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The color of laughter: a look at how Black comedians shape race in America

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The Color of Laughter:
A look at how Black comedians shape race in America

by

Sherry Simpson

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR
COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)

May 2022

Copyright 2022 Sherry Simpson

ii

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 2
HARD TRUTHS FROM BLACK AMERICA .................................................................................... 2
THE EXPANSIVE REACH OF BLACK COMICS ........................................................................... 7
POLITICS: A COLOR GAME ....................................................................................................... 11
BLACKISH AND THE CSI EFFECT ............................................................................................. 15
UNAPOLOGETICALLY BLACK ................................................................................................... 17
COMEDY IN THE ERA OF TRUMP ............................................................................................. 22
THE PRICE OF COMIC STARDOM ............................................................................................ 23
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 27

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The Color of Laughter:
A look at how Black comedians shape race in America.
by Sherry Simpson

Introduction
Sold out stadiums, unprecedented streaming deals, and the triumphs of awards seasons —
spell it out: Black comedy is the new gold.
The 2016 #OscarSoWhite movement exposed the consistent lack of diversity in
Hollywood. Since then, the Oscars may not have learned the lesson, but television was on alert
when the top comedy honors at the Emmys struck a new complexion. (Respers-France 2017)
In 2017, The Emmys had an unprecedented year, finally acknowledging more Black comedic
talent than ever before. (Wicker 2018) These rising Black comedic superstars join the ranks of
those risen including Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Wanda Sykes and Chris
Rock. Over decades these comedy veterans have parlayed their popularity into television
series, feature films, arena-sized stand-up shows and popular digital series as part of what is
collectively seen as the continued unfolding of a Black renaissance in Hollywood. (Wicker 2018)
Yet overlooked in this cascade of recognition is perhaps the greatest contribution of
Black comedians — creating a safe space for America to explore its complex race issues.
In 2017, Donald Glover, executive producer and star of the F/X hit comedy-drama
Atlanta, became the first African American to win the Emmy for outstanding directing for a
comedy series. He also won for lead actor in a comedy series and was nominated as a writer
and producer of the show that follows the lives of two millennial near-do-well cousins, navigating
the Atlanta rap scene. Master of None (HBO) star Lena Waithe became the first Black woman
to win an Emmy for comedy writing for an episode about a gay Black teenager coming out to
her family on Thanksgiving. (Littlejohn 2017) Issa Rae’s HBO series Insecure started as a web

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comedy The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl about a twenty something Black woman
whose self-deprecating raps breed vulnerable hilarity. The show quickly translated to television
and is now entering its fourth season. These shows are fueled by Black creators, Black writers,
Black directors with casts of leading Black characters who through comedy, are reframing the
African American narrative.
This long road to success has been paved with revelations for both white and Black
Americans as the realities of this racially charged country have become revealed in comic
routines over the last 50 years. Through the veil of laughter, audiences today continue to make
deeper discoveries about the impact of race in America.

Hard Truths from Black America
The origins of Black comic style are deeply rooted in African traditions. These
storytelling customs eventually made their way to America with enslaved Africans who kept their
culture alive through the telling of folktales. (Cunningham 2014) For African Americans, the
telling of folktales was a form of empowerment that buoyed the experience of day to day
hardships of slavery. Storytelling was an activity for Blacks and by Blacks with no control from
white slave owners.
Many of these folktales were based on the idea of mischievous tricksters who could
outsmart seemingly more powerful beings. The stories were adapted in the American South
and reflected in character archetypes like the slave outsmarting the slave owner and the
powerless become the powerful while maintaining a deceptively weaker persona. (Cunningham
2014). The animal stories, rhymes, work songs, riddles, plantation sayings, jokes, and tall tales
or lies that emerged from slave shanties formed the basis of America's black comic tradition.
After Reconstruction, these stories made their way into modern day comedy by way of the
chitlin circuit, all Black performance venues across the segregated U.S. These became spaces

3
for Black comedians to develop their talent, cultivate relationships, to build audiences and to be
self-expressed. (Cunningham 2014) The chitlin circuit gave birth to some of the greatest comics
of the 20
th
century including Moms Mabley, Nipsey Russell, Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor
among others. Moms Mabley (Britannica 2020) was born Loretta Mary Aiken (1894-1975) and
modeled her stand-up act on her grandmother who was a slave. (Britannica 2020) By keeping
this simple persona with elastic facial expressions, she was able to deliver her signature social
commentary while remaining non-threatening to white people.
Comedy routines developed for these Black only audiences have become historical
records of the way race has shaped America. As Moms Mabley used to say, “I just tell folks the
truth. If they don’t want the truth, then don’t come to Moms.” (Smithsonian, National Museum of
African American History and Culture 2018)
The stories, stand-up routines, albums and early television specials, including live
comics routines at the Apollo Theater that began in the 1950s, owe a debt of gratitude to the
chitlin circuit. The all-Black audiences of the chitlin circuit meant that for decades up until the
1960s, Black folks entertained each other while reaffirming their culture. Whites only venues
were limited in exposure to Black comics if at all.
Comedian Dick Gregory, who did not come up through the chitlin circuit, famously spoke
of racial perceptions of his comedy — “I don’t want to be looked at as a funny black man, I want
to be looked at as a black funny man.” His material was all about race — from Black folklore to
current social and political events. No Black comics other than Gregory were able to touch those
subjects in the mainstream prior to that time. Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx both did so, but
their stand-up acts and albums circulated in a de facto Black comedy underground. (Mitchell
2020). Before the ‘60s “you could not walk out and talk to white America,” said Gregory.
(Gregory 2006)
He described how his classic 1961 performance changed America and the future of late-
night TV talk shows in a discussion with writer/activist/poet Amira Baraka.

