*The May 16 issue of Newsweek, on stands today, quotes friends of Dave Chappelle, 31, who say the real reason for the delay in starting season three of his Comedy Central show is that he’s worn down from too much pressure, too much partying and creative differences with the network. However, Dave’s publicist Matt Labov released a statement categorically denying rumors of drug use as the reason for the show’s postponement.
"He's not in rehab. He does not have a cocaine addiction," Labov said in a statement.
Neither Labov nor Comedy Central has offered any further explanation for the holdup of the series. Newsweek writer Devin Gordon contacted several of the comedian’s close friends, who said their boy’s unprecedented $50 million deal to produce two more seasons of "Chappelle's Show" transformed him from a funny brother with a decade's worth of false starts to the hottest comedian in America, and he wasn't prepared.
"I saw him start trippin' when the buzz started to get real loud," one celebrity friend tells Newsweek. "I think he was in shock after the first season, and then [during] the second, 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."
Chappelle’s partying, according to this source, included drug use – which made things on the set worse.
"Everyone knows Dave likes to have fun," says a music-industry friend. "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."
Gordon also reports that Chappelle is looking to push the racial humor even farther in the third season -- and network executives are reportedly afraid he's crossed the line.
For example, Gordon was on the show's set in November 2004, just a few weeks into shooting on the third season. Chappelle was in blackface, with white painted lips, white gloves, a red vest, a black cane and a Pullman Porter cap. He was dressed for a sketch titled "The Nigger Pixie" in which Chappelle plays a cackling, devil-on-the-shoulder creation who serves as the self-hating conscience of famous black men, such as Tiger Woods and Chappelle himself. As the minstrel-accented pixie, he kept busting up the crew with his profane ad-libs over footage of Woods attempting a putt.
"Dave is not compromising what he wants to do," a source told 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."
Last week, though, Comedy Central flat out denied any conflict with its star. “Chappelle’s Show” regular Donnell Rollins wouldn’t comment on the situation at all, except to say the new season would be “funny” and “consistent with the first two seasons,” reports the New York Times.
Adding to the alleged conflict with the network is the burnout factor caused by Chappelle’s unusually hands-on involvement in every show. In addition to his roles as the producer and star, Dave and his writing partner, Neal Brennan, were also writing almost every line of this season's 10 scheduled shows. The method in which the shows are shot – filming dozens of comedy sketches, musical numbers and other bits in no particular order and piecing them into episodes later in the editing room – has resulted in zero completed episodes for the third season despite having filmed material sporadically since early February, according to The Times.
Last season the show was one of Comedy Central's biggest draws, averaging more than three million viewers, twice as many as Comedy Central's "Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.
http://eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=20256
"He's not in rehab. He does not have a cocaine addiction," Labov said in a statement.
Neither Labov nor Comedy Central has offered any further explanation for the holdup of the series. Newsweek writer Devin Gordon contacted several of the comedian’s close friends, who said their boy’s unprecedented $50 million deal to produce two more seasons of "Chappelle's Show" transformed him from a funny brother with a decade's worth of false starts to the hottest comedian in America, and he wasn't prepared.
"I saw him start trippin' when the buzz started to get real loud," one celebrity friend tells Newsweek. "I think he was in shock after the first season, and then [during] the second, 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."
Chappelle’s partying, according to this source, included drug use – which made things on the set worse.
"Everyone knows Dave likes to have fun," says a music-industry friend. "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."
Gordon also reports that Chappelle is looking to push the racial humor even farther in the third season -- and network executives are reportedly afraid he's crossed the line.
For example, Gordon was on the show's set in November 2004, just a few weeks into shooting on the third season. Chappelle was in blackface, with white painted lips, white gloves, a red vest, a black cane and a Pullman Porter cap. He was dressed for a sketch titled "The Nigger Pixie" in which Chappelle plays a cackling, devil-on-the-shoulder creation who serves as the self-hating conscience of famous black men, such as Tiger Woods and Chappelle himself. As the minstrel-accented pixie, he kept busting up the crew with his profane ad-libs over footage of Woods attempting a putt.
"Dave is not compromising what he wants to do," a source told 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."
Last week, though, Comedy Central flat out denied any conflict with its star. “Chappelle’s Show” regular Donnell Rollins wouldn’t comment on the situation at all, except to say the new season would be “funny” and “consistent with the first two seasons,” reports the New York Times.
Adding to the alleged conflict with the network is the burnout factor caused by Chappelle’s unusually hands-on involvement in every show. In addition to his roles as the producer and star, Dave and his writing partner, Neal Brennan, were also writing almost every line of this season's 10 scheduled shows. The method in which the shows are shot – filming dozens of comedy sketches, musical numbers and other bits in no particular order and piecing them into episodes later in the editing room – has resulted in zero completed episodes for the third season despite having filmed material sporadically since early February, according to The Times.
Last season the show was one of Comedy Central's biggest draws, averaging more than three million viewers, twice as many as Comedy Central's "Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.
http://eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=20256
