Strangers with Candy
Created by	Stephen Colbert Paul Dinello Amy Sedaris Mitch Rouse
Starring	Amy Sedaris Stephen Colbert Paul Dinello Greg Hollimon
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	30 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	23 minutes
Production company	Comedy Partners
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	April 7, 1999 (1999-04-07) – October 2, 2000 (2000-10-02)

Strangers with Candy is an American comedy 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). A prequel film of the same name was released in 2006. As of 2022, it is available to watch on Paramount+.^[1]

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 (home of the Concrete Donkeys) in the town of Flatpoint.

Jerri ran away from home and became "a boozer, a user, and a loser" after dropping out of high school as a teenager, supporting her drug habits through prostitution, stripping, and larceny. She has been to prison several times, the last time because she "stole the TV."

Every episode features a warped theme or moral lesson and ends with the cast and other featured actors from the episode dancing. The last episode features Flatpoint being turned into a strip mall because the show was cancelled to make room for a TV show called Strip Mall.

Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert created first the sketch comedy show Exit 57.^[3] The series debuted on Comedy Central in 1995 and aired through 1996. Although it lasted only 12 episodes, the show received favorable reviews^[4][5] and was nominated for five CableACE Awards in 1995, in categories including best writing, performance, and comedy series.^[6] After the show was cancelled, Colbert and Dinello were preparing a pitch for a show known as "Mysteries of the Insane Unknown", simultaneously, Sedaris had her own pitch which she described as "something based on after-school specials" inspired by shows like The Brady Bunch. Comedy Central was prepared to greenlight "Mysteries" but Dinello convinced Colbert to go help Sedaris with her pitch, Colbert was reticent after hearing her idea because he knew it was better than theirs, he was right, and Comedy Central chose her show instead.^[2]

At first, Sedaris wanted to do an straight after-school special.^[7] Dinello found a tape of Florrie Fisher's The Trip Back at Kim's video in the East Village, in which Fisher, a motivational speaker, recalled her days as a New York prostitute and heroin addict to a group of high-school students. Dinello suggested doing a character inspired by Fisher, that would go back to high school, Colbert added the idea of her learning the wrong lesson after every episode, and Sedaris said "Okay, she'll be a junkie whore this time."^[2][8]

Colbert, Dinello and Sedaris wrote most of the episodes, the proccess started with an "overlying outline," knowing the start and the end of the episode, they would build the scenes in between and later would improvise together in a room, whatever they laughed at went in the script. They would also kept typos in.^[9] Sedaris recalled: "That's what I learned from working on Strangers. If you're not laughing, how do you expect anyone else to laugh?"^[8] Sedaris would often watch the show without sound to see if a deaf person could follow: "Okay, if I couldn't hear or understand anything, could I still find the show entertaining?" And I did. 'Cause everyone was so interesting to look at."^[8] Some of Jerri's phrases like "You got skills to pay the bills" and "pole in the hole" came from things Sedaris' brother, Paul, would say.^[10] Much of Jerri's past is taken from anecdotes in The Trip Back, some of which are also in Fisher's autobiography, The Lonely Trip Back. Several lines of dialogue in the series were taken verbatim from Fisher's public-service film. Very occasionally working they would write with a collaborator such as Mitch Rouse or Thomas Lennon.^[8]

Comedy Central picked up the series in 1998 after Colbert had already begun working on The Daily Show. As a result, he accepted a reduced role, filming only around 20 Daily Show segments a year while he worked on the new series.^[3] The title of the show came from them wondering if they would take candy from the principal character, that tied to the 'Don't take candy from strangers,' message parents usually tell kids, and would probably be a lesson fron an after school special.^[10] 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.

