‘Stand-up Comedy’

‘Stand-up Comedy’

Stand-up comedy is, of course, one of the oldest, basic and most universal way of expressing humor. It has played an integral role in a social and cultural mediation tool through the use of a wide range of cultures and social behaviors to crack jokes that make people laugh. Stand-alone comedy is crucial in all cultures in the world as the comedians reveal the nature of different people in a humorous way.  Artists are the ones who perform these types of comedies as they have mastered every facet of who people are in a way that will make the audiences laugh. It is really difficult to define what a stand-up comedy means as the process of setting up one joke and delivering it to the audience may be a bit complicated. Some people may define it as a comedy that involves a single standing performer acting comically or just saying funny things directed to a seated audience that make them laugh. However, this is just a limited definition of stand-up comedy as it comprises of rituals, rites, and dramatic experiences and actions that are much more than the above simple definition.

Stand-up comedy has been around for many years. In almost every country in the world, there a stand-up comedy which is dated back from the earliest times when entertainment itself was evolving. Unlike in the past, stand-up comedy has become more famous today as people in the 21^st century like it. In addition, more artists are liking the idea of taking to stage and performing stand-up comedies due to its popularity and success in almost every part of the world. The field of the stand-up comedian has a wide range of topics such that almost every comedian has their distinct spin on stand-ups to make them unique and theirs. Some of the jokes that stand-up comedians make may be cruel, weird, and harsh, but they are meant to make people laugh, and most cases audience assume that the comedian was ‘just kidding.’ Therefore, anything that comedians say should not be taken seriously, although they sometimes influence our culture and social values of a certain group.

In most cases, stand-up comedians find things that many of the audience can relate to so that the joke presented can spread over many people. This paper would aim to present several American-African stand-up comedians and how they influence social and cultural mediations of African-Americans. My purpose for this research project will demonstrate how black contemporary stand-up comedians helped to diffuse race-relations among both the whites and African-American communities. The research project will also discuss why stand-up comedy needs to continue as a platform where both societal and cultural issues are discussed.

African-American stand-up comedians have been able to demonstrate the social problems that African-Americans went through in the hands of white people. Through their stand-up comedies, many African-Americans have been voicing their real experiences that they went through because of being black. Other African-American stand-up comedians focus on experiences of other blacks who went through tough times. For instance, both Dave Chappelle and W. Kamau Bell have consistently joked on how they faced the brutality of the police and mocking from the whites during their early days as comedians. They both focused on the issues of racism and race as a way of social and cultural construction throughout their shows. The two comedians have demonstrated many social issues that faced the blacks, which resulted from racism and race.

Dave Chappelle’s experiences as a black American mainly centers on race, policing, and the criminal justice system (Wetterberg 22). From the beginning, Chappelle has been an African-American stand-up comedian who has used the criminal justice system to demonstrate how the blacks were unfairly judged in courts because of being black. Chappelle has presented many cases through his comedy that the criminal justice system ruled against a black person not because the black person was wrong but because he was just black. According to Chappelle shows at Netflix, the criminal justice system was rare to rule in favor of a black person unless conditions forced them to due to the presence of undeniable evidence in favor of the black person. Through the shows that centered on the criminal justice system, Chappelle was able to demonstrate the role of the criminal justice system on promoting race and racism through unfair judges that involved the blacks. In his shows, Chappelle has demonstrated that blacks were always in prisons not because they had done anything wrong but due to the criminal justice system tends to promote white supremacy and to make blacks look like offenders of the law.

