Dave Chappelle broke his silence on leaving his Comedy Central hit series ‘Chappelle’s Show’ in an interview on ‘Late Show with David Letterman.’ Now several years after his stunning departure which left lingering questions he offered his first public remarks.
The actor and comedian was at the height of fame in a hit series that had many talking, and this in the days before Twitter and the rise of Facebook and YouTube. His many memorable skits went viral before we had the concept of viral as he took on some edgy and daring topics.
Yet, in the middle of the third season, Dave Chappelle abruptly left his namesake ‘Chappelle’s Show’ in 2005. In the absence of his official explanation, speculation has become epic over the years.
Now years later on ‘Late Show with David Letterman,’ he opened up about those days, even as he was very much rooted in the present plugging his stand-up comedy residency at Radio City Music Hall.
He began by quipping, “Listen, here it is. Technically, I never quit. I’m seven years late for work.”
He spoke of how it was that he went to South Africa, when Letterman asked him, saying, “I was there for two weeks. I mean, there’s not too many good hiding places left in America.”
Pressed for more details, he opened up about the details of his departure, and the reported sum of money. Chappelle said, “It’s very hard to go through something like this because no one’s really done it before. There’s not too many people who don’t think I’m crazy. “I look at it like this: I’m at a restaurant with my wife, we’re at a nice restaurant, we’re eating dinner. I look across the room, I say, ‘You see this guy over here? He has $100 million and we’re eating the same entree.’
He went on to add, “So okay, fine, I don’t have $50 million or whatever it was. But say I have $10 million in the bank. The difference in lifestyle is miniscule. The only difference between having $10 million and $50 million is an astounding $40 million.”
While his interview may leave as many questions as it does answers, it also serves as a reminder of how daring the program was and leaves us wondering how pop culture history might be different had he remained. After all, 2005 was just the beginning of the social media explosion. Just imagine ‘Chappell’s Show’ in this day and age with YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and the enormous influence it might have had, perhaps much like Jon Stewart’s ‘The Daily Show’ and the soon-to-be departing Stephen Colbert of ‘The Colbert Report.’
Nonetheless, a fascinating interview with Dave Chappelle. The replay video is below.
Pictures: PR Photos
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/hcESU-_fj4M/
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