One of the defining comedians of the 21st century, Dave Chappelle experienced his breakthrough in the mid-2000s when his sketch show Chappelle's Show became a runaway hit on Comedy Central. The success of Chappelle's Show was the culmination of a decade's worth of hard work, ten years spent working the stand-up circuit while also appearing on television and film whenever he could. By the late '90s, he was popular enough to star in the stoner comedy Half Baked but Chappelle's Show captured Chappelle's satire, which tapped into the zeitgeist, a position that made him uneasy. He pulled the plug on his television show in the middle of its third season, then retreated from the spotlight. Over the next decade, he occasionally appeared at comedy clubs, finally returning to active duty in the late 2010s with regular touring and comedy specials.