Illness and a lack of material are delaying the third season of Comedy Central's highly popular "Chappelle's Show," reports said.

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Star David Chappelle, 31, has been sidelined with the flu and the entire production crew "got a bit of a late start on writing season three," a Comedy Central spokesman told the New York Post.

Chappelle's third season, which was to begin Feb. 16, has been delayed until late April or May, the newspaper reported.

At the end of the second season, the 30-minute, offbeat sketch show had more than 3 million viewers. The first season is the top seller among TV shows available on DVD, E! Online reported. Paramount last week delayed the date on which the second season will be available on DVD.