KEEPING DAVE Chappelle, the biggest and brightest rising star on Comedy Central, could cost the cable network an arm and a leg.
"Chappelle's Show," is a weekly sketch comedy now in its second season that's drawing rave reviews and huge ratings for the cable channel, but the comic's deal with Comedy Central is believed to expire at the end of this season.

"We'll pay him a lot of money and give him the freedom that he wants," Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog told The Post yesterday, explaining how he's going to try and keep new episodes of "Chappelle" coming.

Thanks to the show, Chappelle is said to be fielding tons of offers ranging from commercial endorsements to movie roles.

"Part of my task will be to make sure that Dave Chappelle has a long career at Comedy Central," says Herzog, who officially took over as Comedy Central's top exec yesterday.

"At a certain point, he'll have to ask were he wants to be. I think that this is a great venue for Dave and vice-versa. It's something we're clearly hard at work at, and we hope to make Dave Chappelle a centerpiece of Comedy Central programming for a long time to come."

Chappelle has drawn a huge following by poking fun at anything ranging from racial stereotypes, pop-culture figures and gambling to drug addiction.


In a recent sketch, he revealed what the Internet would be like if it was a real place - a burgler alarm wails as hundreds of people steal armloads of downloaded music from a store while annoying salesmen push porn and penis-enlargement pills.

I don't get it...

sounds like comedy centrals trying to keep dave on their network and away from other ones. they want all the money he's bringing in.

dave chappelle is blacker than the rock

Pay the money. If he goes somewhere else I'll bet it will be censored or watered down.

not if it goes to HBO

Yeah but how many of us want to pay for cable(beyond basic) just to watch one show?