Uneasy Rider

Yes, we bring to every TV show, movie, or song everything we know about its creator's personal as well as public life; it's fun to gauge where the similarities between the creator and his creations begin or end. But as Margo Jefferson points out in her recent, lucid book about Michael Jackson, there comes a point when you just have to let the work stand on its own merits — it survives or vanishes on the strength of its quality. By this measure, Chappelle, at age 32, already has a granite-solid legacy: If he releases nothing more than Block Party and his two DVD collections, he'll stand as one of the most challenging, inquisitive, and hilarious performers of his era.

Recent public appearances (as a Grammy presenter; a few stand-up gigs) prove that Chappelle is ambling back into the game, but the root cause of his opting out remains a mystery. And as for the future, the question of what's next for the comedian also remains vexing. You can bet that 99 percent of other performers who've inspired his sort of passionate loyalty would be announcing big movie deals and world tours. Instead, Chappelle talks about giving money to charity as reparation for that ''socially irresponsible'' material he knows he needs to perform to feel fulfilled as a creative person. Gondry, asked whether he saw any of the tension that might have resulted in Chappelle's subsequent walking away from his show, first gestures out to the Manhattan street we're on. ''You have to understand, if I was meeting Dave and he was three blocks away from me here, people [would] come up to him constantly, to talk to him, to shake his hand, to ask for something. He deals with that very politely, but it must be exhausting.'' He pauses. ''I cannot speak for Dave,'' he says carefully, ''but the last time I saw him, I think he felt the way I felt one day when I had a meeting with a producer for a project I had decided I wanted nothing to do with. I was in a taxi speeding to this production company, and I opened the door while the taxi was moving, ready to jump out — that's how much I wanted to escape.... Maybe Dave feels that his fame is like a taxi going very fast to a place he's decided he doesn't want, and he's willing to jump out, no matter if it hurts.