Vernon Chatman

Last updated

Vernon Chatman
Vernon Chatman (cropped).jpg
Chatman at the Peabody Awards in May 2013
Born Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium
  • Stand-up
  • film
  • television
  • books
Alma mater San Francisco State University
Years active1996–present
Genres Surreal humor
Black comedy
Horror comedy
Satire
Children2

Vernon Chatman is an American screenwriter, producer, director, voice actor, stand-up comedian, musician, and a member of PFFR, an art collective based in Brooklyn, New York City. He created the television series Wonder Showzen , Xavier: Renegade Angel , The Heart, She Holler and The Shivering Truth . He also produces, voices characters, and writes for South Park .

Contents

Early life

Chatman was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is of mixed race, half Euro-American and half African-American. Chatman attended San Francisco State University, [1] [2] from which he graduated in 1994.

Career

In 1996 Chatman began his career as a stand-up comedian and eventually a comedy writer, producer, musician, and television creator. Chatman previously wrote for television shows such as The Chris Rock Show (for which he won an Emmy), Late Night with Conan O'Brien , That's My Bush! and The Downer Channel. Before Wonder Showzen, he and long-time friend and PFFR collaborator John Lee created the Snoop Dogg comedy series Doggy Fizzle Televizzle for MTV.

Along with Lee, he is the co-creator of the MTV2 series Wonder Showzen as well as the Adult Swim shows Xavier: Renegade Angel and The Heart, She Holler . The two met as undergraduates at San Francisco State University. One of his most high-profile voice acting roles is as Towelie, the marijuana-smoking talking towel on South Park , where he also serves as a staff writer. In 2012, he became a producer on the third season of the FX series Louie . In 2017, Adult Swim ordered The Shivering Truth , a "darkly surreal anthology comedy" from Chatman. [3] On March 22, 2023, it was announced that he will write an untitled comedy film with involvement from Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. [4]

Voices on South Park

Discography

Filmography

Television

YearTitle Director Writer Producer Executive producer Actor RoleNotes
1997Comics Come Home 3Himself Stand-up
1997–1998 The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show Yes11 episodes
1998 Premium Blend Himself Stand-up
1998–1999 The Chris Rock Show Yes12 episodes
1999Armagedd'NSyncYesTV special
1999 1999 Teen Choice Awards YesSegment producer
1999 1999 MTV Video Music Awards Consultant
1999–2000 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Yes144 episodes
2001 Late Friday YesLars Wishner1 episode
2001 That's My Bush! YesStaff writer
2001The Downer ChannelYes2 episodes
2001–present South Park YesYesYes Towelie (season 5-25) / Vernon - Butt-Out Member / Tiger Woods / C.D.C Man #5 / Dominic Cobb / Ron (voices)Consultant writer (2001–2007), producer (2007–present)
2002–2003 Doggy Fizzle Televizzle YesYesAlso creator
2003 2003 MTV Video Music Awards Consultant
2005–2006 Wonder Showzen YesYesYesYesChauncey / Clarence / Various (voices)Also creator
2007–2009 Xavier: Renegade Angel YesYesYesYesXavier / Various (voices)Also creator
2009 How's Your News? Yes
2009–2013 Delocated Yes
2011 Totally for Teens Yes
2011 Neon Knome YesLater reworked into The Problem Solverz , which he wasn't involved in.
2011 China, IL YesConsulting producer; 5 episodes
2011–2014 The Heart, She Holler YesYesYesAlso creator
2012–2015 Louie YesYesJack Dahl's Receptionist #3Episode: "Late Show: Part 2"
2015 Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter Yes
2016 Horace and Pete YesYesStory co-writer of episode 10
2016Gigglefudge, U.S.A.YesYesTelevision special
2018–2020 The Shivering Truth YesYesYesYesNarratorAlso creator
2018 Trigger Warning with Killer Mike Yes
2019Di BiblYes
2021 Teenage Euthanasia YesYesSuccatash / Charlie Pants (voices)
2022DogvvalkerYesYesYesYesVarious (voices)Also creator