Although Chappelle has mainly focused on injustices of the criminal justice system, his shows have changed, and he now focuses on race and policing. For instance, in “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” which was produced in 2015, Chappelle concedes that he would not talk about police brutality, but he would leave that to Chris Rock. However, in that film, he had a lot to say concerning the criminal justice system. Although he did not present anything about police brutality in the story of “Deep in the Heart of Texas, a year later, Chappelle presents four stories that were about how he had run into O.J. Simpson many years ago when he was 18 years and just starting his career on stand-up comedy. First, the fame of Chappelle presented him with an opportunity to interact with the police differently, like many African-Americans. In the first story, Chappelle tells the story of stumbling outside the Los Angeles club after his friend offered to drive him home. However, the two were pulled over by the police, and Chappelle tells the audience that a black man was driving him. He stated that the black man had nothing to do with the story that he was narrating but showing that there was fear in the car. “I should tell you the friend that was driving me was black, which doesn’t have anything to do with the story other than to let you know that there was fear in the car,” Chappelle quips. “Not my fear. I’m black. But I’m also Dave Chappelle. So I figured, you know, s— will probably be fine.” (Washington Post, 2017)Chappelle’s concern of being driven by a black man shows how blacks lived a life of suspicion, even having done something wrong whenever they came across the police. Chappelle started messing up with the radio after being left in the car so that the police do not ask him to get out the car like his friend.

Additionally, Chappelle narrated his encounter with police at his Ohio town when some white teens threw snowballs at his car and shouted a racial epithet to him. He stated that some white people who witnessed were disgusted and immediately filed police reports. The police asked Chappelle if he wanted to open charges for the children. This got Chappelle surprised as he had never been in a position to decide the fate of white kids (Washington Post, 2017). Chappelle’s experience shows that in the past, blacks faced a lot of problems like being insulted and bullied by the whites because nothing could be done to them. However, Chappelle’s revelation that he determines the fate of the white children who threw snowballs to his car while yelling racist epithet to him shows that things had started changing on how the police viewed and treated blacks. In another story that Chappelle narrated in 2000, he joked that he too scared to call 911 when his house was burglarized as he feared that the police would not believe that he lived in it because it was too good (Washington Post, 2017). This story shows that African-Americans were stereotyped as poor, and only whites were perceived to be rich and live in better places. The whites saw the blacks as poor and the ones who should live in slums (Dave Chappelle on Racism, 2016). From 2004, Chappelle shows were based on racial profiling, where he gave several phrases that were used to describe the blacks. For instance, Chappelle told his audience that many whites said blacks were all the same. In retaliation to the phrase, Chappelle told the audience that the blacks believed those who viewed them as the same must be police. That means that even a black child would just be treated like an adult which was completely wrong.

In almost all the Chappelle’s shows involving police, there seems that there was some wrong between the blacks and the police. It seems that police always viewed blacks as criminals and blacks, on the other hand, not like the police. Therefore, in every contact between police and a black person, there was always an issue of injustice and brutality or unfair treatment from the police. An example is story he narrated of a black woman who was filmed being brutalized by the police. As a result, she was later compensated with $1.5 million, which Chappelle joked was a payout for Floyd Mayweather (Washington Post, 2017). Although currently there is neither much police brutality nor racism, Chappelle’s stand-up reminds whites and blacks about their history and the disadvantages of their past relationship. As a result, they should never allow themselves to go back to such days of unfairness treatment of minority races in the country. The comedy shows also enlightens children of the 21^st century of how life was and how their parents went through for a better country free of racism and police brutality.

Kamau Bell is another African-American stand-up comedian who has spent the rest of his life feeling awkward. As a result of his physical figure, Bell was mistaken for a basketball player, but his health did not allow him as he always spends time in the house watching TV (NPR, 2017). However, Bell would occasionally feel a sense of guilt because he would think that he was not utilizing the physical gifts that God had given to him. Bell’s faced the wrath of racism and race when he became an adult and pursued a career in comedy. First, when he began, Bell was disturbed by the fact that he was not able to fit in black comedy clubs like he liked to. In one a TV show Bell said that he was never hurt when laughing for his jokes because he would console himself that the whites did not think that he was funny (NPR, 2017). However, he says that it hurt him when the black audiences did not laugh for his jokes. He said, “When white audiences didn’t think I was funny, I was like, well, they didn’t think I was funny; but when black audiences didn’t think I was funny, it hurt my soul.” Bell’s experiences as a comedy demonstrate how much racism was in the past in American society that it did not think that he was funny when the whites did not think that he was funny. However, when the blacks did think he was funny, he was hurt because he expected the blacks to support him as a person of the same color. This is usually what happens when racism is deeply rooted in a country as one would expect support from his people, and whatever other race thinks of them does not matter. Furthermore, they do not like you, so it would be hard to appease them.

