Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy is a television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10:00 p.m. (ET). In 2007, Strangers with Candy was ranked #30 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.

Plot

The series' main character, Geraldine Antonia "Jerri" Blank (played by Amy Sedaris), was a "junkie whore"/runaway returning to high school as a freshman at age 46 at the fictional Flatpoint High School in the town of Flatpoint.

Created and written by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, and Mitch Rouse, the show was a spoof of the after school specials of the 1970s and 1980s and was also inspired, at least in part, by a 1970 public service film, The Trip Back, that featured a reformed drug addict named Florrie Fisher (see "Origin" below). Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello, and Rouse were cast members of the short-lived Comedy Central series Exit 57; they, along with Greg Hollimon and many other stars of the series, were also alumni of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe.

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Tyrone Colbert (/koʊlˈbɛər/, né: /ˈkoʊlbərt/; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, media critic, and television host. He currently hosts the late-night television talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS.

Colbert had originally studied to be an actor, but became interested in improvisational theatre when he met Second City director Del Close while attending Northwestern University. He first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago; among his troupe mates were comedians Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris, with whom he developed the sketch comedy series Exit 57. Colbert also wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show before collaborating with Sedaris and Dinello again on the cult television series Strangers with Candy. He gained considerable attention for his role on the latter as closeted gay history teacher Chuck Noblet. His work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's news-parody series The Daily Show first introduced him to a wide audience.

Bo Burnham

Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham (born August 21, 1990) is an American comedian, singer-songwriter, and poet. Writing comedic and satirical songs that comment on social issues, celebrity culture, and the nature of comedy itself, he achieved fame when his YouTube videos gained great popularity; as of April 2015 his videos had been watched more than 152 million times.

Burnham signed a four record deal with Comedy Central Records and released his debut EP, Bo Fo Sho in 2008. His first full-length, Bo Burnham, was released the following year. In 2010, Burnham's second album was released and Words Words Words, his first live comedy special, aired on Comedy Central. Burnham also has a large following on Vine. His third album and second comedy special, what., was released in 2013 on his YouTube channel and Netflix. Burnham finished first overall in voting in 2011's Comedy Central Stand-up Showdown.

In addition to his career as a comedian, Burnham co-created and starred in the MTV television series Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous and released his first book of poetry, Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone, in 2013.

Paul Dinello

Paul Dinello (born November 28, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and an alumnus of DePaul University, Chicago-based The Second City, Improv Institute, and Annoyance Theatre. He is best known for his role on Comedy Central's Strangers with Candy as Geoffrey Jellineck, the closeted gay art teacher at Flatpoint High, who carries on a not-so-secret relationship with his colleague Chuck Noblet (Stephen Colbert). Currently he is a writer and supervising producer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he has made several on-camera appearances.

In 2003, Dinello co-authored the novel Wigfield with Amy Sedaris and Colbert, which they promoted by creating a traveling play.

Most recently, Dinello has made guest appearances on Colbert's show The Colbert Report as Tad, the building manager. The character is often berated by Colbert, who forces him to do dangerous things. Dinello has made at least five appearances on The Colbert Report, including a tumbling act with Colbert and their Strangers co-star Sedaris in July 2006. After a prolonged absence, Dinello returned as Tad on July 12, 2011 to help Colbert interview activist Dan Savage, in the role of Colbert's "heterosexual accountability-buddy" and potential companion to a gay wedding. They resumed their insinuations of a sexual relationship from Strangers with Candy.