Chris DeLine

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Source Claims “Chappelle’s Show” to Return

Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: .

Dave Chappelle is returning to television with a new show. Or so says The Daily while citing an “insider” in their June 16 article “Chappelle’s next act.” And just as the the comedian displayed through the tireless brilliance that was Chappelle’s Show, it seems that he will be once again be playing the role of innovator as he is reportedly looking to a subscription-based service such as Netflix, Hulu or Sony’s Crackle to act as the show’s home.

While any news suggesting new material from Dave Chappelle is welcomed, the idea that it’s instantly bound to be on par with his previous successes might be a bit of a leap.

Certainly a move away from a network would lend Chappelle the creative control he seeks as he develops his new material, but the writing team around him has changed in the six years that have followed since the star’s bizarre departure from the spotlight.

For instance, much of the success of the universally acclaimed Comedy Central hit was due in part to Neal Brennan, who wrote Half Baked with Dave and was co-creator of Chappelle’s Show. And interestingly enough, Brennan has just recently began speaking out on the topic, sharing his side of the drama that arose when Chappelle walked out on a reported $50 million television contract, leaving his team in limbo as he unceremoniously disappeared to Africa six years ago. Just this week he was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, revealing in detail his side of the fiasco and how he felt as though the network was striving to divide he and Chappelle prior to the fallout.

Brennan similarly discussed the issue with Chicago Now recently; a topic which he had remained silent on for years, which makes the news of Chappelle’s forthcoming return to comedy even that much more peculiar.

Though Brennan revealed to Joe Rogan that he and Dave had made amends to some degree and were again on speaking terms, he made no suggestion of any pending project with the comedian giant and was secure in discussing his recent return to stand-up comedy as his primary focus.

Additionally, in his seemingly random stand-up appearances since the show ended, Dave has created a unique legend around himself by veering far from his previous format and topic matter. There was his unscheduled six hour, seven minute marathon performance at the Laugh Factory in 2007 which kept the audience “laughing for six hours,” and a four hour Comedy Cellar performance which reportedly yielded similar results: Both of which showed off a new side of the comedian which is supported by claims that recent L.A. stand-up appearances have utilized a far more loose, free flowing format and included much more crowd interaction than past routines.

When considering such developments in the past few years, adding that Neal Brennan isn’t likely to have anything to do with the new project, this leaves any forthcoming adaption of Chappelle’s Show even that much more of an anomaly.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]