Editing Strangers with Candy (section)

{{short description|American comedy television series}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image        = Strangers_With_Candy_Title_Card.jpg
| caption      =
| genre        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Satire (film and television)|Satire]]
* [[Black comedy]]
* [[Surreal humor|Surreal comedy]]}}
| runtime      = 23 minutes
| company      = [[Comedy Partners]]
| creator      = [[Stephen Colbert]]<br />[[Paul Dinello]]<br />[[Amy Sedaris]]<br />[[Mitch Rouse]]
| starring     = Amy Sedaris<br />Stephen Colbert<br />Paul Dinello<br />[[Greg Hollimon]]
| country      = United States
| language     = English
| network      = [[Comedy Central]]
| first_aired  = {{start date|1999|4|7}}
| last_aired   = {{end date|2000|10|2}}
| num_seasons  = 3
| num_episodes = 30 ([[List of Strangers with Candy episodes|List of episodes]])
}}

'''''Strangers with Candy''''' is<!--Do not change this to "was"; we continue using "is" after a TV show concludes.--> an American television sitcom created by [[Stephen Colbert]], [[Paul Dinello]], [[Amy Sedaris]], and [[Mitch Rouse]] that originally aired on [[Comedy Central]] from April 7, 1999, to October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10:00&nbsp;p.m. ([[Eastern Time Zone (North America)|ET]]). The series, inspired by [[after school special]]s, follows Jerri Blank (Sedaris) a 46-year-old woman, who after living as a prostitute and drug addict, decides to go back to high school and start doing things the right way. The series was produced by [[Comedy Partners]], with [[Kent Alterman]] serving as executive producer and Colbert as co-producer.<ref name="Paley"/><ref name="kent">{{cite magazine |first=Jonah |last=Weiner |title=The Man Who Saved Comedy Central |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/the-man-who-saved-comedy-central-46605/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=November 28, 2014|access-date=April 27, 2023 |url-status=}}</ref>

''Strangers with Candy'' episodes were produced in a [[single-camera setup]] and were filmed between upstate New York and New Jersey. The pilot episode premiered on April 7, 1999, and three seasons followed. The series stars Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello and [[Greg Hollimon]] with a supporting cast that includes [[Roberto Gari]], [[Deborah Rush]], [[Larc Spies]], [[Maria Thayer]], Orlando Patoboy, [[Sarah Thyre]] and [[David Pasquesi]].

Tonally, ''Strangers with Candy'' uses [[surreal humor]] to satirize [[after school special]]s and the sanitized, saccharine advice those shows would give to kids. The show altered the lessons so the principal character would always do the wrong thing. It was Comedy Central's first ever live-action narrative series.  The show struggled with low ratings during its initial broadcast run. Despite the lack of audience, it is now known as a [[Cult following|cult classic]], having influenced numerous contemporary comedians and screenwriters. A [[Strangers with Candy (film)|prequel film of the same name]] was released in 2006.