Chappelle's Show = finished

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

TV Guide -

 

Chappelle's Show RIP?

 

Don't hold your breath waiting for new episodes of Chappelle's Show, which saw it's third season postponed last May amid reports that Dave Chappelle suffered a stress-related meltdown. "Chappelle's Show is done," says costar Charlie Murphy. "It took me a long time to say those words, but it's the truth." Murphy, who wouldn't reveal what ultimately did the show in, believes the footage already shot will likely be released on DVD later this year. "The stuff Dave did was remarkable," he says of the final episodes. "It [would have been] his best season yet." Counters a Comedy Central flack: "We haven't been told that Dave is not returning. He's got issues, he's dealing with them, and the ball is now in his court."

 

Damn.

[Vern Gagne 0]

If it's true. At least it went out on top. Not to say the third or any other seasons wouldn't of been funny, but you know what i mean.

[A Happy Medium 0]

I'm not at all surprised. Comedy Central threw in that Mind of Mencia show into Dave's timeslot and have been plugging it like crazy.

[Guest El Satanico]

That Mencia show seems to be getting the same amount of push that Comedy Central gives all their new shows.

[razazteca 0]

Any chance of moving the cast members to the other shows like Mind of Mencia or the new DL Hughley show? I need my Charlie Murphy fix!

[JasonX 0]

I'm not at all surprised.  Comedy Central threw in that Mind of Mencia show into Dave's timeslot and have been plugging it like crazy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Only because they were fucking desperate for content and really, most reviews for MoM said the show was pathetic/blatant rip-off of Chappelle Show.

 

As for the remaining filmed season three content, why can't they fucking just show it on TV? I mean, just recycle the bumper segments and skip the studio audience segments in favor of live action testimonials ala the best of episodes?

[JasonX 0]

Any chance of moving the cast members to the other shows like Mind of Mencia or the new DL Hughley show?  I need my Charlie Murphy fix!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I would not get attached to Charlie Murphy; when CC was negotiating for a third season of Chappelle Show, one of the big time items of contention was Chappelle forcing Comedy Centrel to greenlight a Charlie Murphy-centric TV series Chappelle and Murphy were working on, that Chappelle was supposed to produce.

 

Given that CC ended up getting fucked over by Chappelle as a result of his going AWOL, I wouldn't be suprised if the suits at Viacom decide to add Charlie's name to the big fucking list of writers, actors, and producers who are blackballed from gaining any sort of job with any of the 30+ Viacom owned TV channels......

[AndrewTS 0]

MoM is just some guy named Ned (his daddy is white, his mom's Honduran--what a friggin' poser) yelling "beaner" and "wetback" for most of his show. The "sketches" are just ol' Ned going somewhere else, and then doing stupid race-based "comedy" there instead of in the studio.

 

I saw it both first eps. Painfully unfunny.

 

At the end of the first episode he brought out a midget Gallagher to smash stuff with a hammer. That's how little creativity went into that mess.

 

This isn't really a surprise, but damn--are they going to show the episodes they've made already or can 'em?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I saw Mind of Mencia last night, and wasn't that impressed.

 

I wish they'd push the real skit based shows more, like Reno 911.

[Vern Gagne 0]

It didn't do much for me either. Everything just seemed too forced.

[Fökai 0]

As for the remaining filmed season three content, why can't they fucking just show it on TV? I mean, just recycle the bumper segments and skip the studio audience segments in favor of live action testimonials ala the best of episodes?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Chappelle asked for them not to be aired.

[JasonX 0]

This isn't really a surprise, but damn--are they going to show the episodes they've made already or can 'em?

 

According to the TV Guide piece, it seems like CC is going to release the season three material already shot straight to DVD; I wouldn't be suprised if they aren't included as the main selling point for a multi-disc "Best of Chappelle" double dip release where take the best skits from seasons one and two and put them on one release, with the season three material added in for good measure to get people who bought season one and two to buy the new release...

[JasonX 0]

As for the remaining filmed season three content, why can't they fucking just show it on TV? I mean, just recycle the bumper segments and skip the studio audience segments in favor of live action testimonials ala the best of episodes?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Chappelle asked for them not to be aired.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's nuts. You'd think, given what's happened that he'd let them be aired on TV if only as a sign of faith that he's going to come back or at the very least as a gesture of good will to his fans who've been waiting for over a year for the new season to start....

[razazteca 0]

MoM is just some guy named Ned (his daddy is white, his mom's Honduran--what a friggin' poser) yelling "beaner" and "wetback" for most of his show.  The "sketches" are just ol' Ned going somewhere else, and then doing stupid race-based "comedy" there instead of in the studio.

 

I saw it both first eps.  Painfully unfunny.

