TVSquad

Once the panel for the new Let's Make a Deal was announced, you knew that at some point someone was going to ask Wayne Brady if he was going to have to choke a bitch.

That line, from the hilarious Chappelle's Show bit where Brady made fun of his squeaky-clean image, came up halfway through, when a critic asked Brady the question, "submitted from one of our readers on Twitter." I wonder if that reader was one of us critics, who all burned up the Twitterverse with the line as soon as we heard Brady would be here today.

Brady, who can improvise a song on the spot, just sat there in semi-silence. "That was a great choice of question," he said sarcastically. He isn't running from the bit, he said, and he's heard ten-year-olds try to say the line back at him at airports. But he's promoting a daytime, family-oriented show and just wanted people to talk about that.

I had forgotten how very funny The Dana Carvey Show was until several months ago when I decided to watch a bunch of episodes online. It may sound cliched to say, but I think this was an underrated show, ahead of its time, and would probably survive for a few more seasons today on Comedy Central or FX or FOX. I can picture that.

We won't get a revival, of course, but we now have a great DVD set (in stores today) to keep forever. All of the episodes are here (including one that didn't even make it to ABC), and a couple of good extras.

The Roots are taking their new gig as the official house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon very seriously, even if their initial chances of scoring such a gig seemed like nothing more than a joke by a couple of the show's overworked staffers.

"We were the musical supervisors for [Chappelle's Show] season two and three ... and Dave's partner Neal Brennan was brought over as a consultant, and he sort of jokingly recommended The Roots as a house band," said Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson in a conference call last Tuesday with Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter. "I guess the joke was sort of like, you know, I dare you to ask them, even though they're too busy to take it."

More interesting than the actual series collection of Chappelle's Show on DVD is the story behind it. For those yet unaware, in 2005, after completing two seasons of the show, Dave Chappelle walked away from a $50 million dollar contract to produce further seasons (despite having completed the filming of sketches for season three which were showcased in "The Lost Episodes"). The DVDs of Season 1 of Chappelle's Show were among the best-selling of the time. What happened to make Dave walk away from that?

I'm getting ahead of myself. I enjoyed Dave Chappelle's style of humor and enjoyed watching the seasons of his show again. I found his recurring characters funny such as Tyrone Biggums and Lil Jon (recurring characters are a formula for success as evidenced by other sketch shows including SNL) and his humor always seemed to return to topics of racism, sexism, drugs and money (topics everyone can relate to). Hell, I've liked Dave Chappelle since Robin Hood: Men In Tights.

It's time for us to give away some stuff ... again! One of today's giveaways is for three copies of Chappelle's Show - The Series Collection on DVD, which is already available in stores. All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, December 7, and mention why you'd like to own the series. We'll randomly choose three winners to receive the DVDs!

Some other details:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating why you'd like to own the Chappelle's Show - The Series Collection DVDs.
• The comment must be left before December 7, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Three winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  
• Three winners will receive a copy of Chappelle's Show - The Series Collection on DVD (valued at $49.99).
  

Click here for complete Official Rules.

Dave Chappelle is back on the stage after his departure from Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show in 2005. On Sunday night, he took the stage at Los Angeles' Laugh Factory for six hours and seven minutes! Not much is known about what he said or did, but the owner of the joint says the audience was howling with laughter the entire time.

Earlier this month, unfunny "comedian" Dane Cook set the Laugh Factory record for endurance at three hours, 50 minutes. The previous record was held by Richard Pryor, who was on stage for two hours, 41 minutes back in 1980. Does anyone else think Chappelle was trying to stick it to Cook for busting Pryor's record? I sure as hell hope so.

More Michael Richards fall-out. Esteemed comedian and writer Paul Mooney has called for an end to the use of the "N word." This is big deal because Mooney is an entertainment legend known for his own liberal use of the word. He wrote for Sanford & Son, Saturday Night Live, Good Times and In Living Color. He was Richard Pryor's writing partner and has worked closely with Spike Lee and Dave Chappelle. He appears in the "Negrodamus" and "Ask a Black Man" sketches on The Chappelle Show. Seriously, the guy is huge. If you ever have a chance to catch his stand-up act in the clubs, you should. The man has seen it all.

Isn't it just about time that James Lipton and Bravo put Inside the Actor's Studio to rest? The roster of guests for the show is starting to get just a bit silly. For every quality actor like a Dustin Hoffman, who did the show for the first time this year, there seems to be about four guests who have a questionable connection to acting, like Martin Lawerence and Barbara Walters. Even the episode with Dave Chappelle, while it was entertaining, was nothing more than an examination of why he flipped out and left Chappelle's Show. I'm not really sure what the students who actually take this as a for-credit class are learning from these subjects.

Which brings me to the news that Teri Hatcher will appear on the show on September 18. Yes... Teri Hatcher. Yeah, she's an actress, so I'm sure she'll have something to teach the students in the audience. But, just reading the press release on the show, it seems like Lipton's going to ask her just as much about the non-acting, near-tabloidy aspects of her career than how she motivated herself to say "They're real, and they're spectacular!" I agree with Whitney Matheson, who first linked to the press release: they've officially run out of guests.