During the CNN interview, Bell says that he does not like platforms because they put people’s ideas next to each other. In this case, Bell was referring to Trump’s ideas that white supremacy should be restored. According to Bell, the American President is envisioning is not the America that many people want it, and therefore, many of them do not want to embrace it. Bell’s stand-up jokes are mainly based on the social construction of a society. By referencing president Trump for the envisioning white supremacy, Bell wants to educate people on the importance of remaining as one people but not to be divided into races in the country. People have already seen enough on the effects of racism in the past, and therefore, there is no need to go back to old days when a white person was seen as superior, and therefore the other races did not matter.

During the interview, Bell said that racism was different in south and north in the sense that, in the north, everyone was allowed to rise as high as possible, only that he does not raise too high. For instance, he gave an example of one becoming a black doctor in the north, which was not allowed in the south as the whites expected blacks to remain at the bottom of society. This shows that, according to Bell, there was a history of more racism and more slavery, and therefore, live there was never good like many Americans would think. Further, Bell states that he liked to perform in front of white audiences to bring out the issue of racism and how it impacted the blacks. He says that many whites would not believe his experiences, and therefore, he would fight for his premise so that the audience can buy his idea. He had to make the whites believe that he was saying the facts of how the situation was, although in a joke. Through the African-American stand-up comedies, the issue of racism was able to be discussed in public, and the whites were able to understand the realities of racism.

Bell’s comedies have always been enlightening on the issues of race and the strong culture of the American people. His jokes focus on how the blacks struggled due to racism and why their culture was always not compatible with those of the whites. The Whites saw perceived blacks as criminals, uneducated, and all the same regardless of age.

Other African-American stand-up comedians like Chris Rock, Eddie Griffin, and Lavell Crawford have also mediated on the social and cultural issues of the blacks by making jokes about them. For instance, Rock black comedy focused mainly on class, race, and presidential candidate Baraka Obama. He clearly stated how racism was deeply rooted in American such that blacks were unable to even participate r walk freely in the streets as they would be harassed or insulted by the white children if not brutalized by the Police. Rock’s black comedy has mainly centered on police brutality as he constantly made jokes that would involve police brutalizing blacks. However, after ten years of a break, in his shows at Netflix, Rock talks little about police brutality, then goes on to realities of parenting especially being a black parent (Netflix, 2019). After opening his show with a somewhat of police brutality and gun control, Rock goes on to explain the issue that has kept him so busy for the last ten years. He said, “I’ve been trying to raise some kids. That sh**’s a job, man.” (NPR, 2017)Here Rock refers to raising his children and says that he found parenting a bit difficult and dangerous, especially for the black children. In the show, Rock states that he had to get his children ready for the white man by saying to them every morning that when they go out of no one would give a fuck about them and therefore needed to care for.

Although in today’s America, things have changed, Rock grew up when racism and police brutality on black men was so rampant in America. Therefore, although things have changed, he has no option but to caution his children to be careful when interacting with white children or white men in general.

Eddie Griffin stand-up comedy has also focused on racism and white man. In one of Griffin’s shows, he stated clearly that he did not like sneaky white people. This was a demonstration of the relationship between the blacks and the whites. His comments on the show were not only his view but also the view of other blacks who did not really like some characters of the white persons in the country, which were against the blacks. There is a culture of hostility between blacks and whites, even today, as a result of what the whites did to the blacks during the early days. Most of the blacks who were brutalized and misused by the whites and white police are still alive, and they have passed the culture of racism and hatred of the whites to their Children (YouTube, 2019).

