Chappelle's Show

Chappelle's Show is a sketch comedy series starring Dave Chappelle, a comedian (previously) best known for his role as Thurgood Jenkins in the stoner film Half Baked. The show premiered on January 22, 2003 on US cable television network Comedy Central. Since then, the show has become the second highest rated show on the network, trailing only the long-running cartoon series South Park. After numerous delays of the third season, the future of the series is in doubt.

Popular sketches

Some popular sketches from Chappelle's Show include:

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• Any sketch including Tyrone Biggums, a cocaine & crack addict with a high pitched voice, as he gives weird speeches about drugs, being in a energy drink ad, or being a contestant on Fear Factor.
• "The Playa Hater's Ball"-- features Dave and Co. as vicious, foul-mouthed lowlifes each vying for the top position of "Playa Hater of the Year." Dave's Silky Johnston character is well known for his deadpan humor.
• A later sketch featuring the same characters has the at "The Playa Haters Science Fair", and when one of them produces a time machine, they use it to go back and first hate on Hitler, then go to the slave period where Silky Johnson shoots a slave master after a slave asks him when he will be free. Silky replies: "How's about nowish?"
• "The Niggar Family"-- a send up of a white Leave It To Beaver type family whose last name happens to be Niggar.
• "The World Series of Dice"-- a parody of the World Series of Poker with special guest star Eddie Griffin, included perhaps the most notable character from the show, Ashy Larry.
• "Ask a Black Dude" -- with comedian and former Richard Pryor writer Paul Mooney. Mooney adlibs answers to questions about black people from both famous and anonymous white people, often common stereotypes. In the second season, Mooney replaced this with Negrodamus, an African American version of Nostradamus in which Mooney adlibbed "answers to life's most unsolvable mysteries" such as "Why do white people love Wayne Brady?" (Answer: "Because Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X.")
• Trading Spouses: A spoof of the reality show Trading Spaces, where a white and black family exchange fathers. Ironically, shows with a similar premise were later released by Fox Network (Trading Spouses) and British network Channel 4 (Wife Swap).
• The racial draft: An ESPN-style draft telecast where the various races of the world finally decide to claim several mixed-race (and other) celebrities as their own.
• "Black Bush"-- an African-American "interpretation" of George W. Bush and his administration.
• Frontline: The life of Clayton Bigsby, 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 significant notoriety.
• Popcopy, a parody of the Kinko's franchise's training videos.
• The "Mad" Real World, a parody of MTV's The Real World in which a mild-mannered white male moves in with a group of antagonistic black roommates. Few The Real World staff members worked in this skit.
• R. Kelly's "Piss on You" music video (and remix). The real R.Kelly was (no pun intended) pissed off by this spoof, which prompted him to ask Dave, "Nigga how you gonna make a video about peeing on somebody?" (to which Dave responded "Nigga, how are YOU gonna make a video about peeing on somebody?"). Both "Piss on You" songs are parodies of Ignition and its remix.
• Blackzilla! - a send up of Godzilla movies in which a giant Dave battles Godzilla in the middle of Tokyo.
• A Moment in the Life of Lil Jon, in which Dave plays the rapper/producer, who usually says the words 'Yeahuuhh!', 'WHAT?!?', and 'O-kay!!!', and appears as he does in Usher's "Yeah!" video, and the real Lil' Jon appeared in a sketch in one episode. When not spouting his catchphrases in the skits, Lil' Jon speaks with an excessively dignified accent.
• Real Movies - examples of what movies would be like if they were set in reality.
• An example of what life would be like if it was set in the world of Grand Theft Auto.
• Having a "pretty white girl" sing his thoughts as he writes them, because they would be too scary otherwise.
• Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories (Actually semi-true): In the first (and easily the most popular sketch in the show so far - one that catapulted Chappelle to the level of phenomenon within days after airing), Charlie Murphy (Eddie Murphy's real-life brother) recounts supposed altercations between himself and the late funk musician Rick James, which took place during the height of his popularity in the early 1980s. Chappelle intersperses Murphy's extremely funny retelling of his story with reenacted excerpts in which Chappelle plays the young Rick James and Murphy plays his younger self. Additionally, the skit incorporates interview footage of Rick James himself responding to Murphy's version of events (filmed shortly before he died). Created and popularized the catchphrases "I'm Rick James, bitch!", "They shoulda never gave you niggas money!" and "Cocaine's a hell of a drug." This skit was written by Murphy.
• A later version of Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories involves Charlie & Eddie Murphy and their entourage visiting Prince - and getting soundly beaten by the Revolution in an impromptu basketball game. Chappelle does a hilarious imitation of Prince's dead-serious tone. Catchphrases: "We'll call this the shirts versus the blouses." "Game: blouses." Also written by Murphy.
• Samuel Jackson Beer: A parody of the Samuel Adams beer commercials. Features Dave as a very profane and extremely loud Samuel L Jackson dressed in colonial-style clothes. Catchphrases: "IT'LL GET YA DRUNK!!! YOU'LL BE FUCKIN' FAT GIRLS IN NO TIME!!! YOU MIGHT EVEN FIGHT A NIGGA OR TWO!!!" "MMM, MMMM BITCH!!!" "YES THEY DESERVE TO DIE! AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!!!" and "THEY ATE ME! A FUCKIN' SHARK ATE ME! DRINK, BITCH!"
• WacArnold's: What life is really like for those black people in McDonald's Commercials
• O'Dweeds: A new THC-free Cannabis sold completely legal. Parody of O'Doul's alcohol-free beer
• I Know Black People: A fake quiz show hosted by Chappelle in which he asks many diverse people questions about African-American terms and phrases.
• How most things are so much better in slow-motion (such as doing laundry or going to a club), but not everything is (Like going to the bathroom). Parodying Rap/Hip-Hop music videos.
• Wayne Brady's Show (Wayne Brady as a Guest Host): After Dave gets kicked off the show by his superiors, Wayne Brady takes over and when Dave takes the show back the tale of Wayne and Dave's misadventures is told. In the sketch, Wayne Brady (contrary to his friendly public image) is portrayed as a murderous, pimping, and seriously disturbed psychopath (in a clever, detailed semi-parody of the film 'Training Day.') The sketch spawned the hilariously deadpan catchphrase "Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?". There are skits that shows Dave at his apartment watching the TV of Wayne Brady taking over his show while someone prank calls him, breaking the fourth wall.

The most popular recurring joke, however, is the show's set designer, Karl Lake, doing the Robot dance. It was performed in a barbershop, club, and courtroom (in a deleted scene) amongst other places.

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In addition to sketches, the show features performances by various hip-hop groups.

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Wayne Brady is the only guest to appear on stage, while other guest stars are in pre-recorded sketches.

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The sketches in the show are filmed by a video camera, a film camera and a digital camera. But there's some sketches that don't have good quality because the camera was recorded in front a TV screen in the stage in order to receive broadcasting.

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