Chappelle's Show
was an American
comedy television
series created by comedian Dave
Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with
Chappelle hosting the show as well as starring in various
skits. Chappelle, Brennan and Michele Armour were the show's
executive producers.
The series premiered on January 22, 2003 on
the U.S. cable television network Comedy Central. The show ran for two
complete seasons and a third, truncated season (dubbed "The Lost
Episodes").
After numerous
delays,
production of the third season of the show was abruptly ended when
Chappelle left the show. Three episodes were compiled from the
completed work and these episodes aired from July 9 to July 23,
2006.
Re-runs frequently air on Comedy Central and
around the world on Comedy Central in
Germany
, The Comedy
Network in Canada, The Comedy
Channel and the Special
Broadcasting Service (SBS) in Australia and FX in the
United
Kingdom
.
Today,
Chappelle's Show is shown on
WGN America and is
syndicated to various
television stations across the U.S.
Format
The show opens with Chappelle being introduced over the
instrumental from the song "Hip-Hop", from the album
Let's Get Free by
Dead Prez. Chappelle performs a short
stand up in front of a live audience, which
serves to introduce the upcoming skit. The focus then shifts to a
prerecorded
sketch that appears on a
screen that is to Chappelle's left (or right for the first
episode). The show is notorious for its handling of the topic of
sexuality and Chappelle's casual usage of racial epithets,
categorizing the show as a
racial
comedy. The show also handles such topics as prostitution, the
entertainment industry,
gun violence,
numerous drug references (particularly
marijuana,
PCP,
and
crack cocaine) and music, all
performed in a comedic fashion with a touch of
antagonism. The TV-MA, TV-14 rated show is
controversial in its use of young child actors for some skits. The
show ends with a musical performance by a
hip
hop or
soul artist.
Cast
Episodes
There have been three seasons of
Chappelle's Show
produced, totaling 28 episodes. There have also been four
"mixtapes" and one "music jump-off" episode, highlighting the best
sketches and musical acts of each season, respectively. Combined,
this makes 33 complete episodes.
Notable sketches
Rather than acting out sketches in front of a live studio audience,
the sketches are prerecorded with the audience reaction usually
used in lieu of a
laugh track. According
to
Neal Brennan in Season 2 DVD
commentary, regarding the "Dude's Night Out" sketch, they had to
edit in prerecorded laughs due to the lack of reaction from the
audience.
Frontline - A spoof of the
PBS series
Frontline. The first
Frontline sketch,
Blind
Supremacy, featured the life of Clayton Bigsby
(played by Chappelle), a biography of a
blind white
supremacist who is not aware that he is actually a black man.
This was in the opening episode of the first season and helped
Chappelle gain significance for the way that the sketch
gratuitously used the word "nigger" (mostly spoken by Chappelle's
character). The sketch has been compared to an iconic
Saturday Night Live sketch from 1975
featuring
Chevy Chase and
Richard Pryor which similarly satirized racist
language. Other
Frontline sketches featured stories of
racist animal actors and
gay versions
of everything from the
DMV to the
KKK.
Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories -
Charlie Murphy (who also wrote the
sketch) retells events of the 1980s, the most popular being the
Rick James story with Murphy as himself
and Chappelle as James, including incidents such as James slapping
Murphy, interspersed with scenes of the present-day Rick James
(portrayed by James himself), trying to cover up for his past
behavior, saying,
"Cocaine's a hell of a
drug." The sketch spawned one of the show's popular
catchphrases, "I'm Rick James, bitch!", which Chappelle as James
repeatedly declares.
The sketch attained even greater public
attention when, in 2005, a candidate for city council in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi
, also named Rick James but unrelated to the singer,
had many of his Vote Rick James campaign
signs defaced or stolen by fans of the sketch. The other
"True Hollywood Story" depicted Murphy and his crew playing a
pickup game of basketball against none other than
Prince. While not as popular as Rick
James, this segment was still well-received among fans.
A Moment in the Life of Lil'
Jon - Chappelle plays rapper/producer Lil' Jon
doing normal, everyday tasks, with a vocabulary consisting of
almost nothing but the words 'Yeah!', 'WHAT?!', and 'O-kay!' The
real Lil' Jon appeared in one sketch with Chappelle's character,
using his catchphrases in an excessively dignified accent, perhaps
as a reference to his upper-class background. The rapper credited
the sketch with increasing his visibility.
