Laughter has no color
By Olu Alemoru
For the NNPA
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) – Stand-up comics have long occupied an exalted station in African-American pop culture. In the latter half of the 20th century and beyond, wildly successful comedians – Redd Foxx, Moms Mabley, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle – have been perhaps the most-beloved black cultural figures.
While Chappelle’s recent departure from television has deprived the black comedy scene of a mainstay – a singularly popular figure who drives interest in stand-up – black comics have perhaps never been in such high demand.
That demand is true for St. Louis comics. Local comedians such as Jessie Taylor, Darius Bradford, Arvin Mitchell, Lil Roc and Dee Lee regularly pack houses such as the Funny Bone, Suite2Fifty, The Duck Room, Janae’s West and T Billy’s. For several years now, II St. Louis Brothers has presented comedians weekly to standing-room-only audiences.
In the early ‘90s Sanfords, bordering North City and North County at the Riverview Circle, was the place to get your side split by local comedians.
St. Louis-born comedian-actor and on-air personality Guy Torry, who moved to L.A., often talked about “working rooms” in California to build comedic muscle.
Like the holy triangle of the West Hollywood comedy circuit, showcases of almost exclusively black talent which may be the hottest tickets in L.A.
On the West Coast, the Laugh Factory hosts two weekly nights of black-oriented humor: one on Sundays called “Chocolate Sundaes,” and a Wednesday mix of stand-up and sketches that has drawn nationally recognized names like Lawrence and recent surprise participant Wayne Brady. At the famed Improv, engineer-turned-promoter Spike Thompson’s “Mo’ Betta Monday” has been going strong for the last decade. And at the Comedy Store, veteran comedian Alex Thomas hosts the weekly showcase “Trippin on Tuesday.”
“I don’t know if you would even define it as ‘black’ comedy, because I would call it ‘urban’ comedy,” says Pookey Wigington, who is behind the Laugh Factory’s Sunday night show.
“Black comedy has transcended the boundaries of ethnicity. You have your urban Asian, Persian, Chinese, even white comics taking a piece of what we would call black comedy from Redd Foxx to Richard Pryor.”
He added: “I think it’s incredible that black comedy has grown from the comic who does tours and makes money on the road [with] just one or two guys making a living doing TV and films. Right now, there are 20 guys out there making a million a year from TV and film because of their crossover appeal and don’t even have to do the clubs.”
Wigington’s showcase is hosted by comedian-actor Deray, who agrees that black comedians no longer appeal to just African-American audiences. “Right now in the comedy scene, black dollars is where it’s at,” he said. “We start the show at 8 p.m., but we’re sold out by 7:45. It’s one of those funny things about black culture. Twenty five years ago no one supposedly wanted to listen to rap – but look at it now.”
Historically, black vaudeville set the stage for the modern-day verbal gunslinger with a mic. Jackie “Moms” Mabley, née Loretta Mary Aiken, was born in 1894 and became one of the most successful entertainers of her time. At the height of her career, in the 1960s, the native North Carolinian was earning $10,000 a week at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.
Redd Foxx was perhaps the funniest and certainly the raunchiest comic of his era, and he influenced the likes of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. The Sanford and Son star, whose party albums adorn many of the young comics’ record collections today, was one of the first black comedians to play the Las Vegas Strip.
With the exception of Bill Cosby, the fascination with adult-oriented themes continued, culminating in the celebrated HBO series Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam. The show, which aired from 1992-97, launched the careers of a modern-day comic dynasty that includes Chris Tucker, Lawrence, D.L. Hughley, Jamie Foxx, Steve Harvey and St. Louis’ own comedy king Cedric the Entertainer.
In 2000, Cedric, Hughley and Harvey would go on to star in the successful “The Kings of Comedy” tour, which reportedly took in more than $40 million in two years and spawned a hit concert film of the same name directed by Spike Lee.
While the story of black comedy might seem to be a male-dominated domain, just as Mabley got the ball rolling 40 years ago, some of today’s hottest acts are sisters.
“Black women have a horribly difficult time on the circuit,” said BET Comic View regular Luenell, who is soon to star in a film with notorious British comic Sacha Baron Cohen, aka “Ali G.”
“We have to fight, fight, fight, to gain recognition. We constantly get that ‘bitch’ handle when we have to fight to get our money.”
