In his autobiography, Artie Lange says that he was fired during the second season due to his drug abuse. He says that the cast and crew attempted to have an intervention for him but he fled the studio.
Steven Cragg: Hey guess what. There's a show on ABC called Rodney starring Rodney Carrington that just got picked up for another season. Hey, Rodney got picked up for another season! Yeah! Honk your horn! Hey I got a question, who the fuck is Rodney Carrington?