Wayne Brady's Show - After Dave Chappelle
quits the show in an opening segment that ironically mirrored the
contract negotiations for the aborted third season,
Wayne Brady (portraying himself) takes over as
host and is asked to
emcee the remaining
episodes of the series since Chappelle had already filmed the
remaining sketches. Regretting the decision to leave the show,
Chappelle returns and confronts Brady. The ensuing confrontation
leads to the airing of a flashback to a night of misadventures
involving the two that portrays Brady (contrary to his friendly
public image) as a
murderous,
pimping and seriously disturbed
psychopath in the mold of
Denzel Washington's character from the
film
Training Day. The skit
was prompted by a prior sketch where
Negrodamus
states that
"White people love Wayne Brady, because he makes
Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X."
Recurring characters
- Robot Dancing Man - Set designer Karl Lake did
the Robot dance in random places,
including a barbershop, club, and a courtroom (in a deleted scene).
In the skits, he is generally not acknowledged, despite the
out-of-place behavior, nor does he acknowledge anyone. There have
been a few exceptions to this rule. One of them is during the
Slow-Motion skit, in the club, when Dave acknowledges him
by saying "The Robot", and emulating him. Another is when
Wayne Brady "takes over" the show,
during one of the commercial break intros; Wayne is looking at
Robot Man's moves and then proceeds to dance with him. Also, in the
opening theme for Season 3, Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings
have hogtied and taken the place of the two men who start off the
show. Robot Man is seen in the background doing his dance and the
harmonica player yells out "Robot,
help us!", but to no avail.
- Tron Carter - a cocaine dealer (played by
Chappelle) originally shown in a sketch where he has received
reparations for slavery and
due to a "hot hand in a dice game" becomes
the richest man in America. When asked about the infant he carts
around in a stroller, Tron says, "I bought this baby straight
cash." He is also one of the roommates in The Mad Real
World. Later in a spoof of Law & Order, Tron gets the same
lenient treatment as those involved in White-collar crime, invoking the "FiF" in
response to every question. Tron also appeared in the first episode
of Season 3 in a skit in which he described an altercation with
Method Man and was tortured by the
methods described in the song "Method
Man" from Enter
the Wu-Tang . In the reparations episode he is shown
gambling in Brooklyn and described as a Harlem
resident,
but in another episode he is shown in his house on "Everglade
Boulevard" bagging up cocaine and watching the fictitious R.
Kelly music video "Piss On You" and he receives a phone call from
the Dade County Police
Department, suggesting he lives in Miami.
- Negrodamus - a black prophet and fortune
teller (played by Paul Mooney). In the
sketch, people (mostly white) ask him various questions such as
"Negrodamus, why do white people love Wayne Brady so much?" to which he replies
"White people love Wayne Brady because he makes...Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X." (This clip was later shown as a
drug hallucination in the Wayne Brady sketch.)
- Tyrone Biggums - A squeaky-voiced crack addict
recognized by his white, cocaine-encrusted lips and constant
scratching. His first appearance was in the second episode of
Season 1. He is often heard saying "I smoke rocks" and "SHAZAM!" Tyrone enjoys
eating peanut butter and crack
sandwiches, and was the spokesman for "Red Balls," an energy drink
made from cocaine.
- Andy "Silky" Johnson - A notorious player hater who won the fictitious "Hater of
the Year" award twice (one of which was for calling a bomb threat
on the Special Olympics), and who
later traveled back in time to "hate" in the past.
- Chuck Taylor - The lead "white" anchor on the
fictitious "News 3", played by Chappelle in whiteface makeup and a blonde wig. Taylor has
appeared in a few skits, the first of which was the
Reparations skit from Season 1.
- Leonard Washington - Washington first appeared
in the first season sketch Trading
Spouses, wherein he acted as the patriarch of a white
family for a month. Notably, when entering rooms unfamiliar to him,
Washington will look out the windows to see if he is being
followed. He also expressed his displeasure that many white
families do not use washcloths when taking a shower or bath. One of
the only things that can make Leonard Washington back down is being
shot. When asked for his hometown in the World Series
of Dice skit, Washington replied, "Where I'm from? A
little town called none ya goddamn bidness [business]." He has a
wife and a son, T-Mart. He is seemingly unaware of white culture,
unknowing of Renee Zellweger (as he
stated in "Trading Spouses" after reading "White People
Magazine").
- Ashy Larry - A shirtless black man with
flaky-white skin and chapped lips, who is always seen wearing a
pair of white boxer shorts (played by Donnell Rawlings). He appeared in the
World Series of Dice skit, in one of
Chappelle's daydreams during a boring dinner conversation, and was
seen holding Dave Chappelle's $50 Million dollar check in one of
the Lost Episodes. "Ashy Larry" is also one of the names Wayne
Brady calls the PCP he gives to Dave in the Wayne Brady
sketch.
