Шаппелдің Шоуы

American sketch comedy television series (2003–2006)

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.

The show opened with Chappelle being introduced over the instrumental from the song "Hip Hop", from the album Let's Get Free by Dead Prez. Chappelle would perform a short stand up in front of a live audience. The focus would then shift to a prerecorded sketch. The show was notorious for its handling of the topic of sexuality and Chappelle's casual usage of racial epithets. Chappelle performed sketches that premiered intricate cultural topics, such as prostitution, the entertainment industry, gun violence, numerous drug references (particularly marijuana, alcohol, PCP, crystal meth and crack cocaine) and music. The show often closed with a musical performance by a hip hop or soul artist.

Many guest stars 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 included 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.

Rather than acting out sketches in front of a live studio audience, the sketches were prerecorded with the audience reaction usually used in lieu of a laugh track. According to Neal Brennan in the season two DVD commentary, the production team never edited in prerecorded laughs, with the exception of the "Dude's Night Out" sketch due to the lack of reaction from the audience. 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! ', 'HWHAT?! ', and 'O kay!' The real Lil Jon appeared in one sketch opposite Chappelle's character, with Lil Jon speaking in an excessively dignified accent. The rapper credited the sketch with increasing his visibility. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end of the decade, "best of" list, saying, " We could have filled this list with 100 reasons we miss Chappelle's Show, but the biggest one would have to be his riotous celebrity impressions." Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories – Charlie Murphy (who also wrote the sketches) retells his encounters with 1980s celebrities, the most popular being the Rick James story. The sketch features Murphy as himself and Chappelle as James, including incidents such as James slapping Murphy and referring to him as "Darkness", interspersed with cuts from an interview with the actual present day Rick James, 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 by writing "Vote Rick James bitch!" or stolen by fans of the sketch. The other "True Hollywood Story" depicted Murphy and his crew losing a pickup game of basketball against Prince. Both James and Prince confirmed the stories were true, with James's admission coming in unreleased interview footage produced for the skit. Prince's confirmation came in an interview with MTV, in which he stated "The whupping is true". Prince later used an image of Chappelle dressed as Prince as the cover of his single "Breakfast Can Wait". Frontline – A spoof of the PBS series of the same name, it was hosted by Kent Wallace (played by William Bogert). The first Frontline sketch, "Blind Supremacy", featured the life of Clayton Bigsby (played by Chappelle), a blind white supremacist who is not aware that he is actually a black man. Grantland. com writer Rembert Brown deemed this sketch the winner of his "Best Chappelle Sketch Ever", beating out the Wayne Brady sketch in his 64 sketch, NCAA Tournament style bracket. This sketch was part of the first episode and garnered attention for its extensive use of the word "nigger" (mostly spoken by Chappelle's character). The sketch has been compared to the iconic "word association" Saturday Night Live sketch from 1975 featuring Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor which received similar reactions for its use of the word. Charlie Sheen stated that he was hospitalized in 2010 as a result of developing a hernia from laughing so hard upon viewing the sketch. Other Frontline sketches featured stories of racist animal actors and gay versions of everything from the DMV to the KKK. Racial Draft – A parody of modern day pro sports drafts. Various multiracial or multiethnic celebrities such as Tiger Woods (Chappelle), Lenny Kravitz, the Wu Tang Clan (playing themselves), O. J. Simpson, Eminem and Madonna were "drafted" into a (potentially) entirely different race, based on their perceived ethnicity or some other cultural appropriations in their act or lifestyle. Elián González was recertified as Hispanic, after being culturally appropriated by white America. Lenny Kravitz was declared 100% Jewish, the Wu Tang Clan 100% Asian, and Tiger Woods 100% black. Chappelle also played the white announcer/representative, while rapper Mos Def played the black representative; radio personality Angie Martinez played the Hispanic representative. WacArnold's – Chappelle gets a job as a young man at a fast food restaurant that portrays itself as providing a community service by offering jobs to disenfranchised, poor youth. A scene by scene mock of a 1990 McDonald's commercial is followed by Chappelle slowly realizing the job is embarrassing and he does not make enough money to support his family. He gets robbed and harassed on his way to work. During one encounter in the last scene of the sketch, a thug (played by Donnell Rawlings) quips, "Hey Calvin! It's