Dave Chappelle has returned to Inside the Actors Studio, according to a recent interview with the show’s host, James Lipton.

The Wall Street Journalinterviewed Lipton about why he approached Chappelle to star in the milestone 250th episode, and for Lipton it was all about “the chemistry.”

See, Chappelle has appeared as the guest once before, and he hosted the 200th episode, which turned the tables on Lipton by putting the host in the “actor’s chair” while Chappelle asked the questions.

It’s an unusual pairing if you’ve ever seen Inside the Actors Studio. Lipton seems like the last person on earth Dave Chappelle would have a rapport with, but somehow it works as evidenced in their past meet-ups.

On why he chose Chappelle to host him for the 200th episode, Lipton said he and his team had decided to focus on the host’s memoir Inside Inside at the time of the airing.

“It was I, who suggested it by the way, that I not host the show obviously. It would be about my book and me, and that’s not very attractive to me to be paying a tribute to myself, and I didn’t want a tribute anyway. So I picked somebody, who would be clever and cunning and funny and who would have his own point of view, and of course that added up to Dave Chappelle,” Lipton said.

Lipton and Chappelle’s relationship took root with the first appearance of the comedian as a guest, Lipton said, adding that on that initial show “he [Chappelle] had flown from Yellow Springs, where he lives — and his plane had been delayed.”

“Our audience stayed. Seven hundred fifty people didn’t move. And we started at about ten-fifteen, and we finished at one-thirty in the morning. And I’ve never seen happier people in my life. Nobody moved. Chappelle’s a genius.”

For the 250th, Lipton said that his conversation with Dave Chappelle runs about an hour and “We have a nice chunk of that in the show, where he describes his experience on the show and our friendship, which is very close since then, and he picked his favorite moment from the show and his favorite category of guests, which is comedians, and that triggers a package of retrospective moments that is, I think, just incredible.”

Known primarily for his bawdy Comedy Central sketch show Chappelle’s Show, which ended by the comedian’s own hand after just two seasons of enormous popularity — we’re not counting the shortened “lost episodes” CC compiled just to cash in — Chappelle has taken it easy in the seven years since its cancellation. Here’s a NSFW reminder of why it was so awesome:

Comedy Central

Lately, Dave Chappelle has started emerging from his self-imposed exile. The comedian has kicked around a possible tour idea with Chris Rock. But then, rumors of a new show have been circulating since 2011, so we won’t hold our breath for either.

Will you be watching when Dave Chappelle returns to Inside the Actors Studio? Would you like to see him in another show, sketch comedy or otherwise?

[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]