For most comedians, poking fun at the famed miniseries “Roots” ranks somewhere on the career suicide list in between child molestation and membership in the Nazi party.

For comedian Dave Chappelle, actor in pop culture footnotes including “Half-Baked,” “Screwed” and “You’ve Got Mail,” it’s just a new benefit of “Chappelle’s Show,” his own variety show on Comedy Central. Chappelle discussed the show during a conference call Tuesday.

Although the show has debuted in a prime slot, following the network’s hit “South Park” at 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Chappelle emphasized the relative simplicity of its fruition.

“The pitching process was very easy, and getting the show on the air was very easy because Comedy Central — I gotta give it up to ’em — they believed in me as a talent,” he says. “They really let me go.”

In Chappelle’s case, letting him go includes taking some risks that range from mocking “Roots” to including rapper Redman in a toilet bowl advertising spoof.

There are limits, but they’re minor ones.

“Every once in a while, it might come down to a joke, here and there, and they’ll say, ‘Um, that’s too much,'” Chappelle says. “But for the most part, I censor myself more than the network does. There are some things that I just say, ‘Ew — I don’t want to go that far.'”

Although many variety shows like “Saturday Night Live” have a stable of writers that churn out their weekly shows, “Chappelle’s Show” operates with only two, putting more stress on its creator.

“It’s me and one other dude that pretty much write everything that’s on the show,” Chappelle says. “I gotta act in everything on the show — I’m the executive producer. So, there’s a lot of decisions that I have to make, you know, leading up to the show.

“Then, when we shoot it, in the postproduction, I’ve got to make a lot of decisions. Then, the bulk of the responsibility rests on me and two other people — really me and another guy, creatively.”

This additional stress gives the production some difficult constraints, but also a sense of pride from its two creators, Chappelle and Neal Brennan.

“For a comedian to come out and him and his buddy write a whole season of television, we’re pretty pleased with ourselves. It wasn’t an easy thing to do,” Chappelle says. “I got a lot of people like, ‘The show should be an hour.’ I’m like, ‘Man, if this show was one more minute, it would kill me.'”

Among the consistent sources of humor for Chappelle are breasts, but any backlash for the chest obsession has been minor.

“My wife doesn’t care. She knows me, man. It’s harmless,” Chappelle says. “I know some diehard feminists, man, and they’re not mad at this stuff.

“I mean, women have breasts. Men like breasts. That’s a fact of life — I concur. Boobies are great.”

The sensitive topic of race has proven to be a more critical issue for the show, however.

“I don’t write this comedy with any malice,” Chappelle says. “Some people think it’s racially heavy, but what they don’t understand is when we’re writing it, it’s a black dude and a white dude sitting at a typewriter together — racial harmony making comedy to offend everybody.”

Chappelle also laughs at the idea of making political statements through his performances.

“Nobody comes to Hollywood to make a statement,” he says. “People go to Hollywood to make money.

“I ain’t the cat that you should be getting your moral, spiritual guidance from. I’m a comedian, man.”

The show is about more than pleasing fans or maximizing ratings, at least to Chappelle.

“Well, the whole [purpose] of the show is to dance like no one is watching,” he says. “It seems like a crazy way to make a show, but I don’t understand trying to go crazy to get the ratings up because that’s when they’ll be like, ‘That’s what we need. We need more of that urban stuff.’ Then, they reshape the show and make it urban or whatever. I don’t want to make my show like that.”