Not long into production, Stern found himself at odds with TBS management regarding the direction of the series. This led to an incident on March 8, 1999 in which he improvised a raunchy performance art piece that involved full nudity and breaking two liquor bottles on the show's set. Stern was promptly fired for the incident despite claiming that he had permission from network officials to do what he called "improv comedy" described as "trying to get stuff off my chest about the wrong-headed direction the show was taking." On June 9, one day before the "Chimp Channel" series premiere, Stern filed a breach-of-contract suit against TBS, Warner Bros. Domestic Pay TV, Telescopic Pictures, and Palomar Pictures in Los Angeles, seeking damages in excess of $1,675,000. Stern was represented in the suit by Los Angeles attorney David Wall. Production of the series continued for a few more months without its creative founder.