Tyrone the crackhead and Black Gallagher weren't built in a day. Which is why you're going to have to wait a bit longer for the return of some of your favorite "Chappelle's Show" characters.

Comedy Central unexpectedly announced on Wednesday that production on season three of comedian Dave Chappelle's popular sketch-comedy series has been put on indefinite hold.

"Comedy Central has suspended production on the third season of 'Chappelle's Show' until further notice," Comedy Central spokesperson Tony Fox said in a statement. "All parties are optimistic that production will resume in the near future." Another channel spokesperson had no further comment on the situation Thursday (May 5). Chappelle's rep also had no comment.

After the "Chappelle's Show: Season 1" collection smashed DVD sales records for a TV show -- the set brought in $60 million, much of it going to the channel, according to The Hollywood Reporter -- an unhappy Chappelle wavered over whether to continue the show during renegotiations last April. By August, he had signed an unprecedented two-year deal reported to be worth $50 million that gave him a healthy stake in the DVD sales, but Chappelle's struggles to follow up the breakout success of the show continued.

The show was originally slated to return on February 16, but was then pushed back until May 31.

In December, the comedian was reportedly sidelined by a serious case of the flu, which suspended taping until February after just a few episodes' worth of sketches had been completed.

MTV's parent company, Viacom, also owns Comedy Central.