4
“White people had never been in a position to hear Black people talk about life,” said
Gregory of his historic three-and-a-half-hour performance at the Playboy Club in Chicago. His
stand-up act focused on bringing to light the racial bias of white America in everyday life in jokes
like Shoveling Snow, a subtle analysis of the impact of a Black family moving into a white
neighborhood. (Kazee 2018)
His appearance at the Playboy Club in Chicago marked the first time a Black comedian
headlined at a white club in America. Founder of Playboy, Hugh Hefner had seen Gregory
perform at the Herman Roberts Show Bar in Chicago and appreciated his edgy uncompromising
style. Like the Playboy Magazine founder/editor, Gregory refused to tone it down and was
pushing social boundaries. (Nicholas 2017)
Later that year, after another historic performance on the Jack Parr Show, Gregory
recalls that the phone circuits at NBC were jammed with calls from white viewers who called to
express things like, “I never knew that Black children and white children were the same.”
(Gregory 2006)
The stand-up opportunities grew for Black comedians as white audiences grew
increasingly interested in the lives of Black people in the early 1960s. Life for Americans of all
races was being touched by the intensifying civil rights movement. This period saw the non-
violent student movement launched when four Black students from North Carolina Agricultural
and Technical College sat at a ‘whites only’ lunch counter at a Woolworths in Greensboro North
Carolina and started a wave of civil disobedience throughout the south. (Head 2019) With the
advent of television, police violence against these peaceful protests was captured for Americans
to witness. Television helped to galvanize the movement, and like comedy, reflected to itself the
realities of racism in America.
By 1963, Martin Luther King was leading an unprecedented nonviolent movement
toward equality culminating on August 28 at the March Washington. A diverse crowd of over
200,000 people gathered to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans.

5
When King delivered his I Have a Dream Speech at the Lincoln Memorial, he drew a blueprint
for the future of race in America. (Reston 1963) While the news captured all this activity, it could
only provide a limited view of the nation’s volatility and hope. Black comedians stepped into the
gap and humanized what the news could not.
Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby both made their way into prime-time television in the early
60s helped along by Gregory who blazed a trail a few years prior. Both delivered a brand of
accessible ‘white bread’ comedy to a world that was changing fast but still committed to keeping
it light. White television audiences began to embrace Pryor who gained popularity as a
storyteller, not just a joke teller. (Watkins 2014)
Elvis Mitchell, American critic and host of KCRW’s The Treatment, paints a picture of
America during the civil rights movement — a time where mainstream culture was paying much
more attention to Black culture. As a purveyor of the impact of popular culture, he offers a view
on the emergence of Black comedians, like Pryor, into the mainstream-white-world of television
and film and the new relationship between race, art and commerce.
“By exposing secrets in Black culture in the mainstream, he eliminated a lot of fear,”
says Mitchell of Pryor’s stand-up in the 1960s. “As long as you are Black, don’t you talk back to
me,” was a classic line from Pryor’s mother that he put into his act, in effect allowing white
people a peek in the window of a Black household. (Mitchell 2020) In his very first television
appearance in 1964 his opening joke was about his growing up in Peoria Illinois as half-black,
half-Puerto Rican, in a Jewish tenement house in an Italian neighborhood. (Pryor, I Am Richard
Pryor' Documentary Highlights | Paramount Network 2019) In truth he grew up in a brothel in
Peoria and was exposed to a tremendous amount of ugliness and pain that sourced his comic
routines. (Watkins 2014).
This early TV performance and others propelled his career and over the next several
years. He played gigs in mainstream clubs in cities across America, including Vegas and
Hollywood. He was a frequent guest on talk shows like The Merv Griffin Show. In 1966, Pryor

6
chops it up with Griffin, dodges micro-aggressions and gets laughs for a stand-up act laced with
subtle pushback on America’s biases. (Cleveland Live music Vault Presentation 2020) His
evolving comic style was evident. That same year, 1966, the Black Panther Party was formed in
Oakland, CA.
While the pain of his youth poured into his comedy and was baked into his public
lighthearted persona, Pryor was increasingly torn by his success in mainstream while desiring
to tell it like is about the nature of being Black in America. By 1971, after an earthquake in
Los Angeles, Pryor relocated to Berkeley, CA where he found the freedom to experiment.
(Odess 2016)
His time in Berkeley was transformational and began what the New York Times called
Pryor’s wilderness period. (Butler 2015) There, he met with Ishmael Reed, Claude Brown, Al
Young, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, and other important movement leaders. “These intense
experiences allowed him to widen his repertoire and develop his social critique. He recorded
two KPFA shows, one focusing on the Attica prison riot only six days after it occurred in
September 1971.” (Odess 2016)
At Pryor’s first show at Mandrake’s club in Berkeley, then Mayor Warren Widener,
could barely get a seat in the packed audience that included mostly hippies and Black Panthers.
Pryor was introduced by the club owner as the crown prince of comedy, his highness Richard
Pryor.” (Butler 2015)
Pryor eventually went back to Hollywood and became increasingly committed to
speaking the language of Black America regardless of who was in the audience. (Watkins
2014). “Richard Pryor ripped the bandage off the festering wounds of racism that still hadn’t
healed. Not only that, he exposed the wounds to the mainstream. He called himself Black
when you still had Nipsy Russell and others who weren’t offending audiences. Pryor’s voice
was so forceful and original and funny; it couldn’t be ignored. He made anger attractive. He was

7
the first Black person other than Mohammed Ali who was his authentic self no matter who the
audience,” says Mitchell.
In contrast, the spoken word revolution with artists like Gil Scott Heron didn’t let you off
the hook. Heron, best known for his poem set to music, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,
borrowed the name from the slogan of The Black Power Movement. The central tenant of The
Movement was self-determination. Like Heron, Gregory’s stand up grew into more of a lecture
style as racial tensions grew and messaging to Black audiences focused on consciousness
raising not comedy. Mitchell recalls, “They didn’t allow the healing power of laughter that Pryor
would.” (Mitchell 2020)
Pryor’s authenticity, lovability and truth-telling built a bond with audiences and Hollywood
who saw his marquee value. By 1972, when Pryor starred in the drama Lady Sings the Blues, in
movie theaters, people cheered when Pryor came on screen. He had become a big screen
actor and used his popularity to become a comic-centrifugal force for reality checks on race. His
act grew in shock value, as he said what he had to say unfiltered. He cursed in his act and used
the word nigger regularly on stage. (Mitchell 2020)
When Pryor guest hosted on the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975, the
producers were so afraid of what Pryor may say in his opening live monologue (Pryor, Richard
Pryor’s Monologue, Saturday Night Live 12/13/1975 transcript 2017), they initiated the ‘two-
minute delay’ giving time to edit out any spontaneous foul language that may incur fines from
the Federal Communications Commission.

