''Chocolate News'' is an American satirical news show hosted and head written by David Alan Grier in 2008 with an emphasis on

African American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American/Bl ...

. The show was broadcast on Wednesday nights at 10:30 pm on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

as a lead-in to its other news satire programs, ''

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' and ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

''. The show was also shown in Canada on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming and operates two time-shifted feeds, runni ...

. On 10 March 2009, a Comedy Central representative confirmed that ''Chocolate News'' would not be renewed for a second season.

Format

''Chocolate News'' comprised satirical pieces and sketches about current events and news stories. The show satirized these stories with a focus on how Grier thinks typical

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s view them. In an interview with the ''New York Times'', Grier asked, "Are you laughing with me because you get the joke, or am I giving you license to laugh at me in a derogatory, dehumanizing way?" When the series was first pitched to studio executives at NBC, they were initially reluctant to produce and develop a pilot for the show due to the negative racial connotations associated with the term "Chocolate"; it was only with the intervention of actors

Martin Sheen Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. His work spans over six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and ...

and

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

that the studio decided to proceed with the pilot and eventually to commission the show. Sketches were directed by

Rusty Cundieff George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff (born December 13, 1960) is an American film and television director, actor, and writer known for his work on '' Fear of a Black Hat'' (1993), '' Tales from the Hood'' (1995), and '' Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006). ...

, who directed most of the sketches on Dave Chappelle's ''

Chappelle's Show ''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 ...

''.

Episodes

*Episode 1: first broadcast 15 October 2008 *Episode 2: first broadcast 22 October 2008 *Episode 3: first broadcast 29 October 2008 *Episode 4: first broadcast 5 November 2008 *Episode 5: first broadcast 12 November 2008 *Episode 6: first broadcast 19 November 2008 *Episode 7: first broadcast 26 November 2008 *Episode 8: first broadcast 3 December 2008 *Episode 9: first broadcast 10 December 2008 *Episode 10: first broadcast 17 December 2008

Cast

* David Alan Grier *Tangie Ambrose - Alicia Sanders * Alphonso McAuley - Ronnie Tucker * Chris Tallman - Alan Boda *

Jordan Peele Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for his film and television work in the Comedy film, comedy and Horror film, horror genres. He has received List of awards and nominations r ...

- Kelvin Melvin

References

External links

*
Official website
''Palm Beach Post'', 15 October 2008
"'Chocolate News' is edgy, but can it be funny?"
''Boston.com'', 15 October 2008

''New York Times'', 15 October 2008 {{Comedy Central programming 2000s American black television series 2000s American late-night television series 2000s American political comedy television series 2000s American satirical television series 2000s American sketch comedy television series 2000s American television news shows 2008 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings American English-language television shows American news parodies Comedy Central late-night programming Comedy Central original programming Political satirical television series 2008 United States presidential election in popular culture