''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 refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ame ...

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

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

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

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night 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 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...

''. The show was also shown in Canada on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octob ...

. 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 referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

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 Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

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 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

that the studio decided to proceed with the pilot and eventually to commission the show. Sketches were directed by Rusty Cundieff, 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 Alphonso McAuley (born April 21, 1979) is an American actor and social media personality. McAuley played Cassius Sparks on Fox's comedy television series '' Breaking In'' and played Hutch in ABC's '' The Middle''. Early life and education Mc ...

- Ronnie Tucker *

Chris Tallman Christian Tallman (born September 22, 1970) is an American actor and comedian best known for his regular appearances on the Comedy Central programs '' Crossballs'' and ''Reno 911!''. Tallman was also the creator of the popular Channel 101 serie ...

- Alan Boda * Jordan Peele - 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 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 news parodies Comedy Central late-night programming Comedy Central original programming