The Expansive Reach of Black Comics
From the eighties onward, the comedy delivered by African Americans continued to
bring attention to the variety of Black experiences in America. Eddie Murphy, a 19-year-old from
Hempstead Long Island, debuted on SNL in 1980, right out of high school. (Siegel 2019) His

8
popularity soared with such characters as “Buckwheat,” a grown-up version of the Our Gang
Little Rascal, and a Black version of the beloved PBS kid’s show, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,
ironically called Mr. Robinson’s Hood. In the tradition of tricksters from African Folklore, these
pleasant simple characters were unsuspectingly witty antics that made others, particularly white
people, look foolish. (Upadhyaya 2019)
While the 60s and 70s allowed whites to peek into Black life, the 80s were a turning
point for massive influx of Black culture and comedic talent to mainstream entertainment.
Murphy became a box office sensation (Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hrs.) and The Wayans Family
became household names. Keenan Ivory Wayans produced, wrote and directed the almost all
black sketch comedy show, In Living Color that launched in July 1988 on a then-fledgling Fox
TV Network. (Reinstein 2019) Wayans had recently produced the highly successful cult hit
comedy film I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. Fox, looking to build an audience base, made Wayans
an offer he couldn’t refuse. “They told me I could do whatever I wanted,” recalled Wayans in an
interview with the Hollywood Reporter. In his pitch meeting with Fox executives, Wayans noted
a phrase written on a whiteboard in the office, ‘A Black Laugh In’. What Wayans ended up
pitching was an edgier Saturday Night Live with a predominantly all Black cast. They went for it.
(Reinstein 2019) The show was a hit.
The bold voices of Black comedians were in demand. Their views were quickly amplified
in news where the popular Black comic is still often presented as a social commentator, a
political pundit, a social critic or perceived as spokesperson for all Black people.
Bill Cosby was America’s dad on the top-rated sit-com series The Cosby Show (1984-
1992) and one of America’s most respected comedians and actors before he became known for
his high-profile sexual assault trial in 2018. The Cosby Show was syndicated worldwide and
proved that an all-Black cast was relatable for all audiences. Cliff and Claire Huxtable (played by
Cosby and Co-star Phylicia Rashad) portrayed a successful couple balancing professional life

9
as a doctor and lawyer while raising their five children in an (Cosby 2012) upscale Brooklyn
neighborhood. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2020)
The show retained consultant psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint, who was dedicated to
ending racist myths. He worked with Cosby and producers to infuse storylines with powerful
psychology addressing Black identity, racial dynamics and stereotypes. The mainstream show
was ‘appointment-television’ on NBC for Blacks as well as whites. The Cosby Show ran
throughout the highly conservative Reagan years and helped to shift the narrative on Black life
from poverty-to-professional for Blacks in America. Cosby, a co-creator of the show, was a
major force in the expansion of opportunities for the next wave of Black comedians.
(Encyclopedia.com 2020)
“Bill Cosby is speaking out and when he does, people listen,” says CNN anchor Don
Lemon in a 2012 on air conversation with Goldie Taylor, a popular African American political
analyst/social commentator, now an editor-at-large at the Daily Beast. Together, they analyze
an interview with Cosby and CNN anchor Candy Crowley that had broadcast earlier that day.
(Cosby 2012) Taylor chats with Lemon about Cosby’s views on racially charged headlines
including the election of President Obama and Cosby’s views on the shooting death of unarmed
Black teen Trayvon Martin. In both instances, Cosby emphasized that race should play no part
in how we see politics or the guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman who shot and killed
Martin. (Cosby 2012)
Taylor says, “You and I both grew up with Bill Cosby — Fat Albert, The Electric
Company, Jell-O Pudding, The Cosby Show. I have had some challenges with what he [Cosby]
has had to say specifically about the African American community. But he has earned our
hearing him out, he is iconic worldwide.” (Taylor 2012)
Television was the arena in which Cosby’s legacy was made — including entertaining
millions as he influenced the trajectory of comedy among all races. And his monumental fall
from grace ironically became breaking news. At age 82, the comedian faces up to 30-year jail

10
sentence delivered in early September 2018 for three counts of aggravated indecent sexual
assault. Many in the Black community have been known for forgiveness of fallen heroes (think
O.J. and R. Kelly) — at the time of his sentencing Cosby was still receiving sympathetic tweets
acknowledging how his contributions were a triumph over racism despite his conviction.
However Cosby got eviscerated by #BlackTwitter on Father’s Day 2019 when he tweeted from
jail: “Hey, Hey, hey...It’s America’s Dad...I know it’s late, but to all of the Dads...It’s an honor to
be called a Father, so let’s make today a renewed oath to fulfilling our purpose — strengthening
our families and communities. #HappyFathersDay #RenewedOathToOurFamily.” (Connor 2019)
The ‘90s and 2000s gave way to a new cultural era fueled by the rise of hip hop and the
entertainment industry forces of Cosby and Murphy. This period saw an explosion of popular
Black talent. Comedians and comedic actors like Will Smith, the Wayans family, Robert
Townsend, Martin Lawrence, as well as women like Whoopi Goldberg, Monique, Wanda Sikes
and others helped change the face of U.S. comedic culture. And it was people behind the
scenes like Russell Simmons, Quincy Jones, Stan Lathan, Debbie Allen, Nelson George, the
Hudlin Brothers, Keenan Ivory Wayans, and others who created platforms that made it happen.
Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam became the main stage on TV to launch new Black stand-
up comics.
Growing up in the ‘90s in a mainly Black and Latino neighborhood in the San Fernando
Valley, Josh Solis, a 33-year-old Filipino, fell in love with the comic stylings of Black comedians.
He came up as The Cosby Show transitioned off the air (1992), giving way to this more edgy
raw brand of comedy. “They were speaking to me in a way I could relate to,” says Solis of
comedians like Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac and Jamie Fox. “Being such a hip-hop
head, I feel like these comedians had more to say about the same things I dealt with growing
up, like poverty.” I watched them on Def Comedy Jam and these guys were influences on me
getting into standup comedy years later. “I related to how they made fun of white people,
because that’s what my friends and I did.” (Solis 2018)

