Chappelle's Show facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chappelle's Show
Created by	Dave Chappelle Neal Brennan
Starring	Dave Chappelle Charlie Murphy Donnell Rawlings
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	28
Production
Running time	16–26 minutes
Production company(s)	Pilot Boy Productions Marobru Productions Comedy Central Productions
Distributor	MTV Networks MGM Worldwide Television Distribution
Release
Original network	Comedy Central
Original release	January 22, 2003 (2003-01-22) – July 23, 2006 (2006-07-23)

Chappelle's Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were the show's executive producers. The series premiered on January 22, 2003, on the American cable television network Comedy Central. The show ran for two complete seasons. An abbreviated third season of three episodes aired in 2006, compiled of previously unreleased sketches.

After numerous delays, production of the third season of Chappelle’s Show was abruptly ended when Chappelle left the series. Critically acclaimed throughout its run, the series often satirized and examined—through dark and racial humor—race, social stereotypes, masculinity, celebrity culture, and comedy itself. TV Guide included it on their list of "TV's Top 100 Shows" and it was placed 26th on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" ranking.

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. The focus then shifts to a prerecorded sketch. The show sometimes ends with a musical performance by a hip hop or soul artist.

Cast

Frequent or notable guest stars

Many guest stars have appeared on the show, including Half Baked co-stars Guillermo Díaz, Jim Breuer and Snoop Dogg (who was also a musical guest); RZA, GZA and Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan, Rick James, Damon Dash, Redman, Ice-T, Arsenio Hall, Wayne Brady (the only guest to appear on stage), Mos Def (who was also a musical guest), Eddie Griffin, Susan Sarandon, Q-Tip, Rashida Jones, Jamie Foxx, Carson Daly, Ron Jeremy, Bill Burr, Patrice O’Neal, Rich Vos, Spike Lee, Michael Rapaport and Joe Rogan.

Musical guests include De La Soul, Ludacris, Robert Petkoff, Talib Kweli, Fat Joe, Wyclef Jean, Killer Mike, Big Boi of OutKast, Anthony Hamilton, Kanye West, Common, DMX, Busta Rhymes, Slum Village, John Mayer, Questlove, Cee-Lo Green, Vida Guerra, Erykah Badu and Lil Jon.

Some recurring characters

• Negrodamus – Paul Mooney plays a black prophet and fortune teller (a satire of Nostradamus). In the sketch, people (mostly white) ask him various questions.
• "Silky" Johnson (played by Chappelle) – A notorious player hater, he won the fictitious "Hater of the Year" award twice, and who later traveled back in time to "hate" in the past.
• Chuck Taylor (played by Chappelle) – The lead "white" anchor on the fictitious "News 3", he is played by Chappelle in whiteface makeup and a blonde wig.
• Leonard Washington (played by Chappelle) – 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 looks out the windows to see if he is being followed.
• Ashy Larry (played by Donnell Rawlings) – A black man with flaky-white skin and chapped lips, he is always seen wearing a pair of white boxer shorts.
• 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 sketches, he is generally not acknowledged, despite the out-of-place behavior, nor does he acknowledge anyone.

Episodes

In total, 28 episodes of Chappelle's Show produced between 2003 and 2006, in addition to a Music Jump-Off special and four compilation episodes.

Release

Broadcast

Reruns have frequently aired on Comedy Central and VH1 in the US. The series also airs around the world, with episodes airing on MTV in Germany, Comedy Central in Brazil, The Comedy Network and MuchMusic in Canada, SBS, NITV (sister channel to SBS), The Comedy Channel and 7mate in Australia, and FX in the United Kingdom. The series was also shown on WGN America and was syndicated to various television stations across the US, including MyNetworkTV.

Streaming

The series is available to be streamed on the Comedy Central app and website. The series is also available to stream on Paramount+, Netflix, and HBO Max. It is free to digitally rent with select public libraries in the United States through Hoopla.

On November 1, 2020, the series became available to stream on Netflix and HBO Max. However, less than two months later, the series was removed from both services following Chappelle's commentary concerning his lack of royalties from the show during his appearance on Saturday Night Live. On February 11, 2021, Chappelle announced that he had renegotiated his deal with ViacomCBS, and the show returned to the services the following day. Despite the renegotiated deal, Season 3 (the "lost episodes") were not reposted to Netflix, and has also been withdrawn from other platforms where it was available previously like Crave in Canada.

Home media

The DVD sets for seasons one and two 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. According to a 10/17/10 USA Today article, Season 1 has sold over two million copies.

The episode "Music Jump-Off" which featured Chappelle visiting his old high school, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, intercut with previously unaired sketches 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 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

Special releases