Frequent or notable guest stars
Many guest stars have appeared on the show, including
RZA,
GZA,
Damon
Dash,
Redman,
Ice-T,
Arsenio Hall,
Wayne Brady,
Common,
Mos Def,
Eddie Griffin,
Susan Sarandon,
Rashida Jones,
Jamie
Foxx,
Carson Daly,
Michael Rapaport and
Fear Factor's
Joe
Rogan. Brady was the only guest to appear on stage. Musical
guests who appeared on the show include
De La
Soul,
Ludacris,
Talib Kweli,
GZA,
Fat Joe,
Wyclef Jean,
Killer Mike,
Big
Boi (as
OutKast),
Anthony Hamilton,
Common,
Kanye
West,
DMX,
Busta Rhymes,
Slum
Village,
John Mayer,
Questlove,
Snoop Dogg,
Cee-Lo,
Vida
Guerra,
Erykah Badu, and
Lil Jon.
Third season delays
2004
During a
June 2004 stand-up performance in Sacramento, California
, Chappelle left the stage due to audience members
interrupting the show by shouting "I'm Rick
James, bitch!," which became a catchphrase from the popular ""Rick James" sketch
. After a few minutes, Chappelle returned and continued by
saying "The show is ruining my life." He stated that he disliked
working "20 hours a day" and that the popularity of the show was
making it difficult for him to continue his stand-up career which
was "the most important thing" to him. He also told the
audience:
2005
The third season of
Chappelle's Show was scheduled to
premiere in February 2005. This date was pushed back to May 31,
2005 when production fell behind schedule in December 2004 because,
according to Comedy Central, Chappelle had fallen ill with the
flu (Chappelle later told
Oprah Winfrey that this was untrue and that
stress had caused him to leave).
On May 4, 2005, just weeks before the anticipated premiere, Comedy
Central announced that
Chappelle's Show would not be ready
by the announced date and that production had been suspended "until
further notice." No reason for the delay or suspension was given
and there was no response from Chappelle. One week later it was
reported (most notably by
The New
York Times and
Entertainment Weekly) that
Chappelle had previously flown to
South
Africa on
April 28 to stay in an
undisclosed psychiatric facility.
On
May 14,
TIME announced that one of their
reporters, Christopher John Farley, had interviewed Chappelle in
South Africa, and that no psychiatric
treatments were occurring or necessary. Chappelle returned shortly
thereafter and quelled rumors of psychiatric or substance abuse
problems, and emphasized that his trip was a "spiritual retreat"
intended to keep his sense of reality outside the bubble of intense
pressure and fame and to keep his humor fresh.
Shortly
after his return from South Africa, Chappelle returned to his home
in the town of Yellow Springs, Ohio
. Following that, he gave a series of
surprise performances at small comedy clubs near his home. The
small-town community was supportive of his return, and worked hard
to honor his wish to live a normal life and escape constant public
attention.
On
July 14, Comedy Central president
Doug Herzog announced that Chappelle was
welcome back any time, but that the comedian had said he was still
not ready to return. Herzog put a positive spin on negotiations,
but conceded that he did not expect
Chappelle's Show to
return in 2005. It was also reported in the
New York Times that Chappelle explained
to Herzog, over dinner, that his success was getting to him and
that "he wanted to be wrong again sometimes, instead of always
being right."
In an August 2005 interview with
TV
Guide, Charlie Murphy said that
Chappelle's Show
was finished. Chappelle, on the other hand, had yet to announce
this to the public. On
December 11,
during Comedy Central's
Last Laugh
'05, a promo for the third season of the show was
aired.
2006
On January 24, 2006, the program premiered uncensored on the UK's
FX, starting with the second season. The
first episode featured the
Slow Motion
skit, one of the most famous in the United Kingdom, popularized by
the Internet. It was well received by critics, with outspoken TV
critic
Gary Naysmith declaring it,
"The finest piece of television I've seen all year."
On February 3, 2006, Chappelle made his first television interview
since production ceased on Season 3, on
The Oprah Winfrey Show. He
stated that burnout, losing his creative control, and a work
environment that was uncomfortable, were some of the reasons why he
left the show. He also stated that he would be open to producing
the remainder of Season 3 (and perhaps a Season 4) only if his
demands were met, one of which was to ensure that half of the
proceeds of future
Chappelle's Show DVD sales would go to
charity. Chappelle claimed that if Comedy Central aired the unaired
episodes, the show would be finished. After that announcement,
Comedy Central stopped advertising the release of the third season
for a period of time.
The "Lost Episodes"
In
April, the network wrapped up
production of the third season, taping the live studio audience
segments for three episodes. In place of Chappelle, the last
episodes were co-hosted by regular cast members
Charlie Murphy and
Donnell Rawlings. Advertised as the
"
lost episodes", they began airing on
July 9, 2006. The third and final episode aired on July 23, 2006.