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For decades, Black comedians have been lightninging rods for political and social
awareness. “Comedy is not only a bridge to understanding but can be a source of connection
and inspiration for Black people and other marginalized groups,” says Solis, who now performs
regularly at The Comedy Store and other Hollywood venues. (Solis 2018)
Black comics have found a way to provide social commentary in a way that politicians,
journalists, or even commentators, cannot possibly do. Being real is a high commodity and
Black comedians are not elected, sponsored or saddled with the responsibility of party loyalties
or professional objectivity.

Politics: A Color Game
When Donald Trump became President, many were shocked while others saw it coming.
Saturday Night Live needed a voice that could speak to the state of the nation on its first
episode post-election in 2016. SNL tapped Dave Chappelle to deliver the show’s opening
monologue, knowing that his brand of unapologetic comedic commentary could help make
sense of the outcome. And it was Black comedians like Chappelle who voiced the complexities
of what many came to see as a racial referendum after the two terms of an Obama presidency.
After all, Obama didn’t fit the stereotype held by white supremacists; he was middle
class, Harvard-educated and now he was the leader of the free world. As author/journalist Ta-
Nehisi Coates says, “they [white supremacists in America] could not grasp that he [President
Obama] was really Black. I think that’s why folks were so offended by Obama,”, said Coates in
an interview on the Daily Show in 2019. (Coates 2019)
Chappelle went straight to the reality of what a Trump White House would mean for the
country. “We have done it, we have elected an Internet troll as our President,” stated Chappelle
in his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live’s November 12, 2016. (Chappelle, Dave

12
Chappelle Stand Up Monologue - SNL 2016) He imagined a Trump and Obama White House
meeting to discuss the job of President.
Chappelle: Trump went to see Obama last week and when he came out, Trump looked
like he got shook.
Trump: Hello Mr. President. Glad to see you.
Obama: Hey Donald. How are you doing?
Trump: This job looks like it will be a lot harder than I thought.
Obama: Really? At least you get to be white while you are doing it.
On the same SNL episode, Chappelle and comedian Chris Rock teamed up with white
SNL cast members in a skit called Election Night. The sketch contrasted white progressive
naiveté and the deeper understanding of systemic racism that Black people have through first-
hand experience. The skit highlights in a very real way, how Black folks are rarely ‘surprised’ by
the enduring presence of racism in America.
The comedy sketch began with great conviction and optimism: A group of white friends,
and one Black friend played by Chappelle, were watching election night returns on TV. The
white friends keep the faith that Hilary Clinton will be the first woman President.
White friend #1: Because of shifting demographics there may never be another
Republican president in this country.
As the election returns come in and state after state goes to Trump, Chappelle’s
character gently tries to explain to his white friends that America may be more racist than they
thought.
Chappelle: Don’t forget it’s a big country, he warns.
Comedian Chris Rock, played a character, Larry, who arrived at the party later as the
white friends are slowly realizing that Trump will likely win.
White friend #2 (desperate, as polls are nearly all closed): But Black people vote late!

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The “white friends” were in denial as Rock and Chappelle gave each other knowing
looks as Alaska goes to Trump. As the TV announcer declares, “Donald Trump is the
President,” the idea that America is actually racist was solidified for the white liberal group. They
are awakened to the America that Chappelle and Rock know all too well.
Chappelle won the Emmy in 2017 for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for that SNL
appearance, reaffirming his place as one of the country’s top comics. His stand-up routine on
SNL marked a return to television for Chappelle after the end of the third season of The Dave
Chappelle Show (2003-2006) on Comedy Central.
He shocked the industry and his loyal predominately white audience, when he walked
away from a $55 million-dollar deal in 2006, citing a need to reexamine his priorities. The show
left a vacuum on television. The Dave Chappelle show had become a comfortable place where
young white audiences were in on Black jokes, without the stigma of being the oppressor.
Chappelle, like Pryor, was so funny, irreverent and smart that audiences didn’t seem to see his
humor as shots across the bow. (Stephens 2017)
The N-i-g-g-a-r sketch, one of Chappelle’s most popular from his Comedy Central show
(2005) is about a white family whose surname is N-i-g-g-a-r. The sketch is set in the 50s in a
Father Knows Best style middle-class white American household. Chappelle is the friendly
milkman who pops in to make regular deliveries to the Niggar home. While engaging in chit-chat
with the family, the N word is used in practically every sentence. However, it is masked by the
family addressing one another in classic 50s style table talk:
Emily Niggar: Breakfast is served!
Frank Niggar: Look, hon, my sister just had another baby. Look at this little bundle of joy!
Emily: She's got those Niggar lips.
Frank: I know, so thin! Is Tim still asleep?
Emily: I think so.
Frank: He sure is one lazy Niggar!

