Dave Chappelle Has No Regrets About Quitting Show

Dave Chappelle is back to doing stand-up in comedy clubs and has no regrets about quitting his popular television show.

Dave Chappelle Happy to Be Working Clubs (AP)

Comedian Dave Chappelle, who walked away from his hit TV series earlier this year, said working in front of smaller audiences is more his speed. Chappelle sold out 10 shows at a northern Kentucky club and said doing standup is “like I’m hanging out with a bunch of people.”

Chappelle stunned fans and the entertainment industry when he abruptly left during production of the third season of his Comedy Central series, “Chappelle’s Show.” He spent two weeks in South Africa before returning home to his 65-acre farm near Yellow Springs, Ohio, about 75 miles northeast of Cincinnati, and then returned to standup comedy. He played the Funny Bone Comedy Club at Newport on the Levee last week, a 325-seat club.

“I like that particular kind of attention. People don’t know what it’s like standing up there on stage, when you have a wall of people smiling at you,” Chappelle told The Cincinnati Enquirer for a story published Monday. “Most people don’t know what it’s like to stand up there and speak their mind. I have a venue to do that. I get paid to do that. It’s not like I’m doing heavy lifting up there. It’s not like I’m solving the world’s problems. It’s like I’m hanging out with a bunch of people and it’s cool,” he said.

Chappelle has said he was unhappy with the direction of his show. His decision triggered reports that he had mental or drug problems, which he denied. “It was a little weird,” he told the newspaper. “It felt like some of the stuff was real tabloid, like raw speculation. “It was like stuff I would normally buy and believe,” he added, laughing. “I just took it as a learning experience. It was like becoming a public person and learning all the responsibility that comes with that.”

It’s hard to fathom walking away from a hugely popular show and a $50 million contract. But it’s not like he can’t make a good living doing standup.

Related:

Dave Chappelle Says He’s Not Crazy
Dave Chappelle in Psychiatric Facility
‘Chappelle Show’ Halts Production
Chappelle Renews for $50 million

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Esther Morris says:

    From: Esther Franklin, MA
    My whole family Loves his comedy central program

    Suggestion for A Skid–

    Parody/Seven Heaven show
    Charlie Murphy plays the new love in this characters life, she plays the young police officer’s wife and she has a newborn baby–

    Entitle///Guess WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
    The guess appearances shocks the whole family a series of events begins, first Charlie pulls all the stops he is dress with bling bling, rapping his way into the dinning area, the characters mom, who is the priest/pastor’s wife, Charlie makes a move on her and she loves it because she has never seen a black person before
    and so on

    send your response to
    ea****@ya***.com

    ————————————