On July 9, Comedy Central will kick off the third and final season of Chappelle's Show, a cobbled-together farewell consisting of segments Dave taped before he walked away from the show because, well, for whatever reasons he might have had. I saw an advance copy of the premiere episode, but before I talk about it in vague terms so as not to reveal anything, I should preface this by saying I was never as fanatical about the show as most people. I think most sketch shows falls into two categories: those that are consistently funny throughout (Mr. Show, Kids in the Hall) and those that aren't consistent but still have some great moments (Saturday Night Live). I think Chappelle's Show has always fallen in the latter category, but that's only the show itself I'm talking about. The man, however, is as sharp and irreverent as any working comic today, and his show had moments of brilliance when everything jelled and the sketches were able to bring to life the same thoughts and insights that made his stand-up specials so hysterical. Moreover, at the risk of succumbing to that blog tendency of talking about celebrities as if I know them personally, I've always liked Dave Chappelle the "regular guy." There's a reason his show was so popular and the DVDs have sold so well. Besides being funny, Chappelle comes across as a very genuine personality. He was able to transcend the gap between himself and the home audience, so watching the show was like seeing a bunch of friends performing for friends. If one sketch didn't quite work, it didn't matter. You just sat back and waited for the next one.

And such is this final season, it would seem. The premiere episode, with segments introduced by series regulars Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings, has some very funny moments, many centering around a Dave who has been driven crazy with greed and revenge from all the money he made. Still, though, without Dave to bookend the segments and offer up that kind of "kick back, open a beer and chill with your friends" vibe, the show just isn't the same. Is it worth watching anyway? Well, that's for you to decide, but no fan of this show is going to tune into these "Lost Episodes" without knowing it's not going to be like it was before.

Season 1 of Chappelle's Show is now for sale on iTunes. That season was the biggest-selling television DVD of all time, out-selling even The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Unfortunately, iTunes only offers the individual episodes and not the gag reel or the extra 'Ask a Black Dude' featurette that come on the DVD (not that it's a surprise). It should also be noted that the episodes are labeled 'Explicit' because they are all uncensored, bitch!

Individual episodes are $1.99 a piece and $21.99 for all 12 episodes.

Dave Chappelle has been given plenty of opportunities to tell the American public why he walked out on the third season of Chappelle's Show and his $50 million contract. We've seen him on Oprah. He's talked to James Lipton for two full hours. He even had a chance to tell all in a lengthy article in Esquire. But in every case, he gave a different reason why he bolted, from Comedy Central imparting too much control on his show to feeling like he's out of place as a black comedian in a largely white entertainment world. He even cited a particular incident where he got freaked out by someone laughing a little too much at a skit he was filming right before he bolted.

He wasn't any clearer about the matter last night on Late Night, either. Once Conan O'Brien broached the subject, Dave started what I'm sure is a prepared comedy routine about the topic, making jokes about how upset his wife still is over him walking away from the money, as well as jokes about how silly his problems seemed in comparison to those of people he encountered in Africa.

[Photo: Dana Edelson/NBC, via AP]

Dave Chappelle, the favorite test case of armchair psychiatrists everywhere, will be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on May 10. NBC apparently just released the guest list for four episodes to be shot exclusively in Chicago at the Chicago Theater, and Dave is on the list. Not a huge surprise, since he's been on Conan's show countless times before. Common, a Chicago hip hop artist, will appear on the same episode. Others set to appear on the show while it's in the Windy City are the band Wilco and Sean Hayes from Will and Grace. It should also be noted that while the guest list has been released by the network, it's always subject to change. I just hope we get to see "funny" Dave and not "confessional" Dave. I already got enough of that when he was on Oprah.

Dave Chappelle has been zig-zagging a lot lately, hasn't he? He told Oprah that he may come back and finish Season 3 of Chappelle's Show if Comedy Central used the DVD revenue for good causes. Now he tells the Dayton Daily News that he will definitely not return and do the show if CC airs an aborted "third season", as the network has announced.

"I feel like it's kind of a bully move," he told the paper, who was interviewing him in advance of the Dayton premiere of his new movie Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which he attended last night.  He went on to tell reporter Dave Larsen, "I think if they air that stuff, I can't see how I'm going to be able to. That will damage our relationship."

Since the original article requires free registration to view, you may just want to see the AP account of the article.

NBC Universal continues to believe in the power of iTunes by putting some of Bravo's most popular programming on the web. Starting on February 28th, you will be able to download this entire season of Project Runway episodes, plus you can see the reunion special before it even airs. iTunes will also have the most popular episodes of Inside the Actor's Studio, including the recent episode with Dave Chappelle and big-time actors like Angelina Jolie and Michael J. Fox. As usual, each episode is $1.99.

Dave Chappelle is going to be performing in Seattle this Sunday. You know when Seattle found out? Last night. Tickets went on sale just over an hour ago (10 am Pacific) for $52.50.

It's not just Dave. It's The Block Party Tour featuring Dave Chappelle. Seattle's Paramount Theatre describes it as Dave Chappelle and a "special musical guest". Apparently, it's the road show version of the movie, The Block Party All Stars featuring Dave Chappelle, that's coming out on March 3. In the movie, Chappelle tries to reunite the Fugees. I believe clips of the movie were shown during his Oprah appearance, which showed him bringing people from his hometown of Dayton, Ohio to Brooklyn for a rap/hip-hop/stand-up comedy street concert. Here's the trailer for the movie.