the Chapelle show

Who the fuck is Donnell Rawlings???

I hate that what started out so great for him ended so fucking badly. He feels so burned by so many people but I don't blame him for leaving. He would have been a shell of himself (& a total trip to work with) had he stayed.

That's a lot of pressure for someone who's not used to being in the spotlight of an entire country, everything around you changes. Cold shit, you need grounded people around you to keep you from bugging out & I don't think he had that...

Ashy Larry






Wahh. Poor, burned Dave Chapelle.

Xagain said:

OH DAMN





Yea, fuck everybody. Money makes everything okay!

CalhounSq said:

Oh I don't care that he walked away from the money. $50m is many million more than anybody needs. But, in every interview I've seen him in since (and I think I've seen about every one) he can't give any good reason for doing it. He talks in circles and seems to be avoiding the truth altogether. But you don't think it was a little shitty to just take off like that and then bitch about things like "Some guys just came in and re-arranged my office and I felt I was losing control" or "I didn't like the mean way one of the stage hands was laughing at that sketch."

Fact is, he made a deal and cracked under the pressure. Now Comedy Central is using the stuff they own and they have every right to.

And I can't wait. That shit is gonna be hilarious! "Come on in MTV, ya broke mother fuckers!"

Xagain said:

The way I see it everything happened @ once for him: the $, the focus of everyone, the people changing around him, the anxiety of wondering if he could live up to it all, the realization that his sketches may not be coming across the way he'd hoped when he initially wrote/performed them.

That's a hell of a lot of pressure & everyone is different, we can't all take the same amount of insane shit happening in our lives. I don't blame him for doing what he needed to do to keep himself sane - he didn't kill anyone, didn't put any lives in danger. He just broke a few hearts & fucked w/ a few pocket books, his own most of all. I got no problems w/ Dave...

CalhounSq said:

I agree, i mean he could have became a crackhead...but he didn't.

missfee said:

Well, yeah. I agree with that.

Xagain said:

Because airing these "Lost episodes" is the television equivalent of vultures picking away at a carcass. They feel screwed over by Dave and r using what's left 2 cash in and make whatever money they can while the iron is still hot. Dave said in an interview that it was "Bully move" on Comedy Central's part and he was dead on in his assessment.

npgmaverick said:

Well, I think that's silly, but you're entitled to your opinion. They paid for the episodes, they know people want to see them, so they're doing the right thing in airing them. I don't know how you can blame them.

I just wanna know why he left the show and why he does not wanna be on TV no more.

july said:

he never said he didn't want to be on tv anymore, he just didn't want to do the show. but i know when it was on, it was funny as hell....

npgmaverick said:

Comedy Central seems to have a habit of killing off good shows. MST3k, Dr. Katz, and Chappelle.

july said:

Watch Bravo's "Inside the actors studio" he gives the straightest answer possible"

"When you are walking around with your family and someone comes up to you and says 'I'm Rick James Bitch!' it becomes a bother. It's like, yo, could you not call me a bitch infront of my kids.

That was just part of it

actionthisday said:

That interview and the Oprah intv were really telling. I don't know why he's so misunderstood right now. I think if people just took a moment to listen to what he was saying & put themselves in his shoes (instead of just saying, "Fuck him! He had 50 MIL! What's he complaining about??") they could understand. It's not that hard

Fame can rule you. Just think of Kurt Cobain. Fame is good for David Bowie and Prince. Fame has a bad side.
I agree why he walked away. It was probably the best thing to do. For his peace of mind.
Which is needed more in highly sensitive people, like a lot of comedians are. And creative people in general.
It's important so you can sleep at night and wake up to a fairly livable existence.
If you can't do that. It's unbearable to continues in any realm.

july said:

july said:

great explanation

missfee said:

Yeah, great way to say "Some people can hack it and some people can't."

Xagain said:

That's showbiz! Either, dance like a muthafucka or get off the stage.

Xagain said:

Because they r completely disregarding the wishes of the series creator, star and main creative force. Cutting a check doesn't automatically make U right.

I wonder if he will start writing 'slave' on his face?