Film

YearTitle Director Writer Producer Executive producer Actor RoleNotes
2002 Jackass: The Movie YesConcepts
2009 Final Flesh Yes
2010The External WorldYesShort film
2011The Original Black SwanYesShort film
2017 I Love You, Daddy YesYes
2021 South Park: Post Covid Yes
2021 South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid Yes
2022 South Park: The Streaming Wars YesYesTowelie
2022 South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2 Yes
2023 South Park: Joining the Panderverse Yes
2023 South Park (Not Suitable for Children) Yes
TBAUntitled Kendrick Lamar filmYesYes [6]

Video games

YearTitle Director Writer Producer Executive producer Actor RoleNotes
2012 South Park: Tenorman's Revenge YesTowelie
2017 South Park: Phone Destroyer YesTowelieArchival Recording
2017 South Park: The Fractured but Whole YesTowelie

Books

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

Chatman has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning four.

Nominations

Writers Guild of America Awards

Chatman has won two WGA Awards. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Stone</span> American actor, animator and filmmaker (born 1971)

Matthew Richard Stone is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, and musician. He is best known for co-creating South Park and The Book of Mormon (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Intrigued by a career in entertainment at a young age, he studied film and mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he met Parker. During their attendance, the two worked on various short films and starred in the feature-length musical Cannibal! The Musical (1993).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trey Parker</span> American actor, animator, and filmmaker (born 1969)

Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, and musician. He is best known for co-creating South Park and The Book of Mormon (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. Parker was interested in film and music as a child and at high school and attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where he met Stone. The two collaborated on various short films and co-starred in Parker’s feature-length musical Cannibal! The Musical (1993).

<i>Wonder Showzen</i> American adult black comedy television series

Wonder Showzen is an American adult puppet black comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Adlon</span> American actress (born 1966)

Pamela Adlon is an American actress, writer and director. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series King of the Hill (1997–2010), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), the title role in the Pajama Sam video game series (1996–2001), Lucky in 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998), Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann (1997–2000), Ashley Spinelli in Recess (1997–2001), Otto Osworth in Time Squad (2001–2003), and Brigette Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law (2016–2019), among numerous others.

<i>Life with Louie</i> American animated series and sitcom

Life with Louie is an American animated series and sitcom created by Louie Anderson and Matthew O'Callaghan for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series was based on the childhood of Anderson, growing up with his family in the fictional town of Cedar Knoll, Wisconsin during the early 1960s, although Anderson himself was actually from Saint Paul, Minnesota, also situated in the Midwestern U.S.

"Towelie" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the American adult animated sitcom South Park, and the 73rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 8, 2001. In the episode, the boys attempt to recover their stolen video game console from the middle of a feud between a paramilitary group and extraterrestrials.

PFFR is a Brooklyn-based production company and art collective consisting of Vernon Chatman, John Lee, Alyson Levy and formerly Jim Tozzi until 2009. The group has been active since 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Glaser</span> American actor

Jon Glaser is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his work as a writer and sketch performer for many years on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, creating and starring in the Adult Swim series Delocated and Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter as well as the truTV series Jon Glaser Loves Gear.

Augenblick Studios is an independent animation studio founded in 1999 by Aaron Augenblick, and located in Brooklyn, New York City. The company has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet, with the target audience typically being adults. Their clients include Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, the TED conference, PBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Augenblick</span> American animator, director and producer

Aaron Augenblick is an American animator, director, and producer. He is the founder of Augenblick Studios, known for his work on Ugly Americans, Superjail!, Wonder Showzen, and Golden Age.

The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. The award categories are divided into three classes: the regular Primetime Emmy Awards, the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards to honor technical and other similar behind-the-scenes achievements, and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for recognizing significant contributions to the engineering and technological aspects of television. First given out in 1949, the award was originally referred to as simply the "Emmy Award" until the International Emmy Award and the Daytime Emmy Award were created in the early 1970s to expand the Emmy to other sectors of the television industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lee (producer)</span> American television producer (born 1972)

John Michael Lee is an American television producer, writer, director, voice actor, and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.

