Chappelle says stress - not insanity - caused him to walk away
CHICAGO (AP) - Dave Chappelle told Oprah Winfrey he was stressed out and not crazy or on drugs when he abruptly left his hit Comedy Central show last spring during production.
In his first television interview since ditching Chappelle's Show in May, the comedian said that after he signed a $50-million deal for the third and fourth seasons in August 2004, too many people were trying to control him and his show.
"I wasn't crazy but it is incredibly stressful," Chappelle, 32, said during his appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that aired Friday.
"I felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interested in controlling you," Chappelle said.
Last May, with the premiere date looming for the third season, Chappelle stunned his fans and the entertainment industry by leaving the show in mid-production. He spent two weeks in South Africa before returning home to his farm near Yellow Springs, Ohio. Chappelle has since resumed performing live standup.
The provocative comedian denied reports that his mysterious departure was caused by mental or drug problems. But he told Winfrey that other people were trying to get him to take psychotic medication when he decided to leave the show and country, without telling anyone except his brother before he left.
Chappelle stressed that the fame that grew as his show became increasingly popular wasn't the problem, but the environment he faced at Comedy Central.
"I would go to work on the show and I felt awful every day," he said. "I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. If I feel so bad, why keep on showing up to this place? I'm going to Africa. The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching."
The comedian did not rule out returning to film the rest of the third and fourth seasons of Chappelle's Show but only under certain circumstances. For example, Chappelle said he would like to donate a portion of the proceeds from DVD sales to the less fortunate.
The status of his show has hung in limbo since May. Comedy Central announced in December that four half-hour episodes of Chappelle's Show - based on what Chappelle taped before leaving the production - will premiere in weekly airings this spring. A full season would have been between 10 and 13 episodes.
In a statement released Friday, Comedy Central said, "Dave is a comedic genius whose work we truly value, and the door is always open to him."
PHASE OF THE 'MOON'
Twenty years after it debuted, "Moonlighting" is still a constant presence for stars Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis and show creator Glenn Gordon Caron.
Shepherd and Willis, who shot to fame on "Moonlighting," famously had their ups and downs — with their own lives and with each other — during the show's storied run.
The third season of "Moonlighting," which some consider the show's best — and a season fraught with interruptions, delays and agita on the part of ABC execs — is being released Tuesday on DVD (Lion's Gate).
"I think we'd be fine working together," Shepherd says. "People sure want Bruce and I to work together again. They want the 'Moonlighting' reunion, obviously, but Glenn doesn't know how to do it.
"He feels like we shouldn't revisit it because we did it so well. Just leave it in the past," Shepherd says.
Tuesday's DVD release reminds everyone of one of the most tumultuous, nerve-wracking, controversial and exciting seasons for any show in TV history.
"I do have a diary that I kept," says Shepherd. "I dictated it into a cassette recorder. And I wouldn't want that published."
Everyone knows about the on-set fighting, the delayed scripts, the weeks between original episodes and the prints — delivered to ABC so late the nights they aired, the network saw the new episodes the same time as America.
And, in the midst of it all, Shepherd gave birth to twins.
"Oh, how in the world did I do that?" laughs Shepherd, just back from Sundance with her new movie "Open Window." "I really don't know how."
The show only produced 15 episodes in that third season, thanks to that pregnancy, a skiing accident with Willis and the lengthy delays as Caron crafted scripts. But the results were legendary.
One episode began with a Movietone newsreel story about the lack of episodes. Another episode — a stop-gap clip job — featured gossip queen Rona Barrett on the set talking with cast members about their squabbles.
And then there's Maddie getting married to a dweeb she barely knew, Dave and Maddie finally sleeping together and perhaps the most famous "Moonlighting" episode of all: "Atomic Shakespeare," their re-telling of "The Taming of the Shrew."
The fights ("I once threw a director's chair against a wall," admits Shepherd) didn't get in the way. In some ways, they helped.
"When we met, Bruce and I had this great sexual chemistry and also the idea of sending each other up," says Shepherd.
"We would see the absolute worst in each other as characters, as David and Maddie. We fought before every scene in which we had a fight.
"At some point, I realized it and mentioned it to Bruce and he said, 'Yeah, you're right.' That didn't change it."
The twins Cybill gave birth to played a big role, too.
"When we did the interviews and commentary for the DVDs, Bruce thanked me profusely for getting pregnant because it made it possible for him to do 'Die Hard.' "
Jay Mohr and Nikki Cox Engaged
LOS ANGELES - Jay Mohr and Nikki Cox are engaged, Cox's publicist announced Friday.
The couple plan to marry next winter, publicist Alisha Mahon said.
Cox plays Mary Connell on the NBC series "Las Vegas." She and Mohr, host of "Last Comic Standing," met when Mohr guest-starred on the Sin City drama, Mahon said.
Mohr, a comedian, has appeared in films including "Jerry Maguire," "Go" and "Suicide Kings." He was a member of "Saturday Night Live" from 1993-1995.
Syndicated entertainment news show "Access Hollywood" first reported the engagement.
Cox, 27, was previously engaged to comedian Bob Goldthwait.
Mohr, 35, was married to model Nicole Chamberlain for six years. They had one child together before divorcing in 2004.