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Chappelle is cleverly challenging us to recognize that words are words, but it is the
context and our conditioning that is decisive in our experience.
“There is a real thirst to hear the problems from the right perspective,” says Ellen Ford,
33-year-old white LA-based amateur standup and a self-proclaimed “avid consumer” of comedy.
“Sarah Silverman’s show, called Love You, America. I think she says something — violence by
police against Black people is not a new problem, it’s just new because we (white people) know
about it now.” She adds, “People are yearning to hear different voices and are now demanding
them. The studios have listened. Really, I think its most important right now, because a white
person can’t make these jokes. It isn’t funny and it’s not truthful.” (Ford 2018 )
Mik Moore, one of the nation’s most successful cultural strategists, understands first-
hand the one-two punch of funny and truthful. He is dedicated to shifting the way Americans
relate to issues of race, religion and other third rail subjects. Moore’s success is largely based
on the notion that if audiences are going to connect with a message and take action, it matters
most who is delivering it. (Moore 2019)
So, when Moore was charged with helping the Obama campaign to win the state of
Florida in the 2008 Presidential election, he called Sarah Silverman. Together they pulled off
one of the first successful targeted social media campaigns in the history of politics. “Black
comedians taught us that we could talk about race,” says Moore. “The fate of this election could
rest on older Jewish voters, many who held racist views. If young people care about getting this
guy [Obama] elected, they will have to go for it and have ‘the talk’. Moore raised independent
funds to create a video starring Silverman that would appeal to young Jewish Obama
supporters and their grandparents.” (Moore 2019)
“When I saw the first cut of the video, I knew one-hundred-percent it was going to be
popular,” says Moore (2019)” It was brilliant and hilarious and got at what we were trying to get
at, explicitly. There was a racism problem with this set of voters — we needed to talk about it
openly even if it’s uncomfortable.”

15
The Great Schlep, Silverman’s comedy routine, went viral on YouTube. In it, Silverman
uses her signature innuendo and snarky logic saying, “If Barack Obama doesn’t become the
next President of the United States, I am going to blame the Jews.” (New York Times, 2015)
The idea was to encourage liberal Jewish hipsters to travel to Florida to have a face-to-face with
their grandparents. Moore’s strategy banked on Jewish grandparents not being able to say ‘no’
to their grandkids who would help them get past their old-school racist views and to vote for the
first Black President. It worked. The Great Schlep racked up over seven million views in two
weeks after being posted online, and also racked up the Jewish vote in Florida. (Itzkoff 2008)

Blackish and the CSI Effect
Measuring racial shifts and social impact is still an inexact science even with the rise of
viewer algorithms. We can count viewers and who they are, but why people watch is an
evolving science. It’s helpful to know that of the over 9 million Americans who have regularly
tuned into ABC’s sitcom Blackish weekly, 79.7% of viewers are white according to Nielsen
ratings. The show has lasted for six seasons and is now in the annals of America’s top sitcoms.
So, what is its mass appeal and how did the show attempt to move the needle on race relations
in America?
Blackish delivered a view of contemporary African American family life, with the Johnson
family, defying one of the oldest most entrenched narratives in Hollywood — that only Black
people watch Black shows. The ensemble cast is led by some of Hollywood’s most popular
African American comedic leads, Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross and Deon Cole.
Blackish, the brainchild of African American writer/producer Kenya Barris, is a comical
exploration of a Black upper middle-class family. The dad, Dre (Anthony Anderson) is a
successful advertising executive coping in white corporate America. Blackish flips the script by
making stereotypes of the white characters who have a hyper-exaggerated lack of self-

16
awareness. It is a modern-day example of what Dick Gregory did so well — telling it like it is for
Black people while illuminating white privilege.
Barris’ show echoes The Cosby Show, which focused largely on the struggles of
professional success while balancing the needs of the family at home. Similarly, themes on
Blackish, launched during President Obama’s second term and running now during the
tumultuous Trump era, authentically deals with everyday challenges of all families, including
outgrowing friendships, struggles of parenthood, rebellious kids and the intergenerational moral
struggles of overbearing live-in grandparents. It gave prime time a hilarious and unflinching
deep dive into issues of Black identity within a family dynamic.
Blackish appeals to white audiences in part because many viewers find these characters
highly relatable. “They’re Black, but they are really living in an affluent white world, so it’s less
threatening to white people,” says Dr. Erica Rosenthal, Social Psychologist and Senior
Research Associate at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. “There are significant portions
of white people who watch Blackish and come across storylines about police violence that they
would never see anywhere else.” (Rosenthal 2018)
A study conducted by the Norman Lear Center determined that people are more likely to
retain messages and change behaviors when they learn from characters with whom they
identify. This accounts for why weekly sitcoms are so effective in educating the public about
new themes. (Traci K Gillig 2017) “Numerous studies have demonstrated the power of
entertainment narratives to influence attitudes and behaviors; fewer have examined the effects
of TV portrayals on attitudes toward marginalized groups,” says Rosenthal. TV show narratives,
for example depicting transgender individuals influence viewers’ attitudes towards transgender
people and related policies,” according to the preface to the study conducted by Rosenthal and
colleagues.
Seeing Blackish’s oldest daughter Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) going off to college in
her Blackish spinoff Grownish means millions of young girls of color will see what’s possible for

17
their lives. This season the second Blackish spinoff Mixish brings a hilarious and sometimes
painful view of being mixed race (Black and Caucasian) in 1970s America.
“It’s known as the CSI effect,” says Daraiha Greene (Greene 2017), head of computer
science in media multicultural strategy at Google. To encourage more tech portrayals of African
American females in media, Greene meets regularly with showrunners, writers and directors to
explain the difference it makes when Black women are able to see themselves in computer
science professions on a show. The CSI effect is a reference to a time when the TV show
featured a female forensic specialist. In the years immediately following the introduction of this
character on CSI, the number of young Black women applying to forensic medical programs
surged. (Greene 2017)

Unapologetically Black
While comedy can inspire social impact through TV shows and standup routines, Black
comedians sometimes take heat when they offer their own social and political views off-screen
and off-stage.