<i>South Park</i> (season 1) Season of television series

The first season of the animated television series South Park aired on Comedy Central from August 13, 1997 to February 25, 1998. The creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wrote most of the season's episodes; Dan Sterling, Philip Stark and David Goodman were credited with writing five episodes. The narrative revolves around four children—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick—and their unusual experiences in the titular mountain town.

<i>Xavier: Renegade Angel</i> American adult animation TV series

Xavier: Renegade Angel is an American adult animated television series created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee, who are also the creators of Wonder Showzen. The show was produced by PFFR, with animation by Cinematico. It premiered on November 4, 2007, on Adult Swim and November 1, 2007, on the Adult Swim website.

James Michael Tozzi is an American artist, commercial director, producer, voice actor and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen and the Adult Swim show Xavier: Renegade Angel and as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.

David Isaac Friley, known professionally as Dave Free, is an American filmmaker and record executive. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, he is best known for his creative partnership with rapper Kendrick Lamar. During his tenure as co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), Free directed music videos and short films with Lamar under the name the Little Homies. Following his departure from TDE in 2019, he co-founded the creative company PGLang. Among Free's accolades are one Grammy Award and three MTV Video Music Awards.

<i>Final Flesh</i> 2009 film

Final Flesh is a 2009 American independent surreal comedy film directed by Ike Sanders, written by Vernon Chatman, and produced by PFFR. The film was made by sending the most deliberately absurd and ridiculous scripts to four different companies that specialize in making custom fetish pornography and having the porn actors act out the scripts, which include plenty of nudity, with short scenes of masturbation being the closest they ever get to pornography. Final Flesh tells a very loose story involving a family who live near ground zero, where a nuclear bomb is scheduled to hit. The film is composed almost entirely of non sequiturs, intentionally designed to be as random and nonsensical as possible.

<i>Girls</i> (season 1) Season of television series

The first season of the American comedy-drama television series Girls premiered on HBO on April 15, 2012, and consisted on 10 episodes, concluding on June 17, 2012. The series was created by Lena Dunham, who portrays the lead character, who based the premise and central aspects of the show on her personal life. It was produced by Apatow Productions, I Am Jenni Konnor Productions and HBO productions.

<i>The Shivering Truth</i> US television program

The Shivering Truth is an American adult stop-motion animated anthology horror comedy television series created by Vernon Chatman and directed by Chatman and Cat Solen. The show is produced by Solen with PFFR and ShadowMachine, and features a wide range of voice talents besides Chatman, including Janeane Garofalo, Jonah Hill, Trey Parker, David Cross, Jordan Peele, Kyle Mooney, Julia Davis, Tierra Whack, Will Forte, and Josh Gad, amongst others. The Shivering Truth premiered on December 10, 2018 on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim, with the pilot episode having been released online on May 22, 2018 on the Adult Swim website.

References

  1. Alumni Vernon Chatman Archived March 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Alumni Vernon Chatman and John Lee".
  3. Barsanti, Sam (May 17, 2017). "Adult Swim announces new stop-motion series The Shivering Truth". The A.V. Club .
  4. "Exclusive: Trey Parker to Direct Untitled Paramount Comedy From Producers Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free | Above the Line". March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  5. "Blog" via southpark.cc.com.
  6. Grobar, Matt (January 13, 2022). "Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & 'South Park' Duo Matt Stone And Trey Parker To Produce Comedy Penned By Vernon Chatman For Paramount". Deadline. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  7. Chatman, Vernon (2013). Mindsploitation: Asinine Assignments for Online Homework Cheating Industry. New York: Seven Footer Press. ISBN   978-1934734919.
  8. Writers Guild of America East. "Louis CK Accepts the Writers Guild Award for "Louie"". Archived from the original on December 22, 2021 via YouTube.