St. Louis remains on the list for one of the most segregated cities in the country. The city has long been shaped by invisible borders, and while local comics share the same craft, many of them have never shared the same stage with one another.
Charles Pruitt, whose stage name is Black Charles, said in his 5 years in the St. Louis comedy scene he’s noticed the separation in open mics across the city. Black Charles is the host of “Wing it Wednesday”, an open mic at Too Much Sauce, a restaurant just outside the Central West End.
“You have to be versatile,” Charles said. “People don’t want to go to different rooms. It’ll be people that will never leave their rooms. It’s like the delmar divide.”
He said he’s noticed a lot of comics are scared to perform in front of crowds that come from different backgrounds than themselves. But Charles said that’s what makes a good comic: someone who can perform in front of any crowd and take any sort of criticism from the audience.
“I believe in St. Louis, we have the toughest crowd, which makes the funniest comedians,” he said. “We’re used to having to fight the crowd. People talk back to you.”
He said he hopes the scene can evolve to be more inclusive, so that everyone has the same opportunity to succeed and have a seat at the table.
“I want it to be more like everybody’s free to go anywhere and not feel weird about it,” he said.
Improv group boosts diversity on stages across St. Louis
Some Black People, an improv group composed of all Black improvisers including Jessica Nicole, Aaron Moore, Donovan Crowder, Charles Harris, and Kendall Bennett. The group was formed at the improv shop after Nicole said she saw no all Black groups in the organization.
“As I was going through the program, I realized that there was, like an all woman team, there’s an all gay team, there’s like all types of different teams like that, but I didn’t see an all black team,” Nicole said. “And I love being black, and I love black people. So I was like, we need that.”
The group was formed in 2023 and has since been committed to increasing the number of Black improvisers in the city. The group will compete at Cagematch, which is a competition put on by the Improv Shop. Since its inception in 2016, only one Black improviser has taken the cagematch stage. Until now.
“It’s a competition where we go head to head with another team. It’s essentially like NCAA March Madness, bracket style. And so now we’re in the championship,” Harris said. “Whoever plays the most, gets to qualify for this tournament.”
According to a 2019 study by career explorer, only about 11% of comedians identify as Black, while 73% of them are white. Crowder explained the reason many Black people stray from improv is because the classes and barriers to entry are often too high for people who want to try it, and are not immediately invested.
“What we really do is rich man sport, and so that’s really been for the most part,” he said. “That’s why improv is predominantly white, because most of us can’t afford it.”
But the improv group wants to encourage more people of color to join the industry, boosting the appeal with a scholarship made to cover the costs of improv classes at the Improv Shop.
Nicole said the idea for the scholarship was welcomed with open arms by Andy Soley, the managing director of the Improv shop.
“Andy’s very aware that improv is a predominantly white art form, and so he’s like, ‘whatever part I can do to help diversify this thing is beautiful.’” Nicole said of Soley. “When you see people from different backgrounds and live life experiences and stuff do this whole thing. It’s amazing. And so he’s like, ‘if you’re saying, all I have to do is basically give them a door to get in, and we teach them how to do it, and then let them do it. Sure I can do that.’”
Barriers to entry: Being Black and a woman
Twenty-three year old Taji Cazembe is one of the newest and youngest comics on the scene. She said she hopes to create a space for young women of color in comedy to support and uplift each other.
“We gotta stick together in the sense of making sure we know of each other and like sharing opportunities,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s gonna be so much stopping us as women, as black women, and if we stick together and just support one another, because we can’t wait for the dudes to do it. They’re not. They only want one female on their show.”
Cazembe explained that at a lot of open mics at the comedy clubs, there are limited spots in the line up, making it harder for not only comics in general, but women of color to make it on that lineup.
“If this is a show and they only have one woman and one black person, there’s even a chance it might not be the woman, because they’re probably gonna be some black guy,” she said. “And then, you know, for the black shows, they kind of filled it out with a lot of people that they may already know on one show. I’m like, so y’all don’t, y’all don’t know female comics?”
Cazembe co-hosts a radio show on Thursdays at noon with fellow co-host Shante Love. Shante said there is a difference between performing for a Black audience. That’s where she first started her comedy career.
“I immediately started going to perform in rooms that were in neighborhoods with more black comics and more black audiences,” Shante said. “That was a little awakening, because, like us black people, we don’t always show when things are enjoying it or laugh, so it’s like, dang, am I really funny or?”
But as she became more familiar with the scene, she said she would be worried she was the only woman or Black person booked on a show. She realized the scene was divided in ways that she didn’t think about before she was familiar with it.
“There’s so many women in comedy in St Louis, and there’s black women here,” Shante said. “It doesn’t feel like all of us are being seen, especially the ones that you know are good. There are rooms that I can tell that I’ll probably never be in, just because they don’t really look for that.”
She said she wants to see the scene evolve into more of a sisterhood, where shows with multiple women are not rare, and having more than one person of color on the poster be the norm.
“I do want to see more consistent opportunities for comics and these venues providing platforms for that, because people love to laugh, and with everything going on, you need people in these establishments laughing and hanging out and stuff like that, building that sense of community,” she said.
Hope for the future
Nicole said they’re excited to see what the future holds for the comedy and improv community in St. Louis. They have already seen an increase in Black improvisers, just a few days ago they booked a group for a show, something she would not have thought possible just a few years ago. They urge people to go out and watch their shows.
“There’s so much fun to have in St. Louis, especially with black comedians across all the art forms,” they said. “So please just come out and have fun wherever, regardless if it’s with us, or other art forms, other comedians like to just go out and explore. Be curious about it.”
Black Charles said there is hope for the comedy scene to evolve and become more inclusive. He said more and more people who are usually seen performing in front of white audiences have been branching out, making them stronger comedians. He hopes the scene will continue to evolve, creating a space where people become stronger together.
“If we’re separate in practice, we’re never going to be together in the game,” he said.