Will Hartigan

Professor Ponnuswami
Ethnic Comedy
9 December 2014
The Evolution of African-American Comedy
The research that I conducted focused on black humor as a whole but more
specifically, I examined the evolution and progression of black humor from the civil war
to present day. The two historical periods that I analyzed within the time span were the
vaudeville or blackface era as well as modern African-American comedy. In both eras I
analyzed a series of cartoons, routines, advertisements, song lyrics, television shows,
books, as well as scholarly journals to compile a database of examples that illustrate the
evolution of black humor. In the blackface era, I focused on examples that emphasized
some of the most deeply rooted black stereotypes like the coon, mammy, Uncle Tom, and
the jezebel. From the modern era, I explored stereotypes like the gangster, drug lord,
violent black men, angry black woman, and the independent black woman. Generally
speaking, the more modern humor is far less harmful, edgy, and offensive in comparison
to blackface humor. The database shows a visible progression in the way that AfricanAmerican comedy has been presented over the course of the past two centuries.

My database is conducted in the form of a website as I felt that a website would

be most effective in conveying the theme of my presentation. My first seven examples
share a focus on the blackface era. First and foremost, I included the song lyrics to Daniel
Emmetts song Dixie (I Wish I was in Dixie). This song served as unofficial national
anthem for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. I felt that the
inclusion of this song was essential to the database as it was one of the most popular

songs from the blackface minstrelsy era. The lyrics tell the story of a freed slave who
misses his life on the plantation. In addition, the use of African-American vernacular and
comic dialect is pervasive throughout the song. This is the beginning of plantation
humor. Following the lyrics to Dixie, my next two examples from the minstrel era
examine black humor through the context of cartoons. Example 2 shows a series of racist,
dehumanizing animated cartoons that embody some of the most prominent stereotypes
from the blackface era like the coon, mammy, and the rhythmic (dancing) black.
Likewise, Example 3, an advertisement for a soap brand shows a child before and after
the use of Pears Soap. Before, the child was black, and following the bath, the child was
white. This ad clearly shows distaste towards blacks in the sense that it portrays them as
filthy, dirty, and ultimately inferior. The next few examples focus more closely on
blackface routines and their influence on the perception of blacks in society. Blackface
skits often exaggerated African-American stereotypes and dialect to an extreme as seen in
the Davis and Miller 28 Routine as well as the clip from Amos and Andy.

As the first seven examples show the racist, discriminatory humor from the
blackface minstrel era, the next eight examples illustrate the less offensive but more
critical African-American comedy of present day. Despite the fact that Example 8 does
not necessarily match the description of modern black humor, it serves as a transition
between the two time periods. Comedians like Richard Pryor paved the way for black
comedians today, Pryor uses his humor to make claims about equality and opportunity in
America. Pryor approaches humor in a multiethnic manner, similar to Dave Chappelle. In
the next few examples, I use a series of video clips to demonstrate modern stereotypes of

blacks. The Key and Peele skit, as well as the Chris Rock stand-up routine help put the
ridiculousness of stereotypes into perspective in an effort to break them down. In
addition, the Key and Peele skit shows that black humor is becoming less related to race.
On that idea, Example 11 shows a stand-up clip from Dave Chappelle. While Chappelles
skit does not focus on blacks, it helps reinforce the idea that African-American comedy
has become more inclusive and multiethnic. The next few examples from Family Guy
and Rick Rosss music video for his song Thug Cry demonstrate more of the modern
stereotypes of blacks that I have mentioned above.
As a whole the database, examines the evolution of black stereotypes and the
portrayal of these stereotypes in the comic circuit. Humor from the blackface era was
certainly offensive and typically ineffective in conveying a message or theme. However,
as we have seen with comedians like Dave Chappelle and Richard Pryor, modern
African-American comedy has become more holistic, analytic, and multiethnic. For that
same reason, many comedians today face struggles of being too controversial, reinforcing
stereotypes, or not being funny enough. Example 15 illustrates this idea perfectly. While
African-American comedy has come a long way in the sense of presentation, stereotypes,
purpose, and audience, there is still a continuous battle between being funny and
controversial.