POP STAR: After his rise to fame as host of “The Arsenio Hall Show” Arsenio Hall took a step away from the limelight to spend time with his son. (Splash News)
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Arsenio Hall wasn’t through talking.
The first African-American late-night host walked away from his groundbreaking “Arsenio Hall Show” in 1994 — the victim of declining ratings in the Letterman-Leno wars and public backlash from a guest appearance by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
A few years later, he tried a sitcom — predictably called “Arsenio” — with Vivica Fox that lasted just seven episodes.
So where has he been?
He’s turned down almost every offer since, he says, to keep a promise he’d made to himself to spend time with his son, Arsenio Jr. , now 12, who he shares custody of with his ex and former manager, Cheryl Bonacci.
“My dad never threw me a football,” Hall told The Post. “He’s never been to a gym to see me play basketball.
“I think the way I raise my kid is a result of something that is inside of me that I am holding on to.”
Hall was raised in a single-parent home, by his mother, who worked two jobs.
“There were times I had a key around my neck and I would come home and start my dinner,” he said.
“I was a pretty lonely kid who grew up fast and was pretty independent. I wanted my kid to have a different upbringing.
“My hope was that when he was 10 or 12 I could somehow slide back into the business.”
That time has arrived.
Hall’s comeback road starts next week on, yes, Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice.”
“He was the best at what he did,” Trump says. “I view this as Arsenio’s coming out party. I think Arsenio will have another major show after ‘The Celebrity Apprentice.’ ”
Perhaps. But the talkshow landscape is already overcrowded — and ultra-competitive, Hall concedes.
“If there was an example of the kind of show that I might do now, I think George Lopez was doing it,” says Hall. “And that didn’t work out. So, I will probably have to find something other than the predictable late-night talk show to do.”
But what?
He reportedly filmed a pilot for “Deal or No Deal” many years ago — but, today, plum hosting gigs on shows like “American Idol” and “The Voice” are going to guys two decades younger.
“When I am alone in my room, I pretend to be Nick Cannon,” Hall jokes.
“But just because I am not right for every Nick Cannon job doesn’t mean I am not right for some job. I just may not be replacing the British gentleman for ‘X Factor.’ ”
Or Regis Philbin, for that matter.
Hall — who hosted the music variety show “Solid Gold” in the 1980s — says he would “rather take a lesser job” than ask his son to relocate to New York.
“I can’t say I haven’t awoken in the middle of the night screaming ‘Curb Your Arsenio!’ ” he says.
“That’s what I want. I want to be the black Larry David! I want to write my reality.”
That could be easier than the pressure of “Celebrity Apprentice,” which returns Sunday on NBC.
“There is no amount of money they can pay someone to get them to stand there while Clay Aiken screams at you,” Hall says.
“If it wasn’t for HIV/AIDS and the Magic Johnson foundation [the charity he is playing for], there were days when I was like, ‘I am getting up and walking to the airport! F – -k this. They can mail me my s – – t!”
Still, appearing on shows like “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Dancing With the Stars” (which Hall says he turned down) can “really help your visibility and goose your career,” says P.R. expert Howard Bragman.
“But you’ve got to be smart in how you play these shows. It doesn’t just happen automatically. People have gone on these shows and not looked like they were trying.
“And it didn’t do anything for them.”