Comedian Issa Rae, Creator of the HBO series Insecure on The Emmys red carpet 2017.

When the popular HBO sitcom creator and star Issa Rae (Insecure, 2016-2020) was
asked by Vanity Fair Magazine, on the red carpet at the historic 2017 Emmys, who she would

18
be rooting for, she responded “I will be rooting for everybody Black.” (Rae 2017) Immediately
following the airing of this exchange at the 69th Emmy Awards, featuring the most diverse
group of nominees in Emmy history, Rae was called out as a racist on social media. At the
same time Rae’s supporters went viral with tweets of support, (The Grio 2017) t-shirts and
memes featuring her now famous red-carpet quote. These opposite reactions to Rae’s
statement further evidence the polarization and complexities around race in America.
In an age of systemic and institutional attacks on communities of color, Black comics
continue to risk public backlash for the stands they take to express positions that may be
unpopular, using their platforms to galvanize awareness and to offer a fresh reality check to
America.
Rae’s show Insecure features an ensemble cast of other comedic newcomers and has
launched the careers of actresses like Amanda Seales. She plays Tiffany Dubois, the bougie
buddy of Rae who is on again off again with the rest of the crew on the show. In real life,
Seales sees herself as an unapologetic voice for Black women.
Seales’ commitment to the tradition of truth-telling was one inspiration for her live
comedy extravaganza appropriately named Smart Funny and Black. The show’s official mission
statement is to educate audiences about the Black experience in America, “by any joke
necessary.” Her website describes her as a Jedi Khaleesi with a Patronus that’s a Black
Panther with wings. Translation, Black Power Movement meets popular culture, meets
transformational leader. (Seales, Smart Funny and Black 2020)
A stand-up comic and former MTV VJ with a master’s degree in African American
studies from Columbia University, Seales created this gameshow-style celebration of Black
history to counter the barrage of negative images of Black people in the media. The Smart
Funny and Black Show addresses, unchecked appropriation and the overall lack of education in
African American history and serves as a safe space to celebrate the Black experience.
(Seales, Smart Funny and Black 2020) It features a live band that plays interludes of popular

19
songs by African American artists; these become sing-alongs during the show. No need for a
bouncing ball or karaoke lyrics, because everyone knows the words, to these songs. Seales
shows that cultural connection is alive and well in the Black experience. In the ground rules for
the evening Seales explains that when you hear the first notes of Before I Let Go by Frankie
Beverly and Maze, we are to rise and dance the electric slide. The audience follows through on
cue and dances in unison. (Seales, Smart Funny and Black 2020)
Seales, dressed in yoga pants and braids, seems authentic and excited, like a teacher
welcoming the audience to the first day of class. When the band kicks off its first beats, she is
now an MC, moving rhythmically from one end of the stage to the other, concert style with
microphone in hand. She commands the audience as she sets up the rules of engagement for
the head-to-head competition about to begin. Two pre-selected cultural figures with knowledge
of the Black experience will compete on stage for the title of Blackspert. The show travels
nationally and competitors are selected from amongst locally popular icons.
On this February night at the Fox Theater in Oakland, Smart Funny and Black has sold
out all 2800 seats. People have come out to see Amanda and to participate. Tonight, her
cultural gladiators include MC/Oakland Legend Too Short. The winner will enter the Smart
Funny and Black — Blackspert Hall of Fame.” (Seales, Smart Funny and Black 2020)
Seales warns the few white people in the audience at the outset. “This is for Black
people. You may not get it, so after the show talk to your Black friends who invited you.” Then
everyone is ceremoniously invited to stand to sing the “Negro National Anthem”.
“Amanda’s style is like, I am not trying to be anything for anybody else,” says Louise
Cousins, a thirty-something Creative Director for a popular television show. Tonight she is in the
Oakland audience with her African American girlfriends. Cousins’ family is originally from
Jamaica. She grew up in London and moved to the US in 2016. “As a Black woman she
[Amanda] is very brave. She said something like, ‘They didn’t think I would be able to fill up this

20
theater. They said Oakland don’t come out like that.’ But they came out for Amanda.”
(Cousins 2020)
After the show Cousins and her friends are in the theater lobby, amped as they share
about the show. “She (Amanda) uses things that are very close to Black culture — song and call
and response. It’s like a church in a way. She used things that encapsulate the Black
experience. She always breaks out into song and everyone knows the lyrics. These are all
things that are derivative of Africa diaspora — as a person from the UK, I could really relate,”
says Cousins. (Cousins 2020)
Perhaps no one offers a more consistent voice for the African Diaspora in comedic
culture today than South African-born The Daily Show host Trevor Noah. Noah succeeded the
show’s longtime host Jon Stewart. Today, Noah has won a Primetime Emmy and is the author
of the critically acclaimed New York Times best-selling autobiography Born a Crime that reflects
on his biracial heritage in apartheid South Africa. As a nightly talk show host he has conducted
hundreds of interviews with today’s cultural influencers; his satire and comedy offer a unique
perspective on race and culture.
In a January 2019 interview with Amanda Seales, Noah spoke with her about what she
calls “edutainment.” Seales made it clear that all of her entertainment endeavors — including,
Smart Funny and Black, her podcast Small Doses, her host role on the all-female talk show The
Real, her host role on NBC’s comedy talent competition Bring the Funny, her January 2019
HBO stand up show, I Be Knowin’ and her role as Tiffany Dubois on Insecure — share the
same underlying theme. “To educate, to make change, you have to know your people, know
your culture.” says Seales. (Seales, The Daily Show 2019)
Smart Funny and Black is a live show and not a TV show, because Seales asserts that
she wants to own her material and to have creative freedom to be unapologetically Black.
(Seales, Smart Funny and Black 2020)

