Oppression and inequity are not laughing matters, and yet from Artistophanes to Sarah Silverman, significant commentary on these aspects of our culture has often been delivered most effectively in comedic form.
Still, when planning the Uprising issue, we hesitated about what to do with the Wit’s End department, out of concern that even political satire might seem to trivialize or make light of the darkness to which the issue is responding.
We even thought about skipping over the department all together, but ultimately decided that we’d use the opportunity to promote some of our favorite comedians of color — artists, writers, and performers whose work addresses issues of race and injustice with ruthless honesty and humor.
In putting together this round-up, with recommendations by The Offing’s editorial staff, and watching the brilliant clips linked below, I recollected a remark about the nature of humor made by novelist Dawn Powell, (whom I once heard described as the woman who said all of the clever things that were attributed to Dorothy Parker):
The anguish that has scraped [the comedian’s] nerves and left them raw to every flicker of life is the base of wit — for the raw nerve reacts at once without any agent, the reaction is direct, with no integumentary obstacles. Wit is the cry of pain, the true word that pierces the heart. If it does not pierce, then it is not true wit. True wit should break a good man’s heart.
◆
Solomon Georgio on the Disney executive logic that led to Pocahontus: “Get rid of the part where white people look bad because that is just gross. Then add some singing — and a racoon!” Watch.
Margaret Cho on being mistaken, during an on-air interview, for Lucy Liu: “No. I’m the one from Gray’s Anatomy.” Watch.
Hari Konabolu on people accusing him with being too focused on issues of race: “Saying I’m obsessed with race in America is like saying I’m obsessed with swimming when I’m drowning.” Watch
Akilah Hughes on intersectionality: “Cheese pizza is highly visible. It is much more difficult to be a deluxe pizza in a burger world.” Watch.
Aamer Rahman on the circumstances under which he could be a reverse racist: “All I would need would be a time machine. I’d get in my time machine, I’d go back in time to before Europe colonized the world . . .” Watch.
Sasheer Zamata on dealing with racism from white friends and family: “I wish it was someone’s job to tell me how to feel in those situations. Like a personal racist consultant.” Watch.
In Key and Peele’s musical black uptopia, Negrotown, “You won’t get followed when you try to shop / You can wear your hoodie, and not get shot . . .” Watch.
Kristina Wong on men who think they can’t possibly be racists because they’ve slept with women of color: “Wow! My Asian vagina does have the power to end racism!” Watch.
Jessica Williams clapping back to the reality show Girlfriend Intervention: “What about all the basic bitches who don’t have fairy Black-mothers to guide them?” Watch.
Quinta B. on what it’s like being the only Black friend: Watch.
And, perhaps most importantly, more Quinta B., for when you. Just. CAN’T. Watch.
