Chapelle Show Season 3 on hiatus

[f3lix]

source

Chappelle's Show is a no go, bitch!

In a surprise announcement Wednesday, Comedy Central announced that the highly anticipated third season of Dave Chappelle's will not make its May 31 premiere date.

"Comedy Central has suspended production on the third season of Chappelle's Show until further notice," network spokesman Tony Fox said in a brief statement. "All parties are optimistic that production will resume in the near future."

No official reason was given for the shutdown, but sources told E! News that Chappelle has been MIA from the set for weeks.

In December, the network said that Chappelle's Show was behind schedule after Chappelle fell ill, forcing the network to postpone the expected February debut of new episodes.

"Dave--and his entire production crew for that matter--got a bit of a late start on writing season three," Fox told the New York Post. Production was slated to resume in January.

Last August, Chappelle, 31, reupped with Comedy Central in a massive two-year deal, valued at $50 million by the Hollywood Reporter. The deal also set a new Industry precedent--reportedly giving the funnyman a large cut of backend DVD sales.

Featuring Chappelle's often raunchy standup, offbeat sketches and killer parodies of Prince and Rick James, Chappelle's Show has steadily built a huge following since its January 2003. By the end of season two, the half-hour show was often pulling in more than 3 million viewers, a substantial number for basic cable. The first season currently ranks as the all-time top-selling TV show on DVD. (Paramount has indefinitely pushed back the release of the second season--the studio hopes to time the DVD to the start of season three.)

In addition to his gig at Comedy Central, Chappelle had been working on a book for Hyperion. No word on the book's status; there's also no word on the reported Rick James biopic for Paramount in which Chappelle would portray the late R&B wild man.

[Ugly Bastard]

Bitch'll be back. No worries.

-Ugly Bastard

[Niger Angelus]

I love that show, I truly love it.

[MAGICLIT]

WWWWHHHAAAATTTTTT???????????

[bloodyfart]

bet he is in rehab or something close to that.

[MAGICLIT]

YYYYAAAAYYYY-AAAA

[Deadly Crescent Kick]

they're running outakes and extras from season 2 dvd throughout may. i think it will be on tonight at 10 est

[ May 10, 2005, 10:34 AM: Message edited by: Deadly Crescent Kick ]

[Ironic Mustache]

Stern said that he Chapelle wasn't ready for the instant success and is stressed about making season 3 as good as the first two.

[ninjaface]

Source

Pressure, Partying Dog Chappelle?
Monday May 9 6:30 PM ET

By Josh Grossberg

This much we knew already: Dave Chappelle has been AWOL from the set of his hit Chappelle's Show, forcing Comedy Central to shut down production indefinitely on the sketch comedy's third season.

Now, we may know why. According to a report in the latest Newsweek, too much partying, too much pressure and a creative rift with the cable network's brain trust are to blame.

Sources confirmed to E! last week that Chappelle had been staying away from work. Comedy Central in turn said the show wouldn't make its May 31 third season debut--a season earlier postponed by what was variously described as Chappelle's bout with a flu-like illness and/or his inability to enough write enough episodes to make the original February debut date.

Newsweek quotes friends of the comic actor, saying he "freaked" and didn't know how to deal with the breakout success of Chappelle's Show, which seemingly overnight went from cult hit to pop-culture phenomenon. As ratings for the show took off and the first season became the all-time best-selling TV series on DVD, Comedy Central signed Chappelle to a $50 million contract last summer for two more years.

"I saw him start trippin' when the buzz started to get real loud," one unnamed friend tells Newsweek. "I think he was in shock after the first season. Then during the second season, it hit him that he was the Man. That freaked him."

"And then came the pressure of living up to expectations for the third season. He's never been there--where something's so good and you got to come even stronger the next time. It was too much."

The Half-Baked star's penchant for partying was also cited for his recent meltdown.

"Everyone knows Dave likes to have fun," a person only identified as a "music-inustry pal" tells Newsweek. "I wouldn't say it's out of control...but at some point that has to affect you if you've got a regular gig."

Chappelle's publicist, Matt Labov, has declined to comment on the star's absence, referring all calls to Comedy Central. The network has only said that show is on hiatus and "all parties are optimistic that production will resume in the near future."

In Newsweek, Labov denies Chappelle has a drug problem. Instead, the magazine quotes "a source close to Chappelle" suggesting that the reason behind the delay has more to do with the funnyman's attempts at edgier material.

The magazine points to one such skit titled "The N----r Pixie." It features Chappelle in full minstrel regalia--black face with white painted lips, white gloves, a red vest, a black cane and a Pullman Porter cap--playing a devil-on-the-shoulder figure who serves as the conscience of famous black men such as Tiger Woods and even Chappelle himself.

"Dave is not compromising what he wants to do," the source in the Chappelle camp says in Newsweek. "He's waited a long time for this chance, and he's not trying to do anything that isn't 100 percent his vision."

Chappelle's Show hit the stratosphere largely thanks to its racial humor and Chappelle's send-ups of Rick James ("I'm Rick James, bitch!") and dreadlocked rapper Lil John, who speaks in the same limited vocabulary the rapper uses in Usher's "Yeah!"--namely "yeah," "okay" and "what!"

Fans jonesing for more Chappelle won't have to wait too much longer. Comedy Central and corporate parent Viacom are hoping to plug the Chappelle gap with the upcoming release of his show's second-season DVD, due in stores May 24.

[Niger Angelus]

So, does this mean he is done for good, or just this season?
I really don't like news like this by the way.

[Deadly Crescent Kick]

The magazine points to one such skit titled "The N----r Pixie." It features Chappelle in full minstrel regalia--black face with white painted lips, white gloves, a red vest, a black cane and a Pullman Porter cap--playing a devil-on-the-shoulder figure who serves as the conscience of famous black men such as Tiger Woods and even Chappelle himself.

LMFAO

i can't wait for season 3

[Ironic Mustache]

You're going to have to.

[Deadly Crescent Kick]

to appease fans, they're running outakes & bloopers in may.

[Mr. Blonde]

Just found this tonight. There's a lot of stuff out there about why Chappelle left, but this is an 11 minute summary of the whole ordeal, in his own words.

Dave Chappelle: In His Own Words (2012 Tribute) - YouTube

Dave Chappelle: In His Own Words (2012 Tribute) - YouTube

It's actually pretty extraordinary. All I could think of while watching this was how many celebrities/performers (minor or major) didn't risk "walking away" from Hollywood like Chappelle did, and ended up overdosing/dying some other drug-related way. Really puts a very human spin on celebrity. How many celebrities have died doing drugs not just partying because they're a movie/rock star, but because they were desperately trying to deal with stress and pressure?

Some of you might be thinking "well no shit", but it's really interesting to me.

[Beebs]

It was probably the best thing for that show to end when it did, it never got bad.

[Mr. Blonde]

Also..chapelle didn't die.