21
Networks, who typically own the shows, also have the right to veto storylines. Such was
the case with Blackish creator Barris in 2018. Variety reported that ABC shelved an episode of
Blackish that was based on the controversy started when football star Colin Kaepernick took a
knee during the playing of the national anthem at games. (Holloway 2018)
Barris chose to depart ABC in July 2018 and made a deal with Netflix for $100 million to
create his next three projects. Two are in development and one, #black AF launched April 2020.
He will continue to receive Executive Producer credit on Blackish while the Netflix deal is
in effect. The show #blackAF represents the next level of Black family comedies. Originally titled
Black Excellence, Barris renamed the show #black AF to capture the irreverent spirit of the new
series. This time, Barris is the star of the show along with co-star Rashida Jones. #black AF
takes on race, relationships and culture in the daily lives of an affluent TV producer and his wife
and six kids, as they grapple with new found success in Hollywood (Netflix.com 2020). The
show depicts highly imperfect parents, driven by wealth and professional success. The dad,
played by Barris, doesn’t hold back in complaining about his family and is easily triggered by not
getting his way. And while Larry David has found comedic success in his HBO show Curb Your
Enthusiasm by being a schmuck, critics are split on Barris’ character and his newest TV family.
Variety noted that the sitcom “is the most outright mean-spirited series about family life
in memory,” and that it “[depicts] lives and intellects choked off by big piles of stuff.” Barris’
latest take on family life is not the warm fuzzies of Blackish. In the season finale the family
travels by private jet to Fiji. When Barris feels his TV family is ungrateful he remarks, “OK, go
f—k myself, I guess.”
Popular vlogger, The Breakfast Clubs’ Charlemagne the God, said point blank, “The
show is whack.” And in a recent conversation with musical artist and cultural icon, T. I., on his
podcast expediTIously, TI says point blank, “I love the show”. Barris confides that times have
changed since Blackish first aired, and he feels that #black AF is an expression of where he

22
(Barris) is at in his life at this time. Like it or hate it the show has been re-upped for another
season on Netflix.
#black AF launched during an even more aggressive climate of racial divisiveness than
most could have envisioned back on election night in 2016. While much of the country is
struggling to deal with the devastation of the killing of George Floyd and other unarmed Black
people in the streets of America, #blackAF casts a view of a privileged lifestyle that seems a bit
out of step with the moment. It remains to be seen if #blackAF characters — the hard-working
Hollywood elite will grow on audiences. It’s almost as if Barris is playing with the idea of Black
privilege at a time when privilege overall is being questioned. (National Association of School
Psychologists 2016) The hashtag show title, #black AF is no match for the more culturally
relevant hashtag on the minds of Americans today, #BLACKLIVES MATTER.

Comedy in the Era of Trump
The handwriting was on the wall ever since Trump launched his Presidential campaign
on June 16, 2015, descending the escalator at Trump Tower in New York City, calling Mexicans
living in America rapists.
The weaponization of news and a President who espouses racist views and policies
ignited his base of supporters and devastated others who clung to the notion of a “post-racial”
vision of America during Barack Obama’s presidency.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) 2017 report, The Year in Hate and
Extremism (Potok 2017); documented more than 1200 racially motivated hate crimes in the first
months of the Trump administration. The SPLC website home page noted: “Trump’s run for
office electrified the radical right, which saw in him a champion of the idea that America is
fundamentally a white man’s country.” Over the years of the Trump administration, this violence
escalated into the streets of the nation. The February 20, 2019 SPLC report entitled The Year in

23
Hate Rage Against Change documents the flourishing of white supremacy amid fears of
immigration and the nation’s shifting demographics. (Beirich 2019)
Dave Chappelle and DL Hughley created comic history In the closing minutes of the
Netflix Special, Def Comedy Jam’s 25
th
Anniversary (You Tube 2018 ) in September 2017, one
year after Trump was elected. As a music cue fails, the two get on a roll with raw, unscripted
and hilarious banter that hits home. Chappelle says to the audience, “If we told them what being
Black in America is, would they believe us? It’s real right now. Target is carrying white
supremacist starter kits.”
“In the Trump Era people are more on edge than ever, they are more critical than ever,”
says Ford, the amateur stand-up comic. “It is so hard. People need a laugh more than ever,
when the speed at which we are inundated with bad news is so high and Trump himself is the
punchline. On the other hand, it’s an awesome opportunity to use comedy as a tool to bring
people together. It’s a beautiful thing, laughter in every language is the same.”

The Price of Comic Stardom
We haven’t really figured out how to measure the vast impact of comedy in America, but
we can gauge how far we have come by looking at the career of Dave Chappelle, who is
arguably among our most prolific living comedians when it comes to an unfiltered exploration of
race today.
Chappelle has more than made back the $55 million that he left on the table when he
walked away from Comedy Central back in 2006. Netflix paid a reported $20 million for each of
three comedy stand-up specials starting in 2017. Chris Rock also earned $20 million for each of
his two comedy specials. Combined, that’s roughly what HBO spent on the final season of
Game of Thrones. (Clark, How much money 'Game of Thrones' episodes cost to make in the
final season and throughout the series 2019) And that’s not including Barris’ $100 million.

