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Dave Chappelle Netflix Deal Will Earn Him $60 Million For Three Comedy Specials

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 06:39 PST, Nov 23, 2016

Dave Chappelle is about to get a whole lot richer after making a deal with Netflix to create three new comedy specials. After making his debut on Saturday Night Live, Chappelle thrilled fans with the announcement that he will be working with Netflix. For his comedy comeback, Chappelle will be paid $60 million, and all three specials are expected to be released at the same time next year.

Dave Chappelle’s Netflix comedy specials will be the first specials he has released in 12 years. According to Page Six, two of the specials are coming from Dave’s archive while the third will be produced by Netflix. This is a huge deal, both for Chappelle, who has remained off the comedy radar for years and for Netflix.

The two previously recorded specials include one from Austin City Limits and another from the Hollywood Palladium. Both specials are two years old and were directed by Stan Lathan. Chappelle will work with Lathan again to produce the all-new third special just for Netflix.

“Dave Chappelle is a legendary voice in comedy — searing, vital and, now more than ever, essential,” said Lisa Nishimura, VP Original Documentary and Comedy. “Dave’s three new specials promise to be some of the most anticipated events in comedy, and we are honored he will mark his global return on Netflix.”

While it’s unknown if Netflix will actually profit from the Dave Chappelle comedy specials, the news is expected to generate a lot of press. In turn, Netflix believes their new deal with Chappelle will pay off as new subscribers sign up to see what the former Comedy Central host has to offer fans now.

In 2005, at the height of his career, Dave Chappelle walked away from Chappelle’s Show on Comedy Central right in the middle of a contract. At the beginning of Season 3, Chappelle walked right out of production and ended up going on a trip to South Africa. He was reportedly upset at Comedy Central and felt that Chappelle’s Show was ruining his stand-up comedy, which ultimately was what Dave wanted to do the most. Chappelle complained that he couldn’t even perform stand up without hearing his iconic “I’m Rick James b***h!” which had become a catchphrase after one of his sketch comedy skits became overwhelmingly popular.

Although rumors of Dave Chappelle’s exit from Comedy Central pointed at drug addiction or mental health issues as the reason that he quit, that definitely was not the case. It wasn’t until much later that fans began to understand the reason behind Chappelle’s departure from the entertainment business but that didn’t mean that they didn’t want him to come back and keep everyone laughing.

In an interview with Inside the Actors Studio that was broadcast in 2006, Chappelle admitted that it was his father’s death seven years prior that prompted his trip to South Africa. He said that with all the projects he had going on, Dave was never able to properly mourn the death of his father. He also said that it was the media-fueled rumors that he was a drug addict or that he was having mental health issues that made him stay in South Africa even longer.

Prior to this new deal with Netflix, Dave Chappelle still did stand-up but not at the level that he used to. His 2013 return to the mic was great but limited. Oftentimes, Chappelle would show up to smaller venues and just do surprise sets, but there has definitely been a demand for more of him, and it looks like fans might finally be getting that.

It’s still not known if Dave Chappelle will ever return to Chappelle’s Show to finish what he started. He always said that he might come back and complete what he started, but not without major changes to the way things were previously done. As far as the Netflix deal, fans should be on the look out at some point in 2017 when the streaming company drops all three of Chappelle’s highly anticipated stand-up specials at one time.

[Featured Image by Stuart Ramson/AP Images]

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