Finally, Lavell Crawford stand-up comedy centers on the African-American culture and how to embrace it. He makes jokes about how the blacks talk, how they relate with each other, and, most importantly, how they relate with the whites. Although there is no much of racism and police brutality like in many other black comedians, Crawford’s comedy still touches on the topics of race, police brutality and white man supremacy. Other topics that Crawford is fond of are pregnancy, Halloween costumes, and his mother. For instance, in one of his shows, he explained how her mother was like an old school (Mama Was Old School, 2011). Crawford shows look at life from a different perceptive from other black comedy as he dwells on the culture and not much on race.

Based on the above discussions of how different black comedians present different topics about African-Americans and their relationship with white people, there is much to the comedies than just being funny (Humanity in Action, 2017). Although humor is the main feature in almost all stand-up comedies involving African-American comedians, there is also an aspect of social and cultural commentary in almost every comedy. Through the African-American stand-up comedians, we learn a lot between race relations in the United States, especially in the past. While from time to time, the comedians would make the audience to feel uncomfortable, almost all the five comics discussed have played an essential function in the society by reflecting our past and forcing people to confront the realities that otherwise would be ignored. For minorities like the African-Americans, humor also aids them in neutralizing the power of the majority stereotypes that may hinder them from taking equal participation in community projects and other activities (Humanity in Action, 2017). Sometimes, stand-up comedies present social criticism and insinuate transformations in a way that would leave many members of the audience wanting to hear more.

However, in some instances, stand-up comedy draws criticism from the audience for being offensive and promoting negative stereotypes to the members of the society. However, this is good for the stand-up comedy as it means that they were stretching the social boundaries of the people to accommodate realities. For instance, somethings that are not accepted by the society are met with laughter and acceptability when the comedians joke about them on the stage. The fact that the realities are just meant for humor acts like a bitter medicine coated with sugar as the laughter takes out the sting that may come with the joke. African-American stand-up comedians use their jokes to get accepted in the American mainstream the way they are without disliking their habits. For instance, the comedians have played stereotypes on African-Americans intending to undermine the stereotypes’ potency on the blacks. For example, at one show, Merriweather stated, “I know what the people in power say about my community, and I’ll say it myself. This doesn’t give me power necessarily, but it destabilizes their power. It takes away their ability to use that stereotype against me.” (Humanity in Action, 2017). The above statement from Merriweather talks volumes about why minority comics prefer to use the stereotypes that are used against them. Based on the importance of the stand-up comics on both social and cultural realities, I strongly support the stand-up comedies to continue being used as a platform where both societal and cultural issues are discussed.

Works cited

Dave Chappelle on Racism. (2016). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BgFB9Zmdg4

Dmitriev, Anatolii Vasil’evich. “Humor and Politics.” Russian Social Science Review 49.1 (2008): 53-89. CrossRef. Web.

Holm, Nicholas. “The Political (Un) Consciousness of Contemporary American Satire.” Journal of American Studies 52.3 (2018): 642-51. CrossRef. Web.

Humanity in Action. “When the Truth Hurts, Tell a Joke: Why America Needs Its Comedians.” 2017. https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/when-the-truth-hurts-tell-a-joke-why-america-needs-its-comedians/.

Mama Was Old School. (2011). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3kQ3xJn4cU

Netflix. Chris Rock & Marlon Wayans Have Solutions for Police Brutality. (2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boYLzpwrInc.

NPR. W. Kamau Bell’s ‘Awkward Thoughts’ On Racism and Black Comedy. (2017)

Washington Post. Dave Chappelle discusses policing and race in Netflix specials. (2017)

Wetterberg L., “Deconstructing “Chappelle’s Show”: Race, Masculinity, and Comedy As Resistance.” (2012): 1-117

YouTube. E Eddie Griffin Wants the Police to Whoop Him. (2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1926biIeeQ