24
(Clark, 6 Comedians Netflix has paid huge amounts of money to 2019) These last two citations
are in a different format than the others. Please be consistent.
The price of being a superstar in the age of social media is that your views and lifestyle
are under public scrutiny. Careers can live and die by way of social media. Dave Chappelle and
Kevin Hart have both been at the center of public relations debacles based on remarks they’ve
made about the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ issues. Hart lost a 2019 opportunity to host the
Oscars due to his homophobic tweets. Shortly after Hart was named the Host, BuzzFeed’s
Michael Blackmon reviewed some of the tweets that Hart was frantically deleting. Chappelle has
had ongoing pushback from Millennials and Gen Z’ers who see him as anti-LGBTQ. This brings
to mind the reality that there can be a love-hate relationship with comics, since they are only
capable of sharing what they see as real, true even if it is “oppressing the oppressed”.
(Blackmon 2018)
For now, these huge sums of money and all of the collective Emmys represent
television’s biggest acknowledgments. But comedy’s greatest single honor is the Mark Twain
Prize for American Humor. This October 2019, Dave Chappelle received the Mark Twain Prize
in a PBS broadcast of the all-star salute from The Kennedy Center. Standing center stage,
Chappelle was surrounded by a live audience including the comedy greats of our day: Seinfeld,
Jon Stewart, Eddie Murphy and Stan Lathan, Chappelle’s TV producer and the co-creator of Def
Comedy Jam. In his acceptance speech he talked about the love of the comedy genre and what
it represents for America. (PBS 2020)
Chappelle has come far from the fourteen-year-old whose mom drove him to comedy
gigs on school nights. Today, he is a 46-year-old who appears as comfortable being honored by
the entire comedy industry as he is doing stand-up at his favorite comedy club, The Punchline in
San Francisco. With signature cigarette in hand, he talks to the audience, pausing occasionally
to give shout outs to friends in the audience who represent different junctures in his career. He
then spots the one person he says is the most important guest of all, his mom. (PBS 2020)

25
He thanks her not only for long days of driving him to and from gigs, but for the gift of
education. She taught him “that to be a lamb you sometimes have to be a lion.” The camera
catches a glimpse of his mother as she mouths those words in unison with Chappelle. The
lesson of defending oneself in a predatory business served him well. Perhaps her most
influential contribution was telling her young son that he should someday become a griot. She
was a professor of African American studies. (PBS 2020)
This evening, Chapelle, at the height of his career, embodies the aspirational path that
his mother helped to guide. He compares American stand-up comedy to the West African
tradition of griots — the poets, storytellers and musicians rooted in oral history who held the
entire history of their village in memory and passed it on to other generations. “I love my artform.
I love the genre. It saved my life,” Chapelle told the Kennedy Center audience. (PBS 2020)
But as he acknowledged his roots, Chapelle made space to appreciate even those
comics whose own views he might despise: “I know comics that are very racist and we watch
them on stage. Don’t get mad at them or hate them. Sometimes I appreciate the artistry that
they paint their racist opinions with. Man, it’s not that serious. The first amendment is first for a
reason. The second amendment is just in case the first one doesn’t work out.” (PBS 2020)
Election night 2020 is mere weeks away and political pundits, echo chambers and
network news ratings wars are in full swing. Yet, no one could have predicted that we’d be
thrust into a race reckoning after the police murder of George Floyd and that a deadly virus
would hit now, overshadowing life as we all have known it.
Dave Chappelle offered his thoughts on the Coronavirus in an Instagram Live from his
home in Yellow Springs, Ohio two weeks after the official order ‘shelter in place. His take on the
virus is the essence of Chappelle’s comic DNA. He jokingly compared his town’s quarantine
experience to the show The Walking Dead. “Anyone you see out here is trying to take a walk or
buy heroin,” he says. (Okayplayer. 2020)

26
It remains to be seen how racism in America will be impacted by these new conditions.
This June, Chappelle gave the first socially distanced celebrity concert. He held it at a park —
an outdoor makeshift venue in his hometown. Chairs were set six feet apart, placed deliberately
in neatly painted red boxes six feet apart on the grass. People wore masks. His opening line
was. “This is weird.”
The show was aptly called 8:46 for the exact time it took for cop Derek Chauvin to kill
George Floyd as he planted his knee unceasingly on his throat. The show was 30 minutes long
and was shared on Netflix’s free YouTube Channel. (Trenholm 2020) No doubt, with Black
people dying disproportionately due to the COVID -19 virus and police brutality, African
American comedians may be our nation’s best bet to process these challenging times. But even
Chappelle was so visibly angry and rightfully so. 8:46 plays like a furious and urgent grappling
with senselessness of fatal effects of race in America today. (Chappelle, 8:46 2020)Listening to
8:46 may be the longest time an audience has ever listened to Chappelle without audible
laughs. After all, comedians are truth tellers and the truth of race in America right now, is that a
punchline has yet to be discovered.

27
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis is a research-based article that explores the role of Black comedians in race relations in America. It begins with an examination of the current unprecedented landscape forged by Black comedians now making millions of dollars and enjoying the highest visibility in the history of comedy. This is in stark contrast to the entertainment- apartheid that imposed restrictions on Blacks performing for white audiences. Thanks to streaming deals with Netflix, HBO and others Black comedians and the comedic content that they create are some of the most familiar faces in Hollywood. Arguably, collectively, the most enduring and valuable role of Black comedians is in illuminating truths about racial realities for Blacks in America and creating a safe space to explore America’s complex race issues. Black comedians including Moms Mabley, Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor became social commentators who used jokes and laughter to cross the social constructs of America from the advent of television variety shows during the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the launch of Black situation comedies like the Cosby Show in the 80s and the irreverent Def Comedy Jam in the 90s. These comedic sketches, television shows and stand up sets, paved the way for a new relationship between race, art and culture.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Simpson, Sherry Michelle (author)

Core Title The color of laughter: a look at how Black comedians shape race in America

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Degree Conferral Date 2022-05

Publication Date 05/24/2022

Defense Date 05/23/2022

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag American history,Artists,bias,Black,Black history,chitterling-circuit,civil rights movement,comedy,comedy-club,entertainment industry,equity, media,Laughter,media literacy.,OAI-PMH Harvest,racial identity,stand-up comedy,Television

Language English

Advisor Tolan, Sandy (committee chair), (committee member)

Creator Email sherry.simpson@itvs.org,sherrysimpsondean1@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111336140

Unique identifier UC111336140

Identifier etd-SimpsonShe-10727.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-SimpsonShe-10727

Document Type Thesis

Rights Simpson, Sherry Michelle

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20220527-usctheses-batch-944 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu