Dave Chappelle cleared the air during an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” He never quit “Chappelle’s Show,” he insisted to David Letterman. Instead, he’s simply late — seven years to be exact. So could that mean that Chappelle is coming back to pick up where he left off? Chappelle neither confirmed nor denied during his interview.
The promise of a third season of the hit Comedy Central show undoubtedly has fans of the show excited. The first two seasons pulled in record numbers during their premieres and the DVD sales surpassed “The Simpsons” as the No. 1 all-time TV-DVD. Yet, production halted on the third season in 2005 as a result of Chappelle’s “illness,” which was rumored to be a thinly disguised plot for him to disappear to South Africa. Later he told Oprah in 2006, he was burned out and unable to tap into his creative juices. The South Africa rumors were confirmed during the Letterman interview as a two-week vacation he said because “America doesn’t have a lot of hiding places.”
During his downtime, Chapelle had time to get back to his roots. Last year, he signed on to co-headline Funny Or Die’s Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival and made surprise visits to a few comedy clubs. Those too came with controversy. Chappelle had an on-stage meltdown during a Hartford, Conn. show, in which he stopped the show, sat on a stool and smoked until the end of his set. He later said the front-row audience members were drunk and too loud. Even legend Prince featured Chappelle’s parody of him on “Breakfast Can Wait.”
When asked about the rumored $50 million deal for finishing the third season, Chappelle commented that money can’t buy you everything. But he told Letterman he doesn’t have any regrets for walking away from a huge amount of money, besides the occasional case of the what ifs. Well Chappelle, if you ever feel like ruling the airwaves again we’ll be waiting for you.