Bio

The comedy world had no clue what a gift it was getting on August 24th, 1973. Born and raised in Washington, D.C, Dave quickly fell in love with making people laugh. He studied at Duke Ellington's School of the Arts in the nation's capitol and by age 14, he was performing stand-up comedy in night clubs. Accompanied by his mother, Dave would go on after school and tell jokes about the TV show ALF and Jesse Jackson's run for president. Dave drew inspiration and was strongly influenced by his favorite comedians, Richard Prior and Eddie Murphy.

Dave made his feature film debut in 1993 in Mel Brook's Robin Hood: Men in Tights, starring as the bumbling Ahchoo. From there, Dave went on to act in numerous films such as The Nutty Professor, Joe's Apartment, Con Air, and Half Baked, which he also wrote with friend and future Chappelle's Show collaborator, Neal Brennan.

After a 2000 HBO comedy special, acting in a few more movies and appearing on the Comedy Central show Crank Yankers, Dave was given his own sketch comedy show simply titled, Chapelle's Show. The show premiered in 2003 with twelve episodes and two "best of" shows. Released in February of 2004, the Chappelle's Show Season One DVD set became the all-time top selling DVD set for a television series. Season Two of Chappelle's Show premiered in January of 2004 with rave reviews. With even more controversial and edgy humor, Dave continued to push the envelope and incite hearty riots of laughter with his dedicated viewers. Chappelle's Show Season 2 DVD Set is slated to be released May 24, 2005.

To reward Dave for his genius and success of the DVD sales, Comedy Central signed a new two-year contract with him worth roughly $50 million in August of 2004. A new precedent was also set in the entertainment industry because in the contract, Dave will receive a large chunk of future DVD royalties on the back end, a stipulation almost never awarded.

While season three has been highly anticipated by fans and industry executives, it looks like production has been stalled. Originally slated to premier on May 31, 2005, the third season has been pushed back yet again according to Comedy Central. Citing a "late start on writing the material" and a strange absence of Dave from the set in the last few weeks, there is no telling when the season will be completed. Luckily for us, season two is finally coming out after its own delays and will have to satisfy our need for Dave.

Dave is currently married with one child.