 

At the end of the first episode he brought out a midget Gallagher to smash stuff with a hammer.  That's how little creativity went into that mess.

 

This isn't really a surprise, but damn--are they going to show the episodes they've made already or can 'em?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You forgot about the jokes about AAAAAAHKMED! Majority of Carlos Mencia's comedy revolves around arab jokes or how he is mistaken for another nationality depending on which region of the country he is in. This is what happens when you take Chris Rock's racist material and add Lewis Black/Dennis Leary angry sarcastic yelling.

 

"In NY they think I am a Puerto Rican, in Miami I am a Cuban, in LA I am a Beaner and whenever I go thru airport security they think I am AAAAAAHKMED! so I run thru the baggage claim yelling YO SOY TACO BELL!"

 

I am mildly amused.

[SuperJerk 0]

This is what happens when you take Chris Rock's racist material and add Lewis Black/Dennis Leary angry sarcastic yelling.

 

Except race jokes are only about 30% of Rock's material, and most of the time even that material that's critical of black people. In "Never Scared" he spent almost the entire show bitching about being married.

 

Race jokes are Mencia's entire act, and they're based on over-used observations of common stereo types, rather than using his observations to make a point like Rock does.

[razazteca 0]

Mencia's material is:

 

40% I am from Honduras not that country

40% alalalalalaalalalalalala ahmed

10% white people are stupid

10% current events not involving arabs or beaners

[Mole 0]

What is Dave going to do now? Pull a Chris Tucker and DO NOTHING?

[Guest El Satanico]

Yes, and it's all because of people like you mole! YOU and all those other college boy wankers that constantly said "I'm Rick James", drove Dave to his freak out.

 

Thanks alot...

[Ripper 0]

I still think it had a lot to do with Dave's converting to Islam and not seeing the material he was producing as appropriate anymore.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I still think it had a lot to do with Dave's converting to Islam and not seeing the material he was producing as appropriate anymore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Are you kidding? I can't tell.

[Dangerous A 0]

When did he convert to Islam? Was it sometime after season 2?

[Annabelle 0]

GOOOOD.

 

the show was too good & continuing it would ruin it. and everyone who yells rick james at chappelle are the culprits for this. the skit was funny, but not THAT funny. yell wayne brady or dylon at him or something. both were funnier.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I don't get the logic behind "The show would have sucked, so I'm glad it's gone." The first two were good, what indication do you have that the next two wouldn't have been? Besides, some funny is better than no funny, and even if it was horrible, it shouldn't take away from the goodness of the first two seasons.

[Slayer 0]

everyone who yells rick james at chappelle are the culprits for this.

YEAH

[Ripper 0]

I still think it had a lot to do with Dave's converting to Islam and not seeing the material he was producing as appropriate anymore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Are you kidding? I can't tell.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. I am completely serious.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

When did that happen? Is there some sort of reason/story behind it? I'd love to actually read more about it...

[Nighthawk 0]

Oh, he's not serious. It's like when Richard Pryor went to Africa and came back saying he was never going to say nigger again.

 

Also, people do yell Wayne Brady at him... Dylan, I don't know. I think the real black sheep is yelling popular too.

[Ripper 0]

Dave Chappelle shows up to our interview in a red t-shirt, blue jeans and shiny white sneakers. He lopes around in his usual style, pacing a lot, but does not seem like a man struggling to speak or to order his thoughts at all. He's lucid and thoughtful and a couple of times asks me to give him some time to think about answers. He concedes that he is dealing with a lot of issues and mentions that he had consulted a psychiatrist about a week ago for a forty minute session. He is also quite fastidious about keeping his new sneakers clean and stops at least twice to wipe smudges off their toes.

 

The first thing Chappelle wants is to dispel rumors—that he's got a drug problem, that he's checked into a mental institution in Durban—that have been flying around the U.S. for the past week. He says he is staying with a friend, Salim, and not in a mental institution, as has been widely reported in America. Chappelle says he is in South Africa to find "a quiet place" for a while. "Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can't at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh. I'm an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I've been doing a lot of thinking here."

 

The picture he paints—and it seems a fairly honest and frank assessment— is of someone struggling to come to terms with a new position and power who's still figuring out how to come to grips with how people around him are reacting to the $50 million deal he signed last year with Comedy Central. Without naming specific characters, he seems to blame both some of his inner circle (not his family) and himself for the stresses created by last year's deal.

 

"There were things that overwhelmed me," he says. "But not in the way that people are saying. I haven't spent any of the money. All that stuff about partying and taking crack is not true. Why do I live on a farm in Ohio? To support my partying lifestyle?"

