NEW YORK (AP) -- Dave Chappelle is back on Comedy Central -- well, kind of.
The wildly popular comedian, who last spring walked off his show just weeks before its season premiere, will be on view in four episodes' worth of sketches he filmed before his startling exit, the network announced Monday.
The four half-hours of "Chappelle's Show" will premiere in weekly airings next April, May or June, the network said.
A 2 1/2-minute preview of this never-before-seen footage will be included in "Comedy Central's Last Laugh '05" special, which premieres Sunday, 9 p.m. EST.
Still to be determined is how the sketches will be packaged, since Chappelle's on-stage introductions were never produced. A full season would have been between 10 and 13 episodes.
"It's great material, and we think our audience is hungry for it," said Comedy Central President Doug Herzog, noting that the last original episode of "Chappelle's Show" aired in May 2004. "Chappelle's Show," a raw, satirical comedy show that was both a critical and popular hit, was one of the network's most valuable properties.
The announcement resolves -- well, kind of -- Chappelle's dangling status at Comedy Central, with whom he signed a deal in August 2004 reportedly worth $50 million for a third and fourth season. But last May, with the premiere date looming for that third season, Chappelle stunned his fans by ditching the show in mid-production.
His disappearance -- announced by Comedy Central on May 4 -- spurred reports that he had mental or drug problems, but Chappelle later said he was unhappy with the show's creative direction.
"I'm definitely stressed out," he told Time magazine a few days after Comedy Central announced the show was indefinitely postponed. "I'm not crazy, I'm not smoking crack."
He spent two weeks in South Africa before returning home to his farm near Yellow Springs, about 75 miles northeast of Cincinnati. Chappelle, now 32, has since resumed performing live standup.
In the meantime, "Chappelle's Show" has hung in limbo.
"We had reached out several times to Dave's camp and asked, 'What would you like to do?' " Herzog said. "But we never received a definitive response. ... We thought it was time to start unearthing the material we had." He laughed. "It's kind of like Bob Dylan's 'Basement Tapes.' "
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Don't know if anyone posted this. I'm very excited to see what direction the show would of headed in, but i have a feeling these "shows" are going to be a huge letdown. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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Go_State wrote:
rich wrote:
Bammer wrote:
This is SUCH good news!
it would be better news if he'd go back to work and make some more shows. You'd think with all this time off he might've come up with some good ideas.
I don't think it's a lack of good ideas, he just wasn't liking how the executives were trying to guide the show.
I don't know if I believe this theory. When I look at what Dave got away with in past seasons, and also what they do each week on South Park, I just somehow doubt they were being restrictive. I respect his decision though, if he didn't think it was up to his standard of quality, then don't put it out there. Sounds like Comedy Central is going to do that anyway though, and I agree that it sounds like these episodes will be of questionable quality to say the least. Maybe it's a ploy be the network. If you don't like these then you'd better make some new ones you're happy with otherwise we'll release them and make you look like an ass anyway. I don't know, but either way I'm watching.
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Quote:
Cool to see at least something surface.
That's my theory, although, if these shows are just awful, i wonder if it will kill my memories of what i think is an amazing show. It's like Jordan coming out retirement and never living up to what he used to be.
_________________ I remember doing nothing on the night Sinatra died
And the night Jeff Buckley died
And the night Kurt Cobain died
And the night John Lennon died
I remember I stayed up to watch the news with everyone
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
Has anyone else seen this yet? It's the Chappelle Theory, basically a timeline laying out a theory that Chappelle's show was sunk on purpose by Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Al Sharpton and other powerful African Americans who felt the show was hurting the black community. I don't know what to make of it, but after 6 months of the show being cancelled and no decent explanation as to why, you've gotta expect there are going to be lots of theories. It's an interesting read at least, check it out:
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:
that is some kinda silly stuff
Fun read though, wasn't it?
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
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Mercury wrote:
Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:
that is some kinda silly stuff
Fun read though, wasn't it?
yeah, there was alot of thought put into it, but more then anyhting i loved remembering the episodes they talked about, i need to put the dvds in again
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:
Mercury wrote:
Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:
that is some kinda silly stuff
Fun read though, wasn't it?
yeah, there was alot of thought put into it, but more then anyhting i loved remembering the episodes they talked about, i need to put the dvds in again
It got me in the mood to watch the show too.
Oh, and I loved the parts about "the dark crusaders", good stuff.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Has anyone else seen this yet? It's the Chappelle Theory, basically a timeline laying out a theory that Chappelle's show was sunk on purpose by Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Al Sharpton and other powerful African Americans who felt the show was hurting the black community. I don't know what to make of it, but after 6 months of the show being cancelled and no decent explanation as to why, you've gotta expect there are going to be lots of theories. It's an interesting read at least, check it out:
On Tuesday, while watching an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show, Chappelle recalled being completely stunned when Winfrey turned to the camera in the middle of interviewing Tom Cruise and said "Dave Chappelle, you should be ashamed of yourself for airing that Niggars sketch on your show this week, I'm going to make sure you never work in Hollywood again."
The image, allegedly taped by Winfrey, and transmitted to Chappelle's house under the direction of Robert L. Johnson who called in some favors with Chappelle's local affiliate station manager, terrified Chappelle.
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Mercury wrote:
Has anyone else seen this yet? It's the Chappelle Theory, basically a timeline laying out a theory that Chappelle's show was sunk on purpose by Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Al Sharpton and other powerful African Americans who felt the show was hurting the black community. I don't know what to make of it, but after 6 months of the show being cancelled and no decent explanation as to why, you've gotta expect there are going to be lots of theories. It's an interesting read at least, check it out:
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