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Dave Chappelle has gone AWOL again.

E! Online reports that this time the comic has bailed on the HBO sponsored Las Vegas’ Comedy Special which runs from until Nov. 18.

No reason was given as to why Chappelle bowed out, and neither the comic’s camp nor HBO would make a statement about why he decided not to participate. It has been reported that Bill Maher will take Chappelle’s spot.

Part of the festival is “Comic Relief,” hosted by Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal, which will air on TBS and HBO. This is the first time Comic Relief has occurred since 1998, and it will benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Dave Chappelle says he’s not crazy, he’s not in a mental institution, he’s not addicted to drugs, and he doesn’t have a problem with a partying lifestyle.

Chappelle spoke publicly this weekend for the first time since he “disappeared” last week and denied reports that he entered a mental health facility.

Speaking with Time Magazine, Chappelle says he went to South Africa on a “spiritual retreat” as his show, Chappelle’s Show, was suspended indefinitely by Comedy Central.

“Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can’t at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh,” he told the magazine. “I’m an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking here.”

He says he visited a physiatrist for one 40-minute session, just to make sure he was sane.

“You hear so many voices jockeying for position in your mind that you want to make sure that you hear your own voice,” Chappelle said. “So I figured, let me just cut myself off from everybody, take a minute and pull a Flintstone ? stop a speeding car by using my bare feet as the brakes.”

He says he hopes to return working on the show when he returns, but didn’t say when he plans to leave South Africa.

Chappelle’s Show, one of Comedy Central’s highest rated programs, is on an indefinite hiatus, after the show’s star, Dave Chappelle, reportedly entered a mental health facility in South Africa.

Neither Chappelle’s representatives nor Comedy Central spokespeople are confirming the exact whereabouts of the comedian, but the network says it’s approaching their schedule as if the third season of the show will not happen.

“We don’t know what to plan for, so we’re not planning for it,” Doug Herzog, president of Comedy Central, told the New York Times.

Last week, the network said that it has suspended production for the third season. It was originally scheduled to begin earlier this year, then pushed back to May 31, and now it may never air.

Herzog says Chappelle has not been in contact with Comedy Central for two weeks.

Reports over the past week indicated that the delay was either due to a drug problem or creative differences, but both of those reasons have been denied.

After the first two seasons of Chappelle’s Show became a ratings hit for Comedy Central, they gave him a two-year extension that reportedly could be worth up to $50 million. The deal also included movies and other endeavors.

Entertainment Weekly said Chappelle checked himself into the mental health facility on April 28.

The magazine also reported that four or five show’s worth of sketches were shot, but none of his introductions, which he shoots in front of an audience.

Chappelle got his big break in the stoner comedy Half Baked. He was one of a handful of stars in the movie, but when it was re-released on DVD two months ago, Chappelle’s face was the one plastered on the box and in advertisements, a sentiment to how big of a star he has become.