The DVD collection of the lost episodes was released on July 25,
2006, although the controversial
Racial Pixies
sketch appeared heavily censored from its original debut. The banjo
player had been edited out, some dialogue was removed, and various
cuts were re-edited in that particular scene. This skit allegedly
contributed to Chappelle's departure from the show, although it is
unclear specifically as to why the skit was edited.
When asked if he felt guilty about carrying on with the lost
episodes without Chappelle, Donnell Rawlings replied:
A number of sketches on the DVD were previously unaired.
DVD releases
The DVD sets for Seasons 1 and 2 of
Chappelle's Show have
sold extremely well since their release. As of 2005, the first
season DVD was the best-selling TV series set of all time, beating
out other popular shows such as
The
Simpsons (the first season of which held the record
beforehand),
American Dad!,
Family Guy,
Friends, and
Seinfeld.
The episode "Music Jump-Off" which featured Chappelle visiting his
old high school, The
Duke Ellington School of the
Arts, intercut with previously unaired skits and musical
performances did not make either DVD set.
On October 11, 2005, the first half of the first season was
released on
UMD.
On May 23, 2006, the first uncensored season was made available for
purchase on the
iTunes Music
Store, and on
June 20, the second
uncensored season was also made available on iTunes.
On February 26, 2007, both of the uncensored seasons were published
by Comedy Central as
BitTorrent downloads on BitTorrent.com.
On June 5, 2007, Comedy Central released a compilation DVD titled
The Best Of Chappelle's Show which highlights 25 of the
most popular sketches in all seasons.
On November 20, 2007, Comedy Central released a boxset with Season
One, Season Two, and "The Lost Episodes" titled
Chappelle's
Show - The Series Collection.
All box sets were released by
Paramount Home
Entertainment (under the
Comedy
Central banner).
Season releases
| DVD Name |
Release Date |
Ep # |
Additional Information |
| Season 1 Uncensored |
February 24, 2004 |
12 |
This 2 disc box set includes 12 episodes from Season 1. Bonus
features include Deleted scene/Gag reel, 20 Minute Featurette
Ask A Black Dude with Paul Mooney, Audio commentary on 5
Episodes and on the Deleted scenes/Gag reel. |
| Season 2 Uncensored |
May 24, 2005 |
13 |
This 3 disc box set includes 13 episodes from Season 2. Bonus
features include New Stand Up Material From Chappelle, Uncut Rick
James interview, Gag reel and Deleted scenes. |
Special releases
| DVD Name |
Release Date |
Ep # |
Additional Information |
| The Lost Episodes Uncensored |
July 25, 2006 |
3 |
This single disc boxset includes the 3 episodes from the
unfinished third season. Bonus features include unaired sketches,
Fabulous Making of Chappelle's Show Documentary, Audio
commentary by Charlie Murphy, Donnell Rawlings and Neal Brennan,
Blooper reel and Deleted scenes. |
| The Best of Chappelle's Show Uncensored |
June 5, 2007 |
Compilation |
This compilation highlights 25 of the most popular sketches in
all seasons in an uncensored format. |
| The Series Collection |
November 20, 2007 [56658] |
28 |
All episodes from Season One, Season Two, and "The Lost
Episodes". |
Cultural references
In
Mark Ronson's single, "
Valerie", featuring
Amy Winehouse, Winehouse says at the beginning
of the track "I'm sorry Charlie Murphy, I was having too much fun",
a reference to the Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories skit in
Season 2.
In
Lupe Fiasco's single "
Dumb It Down" featured on his album
Lupe Fiasco's The
Cool he references a skit parodying
Making the Band with the line, "Spit
hot fire like Dylan on Chappelle's skit."
In the
Gym Class Heroes song "Don't
Tell Me It's Over" on their CD
The Quilt,
Travis says toward the middle of the song "Tell them Travis smokes
more crack than Tyrone Biggums does," a reference to the popular
character on
Chappelle's show.
Media
References
- The hilariously dangerous world of Dave
Chappelle
- Paul Mooney on Pryor, Chappelle and the state of
black America | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest
Florida's Information Leader
- EW's Great Performances of 2004 | Chappelle's Show
| Television News | TV | Entertainment Weekly
- Candidate blames theft on ‘Chappelle’ skit - TV comedy -
MSNBC.com
- Rick James Runs For City Council, Pays Price - News
Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
- Dave Chappelle: The Reason Grandmas Know Who Lil
Jon Is - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV
News
- USATODAY.com - Chappelle: Laughing all the way to
the bank
- CBC.ca Arts - Chappelle open to Comedy Central
return
- Variety.com - 'Chappelle' yuks yanked for
now
- [1]
- Chappelle's Show DVD news: S1 DVD Passes The
Simpsons As #1 All-Time TV-DVD; Celebrates by Announcing Season 2!
| TVShowsOnDVD.com
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