After slogging it out in supporting roles in films like “Blue Streak,” “Con Air” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” comedian Dave Chappelle made a name for himself courtesy of his uproarious standup comedy/social commentary and his his Comedy Central series “Chappelle’s Show.”

Growing up in Washington D.C., Chappelle developed his style early beginning standup comedy at the tender age of fourteen. Although his mother may have had to accompany him to those early shows, Chappelle began building his act telling jokes about daily life and keeping jokes garnering the biggest laughs.

Building on his days in D.C., Chappelle moved to New York where his act, and his prominence, began to grow. Chappelle built an act of wry social commentary and gut-busting observations and has toured steadily while also making occasional appearances in film and television.

Although Chappelle was unavailable for comment at press time, his promotional work is prolific, said Dave Stevens of the Richard De La Font agency.

Courtesy of this hard work, Chappelle’s notoriety has quickly grown. With appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman” and a writing and leading man credit on the cult classic “Half Baked,” Chappelle has become a viable star. His Comedy Central show has only upped the ante as he has been given free reign to bring a twistedly hilarious collection of characters to the small screen.

Foremost among these characters is Tyrone, a crack-addicted homeless man who cautions school children to the dangers of drugs, and Clayton Bigsby the blind, Black, White supremacist.

Although the show has caught flack from some indignants sorely lacking a sense of humor, Chappelle seems unconcerned with the possibility of offending those who fail to see the laughable side of his comedy. “We are in this whole pattern of political correctness right now which is not going to get anything done for anybody,” he said in an interview with Black Entertainment Television. “We really can’t be picking on things like this. There are a lot more serious issues going on that I think should be on the priority list of what people need to do, and I don’t think my show is high on that list.”

His stock rising courtesy of the show’s success and the “Blackzilla Tour” selling well across the country, the University Board has high hopes for the show. “We were given the idea by an agent who told us about schools Chappelle had played and how well they sold and how much students enjoyed it,” UB Concert coordinator Donna Fernandez said.

Because previous concerts had centered around rock music, University Board actively sought variety in the show and Chappelle seemed the perfect fit for the campus. “UB wanted to attract different audiences,” Fernandez said. “We always said the concert fee was for major acts be it music or comedians or speakers.”

Chappelle’s show taking off the way it has seems only a fringe benefit for University Board, who were able to catch Chappelle on the way up rather than bands seemingly in the tail-end of their careers.

“We had hints of the “Chappelle Show” and how big of a push Comedy Central was going to give it and we expected him to be a big draw,” Fernandez said.

Tickets continue to sell briskly for the event and floor seats sold out the day tickets went on sale. At press time, almost 3,000 tickets had been sold for the show and a sell out seems possible, although UB said a sell out crowd was not necessarily the goal of the show. Rather than turning a profit, UB is simply hoping to serve students.

“We’re hoping this allows even more people to take advantage of the concert fee and it should be a great show,” Fernandez said.

The show begins at 8 p.m. tonight with doors opening an hour earlier. As of Thursday, tickets for Dave Chappelle are sold out.