 

The problems, he says, started with his inner circle."If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself," he says. "Everyone around me says, 'You're a genius!'; 'You're great!'; 'That's your voice!' But I'm not sure that they're right." And he stresses that Comedy Central was not part of the problem and put no more than normal television restrictions on what he could do.

 

"You got to be careful of the company you keep," Chappelle says. "It's hard to know how much to say. One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change.

 

"During my ascent, I've seen other people go through that wall to become really big. They always said that fame didn't change them but that it changes the people around them. You always hear that but you never really understand it. But now that I'm there that makes a lot of sense and I'm learning what that means. You have to have people around you that you can trust and aren't just out for a meal ticket."

 

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."

 

But Chappelle also says that he must share the blame for the stalled third season. "I'm admittedly a human being," he says. "I'm a difficult kind of dude." His earlier walkout during shooting "had a little psychological element to it. I have trust issues, things like that. I saw some stuff in myself that I just didn't dig. It's like when I brought a girl home to my mom and it looked as if my mom really didn't like this girl. And she told me, 'I like her just fine. I just don't like you around her.' That's how I feel in this situation. There were some things about myself that I didn't like. People got to take inventory from time to time. That's what this [coming to South Africa] is for."

 

This is Chappelle's second trip to South Africa. He first came to Durban, and visited Salim, in 2000. Chappelle won't tell me exactly how he met Salim but describes him as a family friend. A soft-spoken Muslim, Salim seems also to be something of a sounding board to Chappelle, who converted to Islam several years ago. While Chappelle is not doing a formal religious course in Durban, says Salim, who wore a simple cotton robe and hung back through the interview and photo shoot and only spoke when I asked him a question, "if he wants to talk religion then I'm there as someone to talk to." Says Chappelle: "This is kind of my spot where I can come to fill my spirit back up. Sometimes you neglect these things if you are running on a corporate schedule." The crux of his crisis seems to boil down to his almost obsessive need to "check my intentions." He uses the phrase a few times during the interview and explains that it means really making sure that he's doing what he's doing for the right reasons.

 

His family, he says, has been a huge support over the past eight months. "They've been phenomenal really, just incredible. What beautiful people. Everyone loves their family but it's good if you can like them too."

 

His religion is also crucial. "I don't normally talk about my religion publicly because I don't want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is a beautiful religion if you learn it the right way. It's a lifelong effort. Your religion is your standard. Coming here I don't have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I'm interested in the kind of person I've got to become. I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced. I've got to check my intentions, man."

 

That includes planning for the future. When I ask him if he would ever buy a place of his own in South Africa, Chappelle replies, "First of all I've got to make sure I've got a job."

 

He says that he's only been recognized five or six times in the two weeks he's been here. "It happens so sporadically that when it does it freaks me out because I have to remember, 'Oh, yeah, I'm famous.'" At the end of our interview/photo shoot an American woman does recognize him. "Number seven," he cries. "Wow, I'm not that big in Africa. I've got to do an action film here."

 

During most of the hour and a half that we talk, Chappelle is serious and introspective. But he still has his sense of humor, which comes out as we near the end of our conversation: "Is that enough to prove I'm not smoking crack or hanging out in a mental institution?"

 

Yeah, he converted a while back, but still. I think that the shows content was getting to him. or Milky is right. I personally don't give a shit. Its just TV. Funny shit will come on another channel somewhere.

[nl5xsk1 0]

GOOOOD.

 

the show was too good & continuing it would ruin it.  and everyone who yells rick james at chappelle are the culprits for this.  the skit was funny, but not THAT funny.  yell wayne brady or dylon at him or something.  both were funnier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

"Who are the five greatest rappers of all time? Hmmm? Think about it. Dylan...Dylan...Dylan, Dylan and Dylan, because I spit the Hot Fire."

 

/favorite Chappelle line ever

[JasonX 0]

Yes, and it's all because of people like you mole! YOU and all those other college boy wankers that constantly said "I'm Rick James", drove Dave to his freak out.

 

Thanks alot...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Actually religion/Dave converting to Islam/anger at how his "I'm Rick James Bitch" catchphrase caught on is just rumor mongering in terms of the reason why he went AWOL; it was revealed (in the FULL Time Magazine interview, not the segment that's been reprinted ad nausea since it came out) that the real straw that broke the camel's back was Chappelle got uber freaked out one day during filming when a particular sketch, where Dave was in blackface and minstral garb and calling himself the "N-Word Fairy", got TOO much laughter from white audience members, as it caused Dave to have a bit of crisis of conscience towards the direction of the show with Dave suddenly fearing that rather than poking fun at racism/racial prejudices, he was literally becoming a racist stereotype with comedic material that promoted negative stereotypes about black people....