a fine line between fries and shakes!" before he breaks into song, "The leanest burger in the world, could be the meanest burger in the world, if you cook it that way!". He follows by stating he has to "stop smoking this shit here" as his friends break out in laughter. The song is a remake of a 1971 song by The Persuaders (also covered by The Pretenders in 1983 and H Town in 1996) "Thin Line Between Love and Hate". Wayne Brady's Show – After Dave Chappelle quits the show in an opening segment that coincidentally 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 sociopath in the mold of Denzel Washington's character Alonzo Harris from the film Training Day. Brady had trouble filming the sketch, finding it difficult to say the line "Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?". Tyrone Biggums – Chappelle plays a squeaky voiced crack addict recognized by his white, blistered lips and constant scratching. His first appearance was in the second episode of season one. 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. He also made an appearance in a Fear Factor spoof sketch on the "Wayne Brady's Show" episode, wherein he was exceptionally willing to do gross challenges, and was nonreactive to the hot coals underneath his feet, which lit his big toenail on fire (the same fire from which he would later light a cigarette). Biggums was featured in "The World's Greatest Wars" segment where he was a cellmate of River Terrace Crew leader General Cornrow Wallace (Mos Def). "Silky" Johnson (played by Chappelle) – A notorious player hater, he 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 (played by Chappelle) – The lead "white" anchor on the fictitious "News 3", he is played by Chappelle in whiteface makeup and a blonde wig. Taylor has appeared in a few sketches, the first of which was the "Reparations" sketch from season one. 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. 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" sketch, Washington replied, "Where I'm from? A little town called none ya goddamn bidness." He has a wife and a son, T Mart. He is seemingly unaware of white culture, unknowing of Renée Zellweger (as he stated in "Trading Spouses" after reading White People Magazine). Ashy Larry (played by Donnell Rawlings) – A shirtless black man with flaky white skin and chapped lips, he is always seen wearing a pair of white boxer shorts. He appeared in the "World Series of Dice" sketch, in one of Chappelle's daydreams during a boring dinner conversation, and was seen holding Chappelle's $50 million 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. Rawlings briefly reprised his role as Ashy Larry in the sketch comedy show, In the Flow with Affion Crockett, encountering Chappelle (played by Crockett). 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. A few exceptions to this rule have occurred. One of them is during the "Slow Motion" sketch, 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 introductions; Wayne is looking at Robot Man's moves, and proceeds to dance with him. Also, in the opening theme for season three, 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.

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.

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:

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 no response was given by Chappelle. One week later, it was reported (most notably by The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly) that Chappelle had 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. 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. The New York Times also reported 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 August, with Herzog and Chappelle having reportedly not spoken since their June 3 meeting, TV Guide featured an interview with Charlie Murphy, in which he stated, "Chappelle's Show is over, man. Done It took me a long time to be able to say those words, but I can say it pretty easy now because it's the truth." Around the same time came confirmation from Comedy Central that co creator Neal Brennan had left the show. Nonetheless, on December 11, during Comedy Central's Last Laugh '05, a promotion for the third season of the show was aired.

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" sketch, 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 three, 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 he left the show. He also stated that he would be open to producing the remainder of season three (and perhaps a season four) 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.

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.

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.

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. Although the DVDs are "uncensored", some of the music performances were removed due to licensing issues. Also 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).

DVD Name Release Date # of Eps Additional InformationSeason 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. The Lost Episodes Uncensored July 25, 2006 3 This single disc box set 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 28 All episodes from Season One, Season Two, and "The Lost Episodes".