Anyone who is still in mourning over the premature demise of Dave “Rick James, Bitch!” Chappelle’s hilarious show on Comedy Central might be wondering what happened to the lanky comic after his highly publicized meltdown and subsequent trip to Africa. Chappelle made a few bizarre appearances on Oprah and Inside the Actors Studio, then went into hiding. Now, Dave seems to be making a comeback, on his own terms, by doing some stand-up performances and appearing in a retrospective special for Inside the Actors Studio, spoofing its venerable host James Lipton.

We might not find out where the heck Dave Chappelle’s been for the past year, but maybe we’ll learn what he’d like to hear God tell him when he arrives at the pearly gates.
If heaven exists, that is.

The at-times reclusive comedian is slated to help mark the 200th episode of Inside the Actors Studio by stepping into James Lipton’s pensive shoes and guiding the ever-so-spoofable host through reminiscences of the Bravo series’ 14 seasons.

But while we know what the subjects of the two-hour Nov. 10 special have been up to—luminaries such as Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie—Chappelle was last notably heard from breaking his own stand-up record at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory on Dec. 2, 2007.

The former Chappelle’s Show frontman performed a six-hour, 12-minute set before again peacing out from the public arena.

[From E!Online]

I would love to see Dave come back to TV. I haven’t seen another sketch comedy show that even comes close to his since he left Comedy Central two years ago. For now, I am still clinging to my DVDs of the first two seasons, hoping that he’ll return. And I’ll be watching Inside the Actors Studio too. My favorite episode of that show was the one with the cast of The Simpsons - if you haven’t seen it, make a point of checking it out.

Dave Chappelle is shown eating at Fred Segal on 6/27/08. Credit: Fame

Dave Chappelle claims that he probably won’t return to Comedy Central if they show the new material that he shot before his abrupt departure in May:

For his part, Chappelle is non-committal. Comedy Central of course wants him to return to his wildly successful show:

According to this website, Chappelle wasn’t crazy at all, but was pressured by a cabal of powerful African-Americans, including Jesse Jackson, Oprah, and Bill Cosby, to step down. The site was later dismissed as a viral marketing campaign for a Chappelle show writer. I totally believed that shit, though, until I actually did the research for this post.

Update: “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” is supposed to be hilarious.