El Chavo del Ocho, often shortened to El Chavo, is a Mexican television sitcom series created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños (Chespirito).[1] The show was based on a series of sketches performed on Gómez's eponymous sketch show, Chespirito, which were first performed in 1971. El Chavo became its own series in 1973 and aired until 1980, becoming one of the most popular television programs in the world. Following its cancellation and the relaunch of Chespirito, the El Chavo sketches returned in 1980 and continued to be performed on Chespirito until 1992 when Gómez, by this point in his sixties, discontinued them due to his advancing age.
The show follows the life and tribulations of the title character, a poor orphan child (played by Gómez Bolaños) that lives on a Mexican housing complex, typically called a vecindad. He is accompanied by a cast of neighbors, children, and other characters. All the characters, including the children, were played by adults on El Chavo.