Costume designer Vicki Farrell did the wardrobe for the show, when designing Jerri Blank's appearance, Sedaris told Farrell: "I want to look like I own a snake." Jerri would often wear high-waisted pants and snakeskin ankle boots, as well as turtlenecks because Comedy Central did not want track marks or tattoos to be visible. To complete the look Sedaris wore a fatty suit.^[8] Some of her clothes were custom made or came from thrift stores.^[9] Sedaris wore a wig and fake lashes, and told the hair and makeup department she wanted Jerri to look like a professional golfer.^[2][11]

The show was filmed between Westchester County, New York and New Jersey, with two different abandoned schools in the Rutherford area being used as the set for Flatpoint High.^[3][9]

• Geraldine "Jerri" Antonia Blank (Amy Sedaris): A 46-year-old ex-con, ex-junkie, ex-prostitute, and high-school freshman at Flatpoint High.
• Guy Blank (Roberto Gari): Jerri's biological father, shown only in a motionless state during mid-action.
• Sara Blank (Deborah Rush): Jerri's hateful stepmother.
• Derrick Blank (Larc Spies): Jerri's arrogant teenage half-brother. He plays quarterback for the Flatpoint Donkeys football team.
• Stew (David Pasquesi): The Blank family's meat man. He engages in an affair with Sara while remaining married to the mother of his two children (Chuck and Patty).

• Principal Onyx Blackman (Greg Hollimon): Principal of Flatpoint High School. His image is prominently displayed around the school, in classrooms, lockers, and even paper towels.
• Charles "Chuck" Noblet (Stephen Colbert): Chuck is the school's history teacher and sponsor of the school newspaper, The Donkey Trouser. He and his wife Claire have a son, Seamus. He is in a secret sexual relationship with Geoffrey Jellineck.
• Geoffrey Jellineck (Paul Dinello): Geoffrey (pronounced JOFF-ree as opposed to the conventional JEFF-ree) is the school's art teacher. He is an emotionally fragile and narcissistic man who is engaged in a secret homosexual relationship with Chuck Noblet.
• Coach Cherri Wolf (Sarah Thyre): The girls' gym teacher.
• Iris Puffybush (Dolores Duffy): Secretary to Principal Blackman (and, as implied on several occasions, "much, much more").
• Cassie Pines (Janeane Garofalo): The school's guidance counselor.

• Tammi Littlenut (Maria Thayer): Jerri's red-headed friend, who is often referred to as "Copperhead".
• Orlando Pinatubo (Orlando Pabotoy): Jerri's Filipino sidekick, about whose heritage she makes many racist remarks. It is insinuated in both the series and film that he is in love with Jerri.
• Jimmy Tickles (Jack Ferver): Jerri's sexually diminutive date in The Virgin Jerri; later a recurring character.
• Paul Cotton (Jared Ryan): Jerri's love interest who gets to see her "Liberty Bell" in Let Freedom Ring.

• Claire Noblet (Carolyn Popp): Wife to Chuck Noblet. She is oblivious to her husband's relationship with Geoffrey Jellineck.
• Father (Alan Tudyk): Local cult leader, whose cult threatens Blackman's hold on his Flatpoint students.

On February 7, 2006, film company ThinkFilm announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to a feature film based on the series. The film, a prequel to the television show, was completed in 2004 and acquired by Warner Independent at Sundance in 2005, but release of the film was delayed due to legal clearance issues. Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello reprised their roles for the film; several other characters were recast because the actors who played them now looked too old to be in high school. In addition to acting, Colbert is a co-producer and Dinello is a director for the film. Worldwide Pants, a production company owned by comedian David Letterman, was also a producer. This is the company's first feature film production. A teaser trailer for the film was released in April 2006.^[12]

The initial theatrical release was June 28, 2006, in the New York City area, followed by the remainder of the United States on July 7. A DVD of the film was released in November 2006. Amy Sedaris said of Jerri Blank that "she's like a rash; you never know when she's going to pop up."^[13]

In 2007, Strangers with Candy was ranked #30 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.^[14]

• Strangers with Candy at IMDb
• "Jerriblank.com". Retrieved October 4, 2021.