USA BLACK COMEDIANS

Adelle Givens
A.J. Jamal
Arnez J
Bernie Mac
Berry Boyz, The
Bill Bellamy
Bill Cosby
Broderick Rice
Bruce Bruce
Carl Banks
Carl Strong
Cedric ‘The Entertainer’
Chris Rock
Chris Thomas
Chris Tucker
Chucky Jenkins
Darrell Joyce
Dave Chappelle
David Alan Grier
David Edwards
D.L. Hughley
Daman Wayans
Dana Point
Darren Carter
Debra Terry
Dolemite
Don “DC” Curry
Earthquake
Eddie Griffin
Eddie Murphy
Gary Owen
George Wallace
George Wilborn
Gil The Magnificent
Godfrey Danchimah
Guy Torry
Henry Coleman
Holly Robinson Peete
Ian Edwards
James Stephens III
Jamie Foxx
J. Anthony Brown
Joe Torry
John Henton
Just June
Kaynin Richardson
Keith Robinson
Lady Roz G
Larry D. Veal
Laura Hayes
Lawrence Crumpton
Macio
Malik Jubal
Mark Curry
Marlon Wayans
Martin Lawrence
Master Lee
Maverick
Meshelle Foreman
Michael Prince
Michael Winslow
Miss Clareese
Montanna Taylor
Myra J.
Nancy Cowart
Nipsey Russell
Patrice Oneal
Paul Mooney
Ralph Louis Harris
Reggie McFadden
Reginald D Hunter
Richard Pryor
Rickey Smiley
Robert Townsend
Rod Allison
Rod Man
Rodney Winfield
Rod of God Comedy
Rondell Sheridan
Royale Watkins
Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Rush
Shang Forbes
Shawn Wayans
Sinbad
Sinck
Sister Quintella Caldwell
Sister Betty
Steve Harvey
Steve White
T.A. Burrows
Thea Vidale
Tommy Davidson
Tony Robinson
Tony Woods
T.P. Hearn
Tracy Morgan
Whoopi Goldberg
Wil
Wild Bill
Will Smith
Willie Tyler
Yvette Wilson

USA BLACK TV COMEDY

All My Children
Amos ‘N Andy
Benson
City of Angels
Cosbys, The
Def Comedy Jam
Diff’rent Strokes
Flip Wilson Show, The
For Your Love
Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Good Times
Hughleys, The
Jamie Foxx Show, The
Keenan & Kel
Jeffersons, The
Martin
Moesha
PJs, The
Sister Sister
Steve Harvey Show, The
Wayans Brothers, The

Click Here to tell us about a USA Black comedian or show we have missed.

UK BLACK COMEDIANS

Angie Le Mar
Aymer & Powell
Bibi Crew, The
Brian Bovell
Chris Tummings
Curtis Walker
Felicity Ethnic
Felix Dexter
Geoff Aymer
Geoff Shuman
Gina Yashere
Glazz Campbell
Helen da Silva
Ian Edwards
Ian Pryce
Jefferson & Whitfield
John Simmit (Mrs. Simmit’s son)
Judith Jacob
Junior Simpson
Kojo
Lenny Henry
Leo X Chester
Malcolm Fredericks
Marcus Powell
Maverick
Meera Syal
Miles Crawford
Paul Chowdhry
Ping Wing
Posse, The
Quincy
Reginald Hunter
Robbie Gee
Roger D
Roy Diamond
Rudy Lickwood
Sandra Bee
Shazia Mirza
Slim
Stephen K Amos
Stereo & Type
Suzette Llewellyn
Richard Blackwood
Rudy Lickwood
Vas Blackwood
Victor Romero
Wara
Wayne ‘Dibbi’ Rollins
Yvette Rochester-Duncan

UK BLACK TV COMEDY

Baby Father (more a drama than a comedy but we found it funny too!)
Club Class
Blouse & Skirt
Desmonds, The
Empire Road
Fosters, The
Get Up, Stand Up
Kumars at No. 42, The
Love Thy Neighbour
No Problems
Oliver At Large
Porkpie
Real McCoy, The

Click Here to tell us about a UK Black comedian or show we have missed.

Then came Blouse & Skirt, which debuted in 1996, housed within the BBC’s Black Zone A Force slot. The A Force, as if you don’t know, was a four hour weekly programme into which separate comedy, game show, drama, discussion, arts and entertainment serials were thrown into the blender! Not that we were ungrateful or anything. Hell, no. We were grateful alright!

What most Black viewers didn’t check for though, was the sleight, perceived or otherwise, of having to watch a programme that was relegated to the late night/early morning graveyard shift. It went out Fridays at 11 p.m. and by the time 2 a.m. came around you felt pretty dead yourself! Is that why they called the Black Zone?

The only long term commitment the BBC, or any British TV company for that matter, has shown to black comedians manifest itself in The Lenny Henry Show. This has been going for several series now, but more later on Lenny, who is easily the most celebrated UK Black comedian in the mainstream.

The net effect of this was that very often the material these comedians were given, or accepted, were very demeaning to themselves and blacks generally. But what the heck, it was a living! And if one joker turned it down on ethical or moral ground, another fool would jump in like a shot…

In the ’70s TV show The Comedians, you had mixed raced guys like Charlie Williams doing his “chalky” diatribe in a genuinely thick northern England accent. (Williams was fund of calling white people “chalky” , but it was done in a very non-offensive way. The term probably referred to the colour of blackboard chalk).

Despite what he really was, he came across as a ‘white black man’ and it made you cringe because out on the streets we were struggling to keep our black identity intact and he seemed to be messing it up big time!

Perhaps it was because seeing a black face on TV was so unusual that it seemed all our hopes and dreams rested on Williams’ shoulders; it was a career boost for him, while we were looking for positive representation. But that was the wrong programme. And Williams even had to share the studio floor with Bernard Manning, an out and out racist, masquerading as a comedian.

It was all ‘good clean fun’, or at least that’s what we thought as youngsters. It was more the case that we watched because it was one of the very few things in the mainstream that had any black people in it. Apart from those in which blacks were paraded as criminals!

A more progressive campaign for the production of programmes with more black content were needed. The Fosters, Empire Road, No Problems and I’m sure there were others, rolled off the production line with varying degrees of success. None lasted, until Desmonds, starring Norman Beaton who died in 1995, came on the scene.

But why did it take so long for black comedians to get this far? It’s not as if the talent wasn’t there. It was more the case that UK black comics found so many obstacles that they chose to work in theatre or as stand up comedians instead. But in most other areas, namely social, political and economical, the pressure was also there.

The police were very quick to dismiss the racist allegations and were accused of making insufficient effort to find the truth. This cause severe distrust of the police and the establishment particularly since not one word of sympathy was offered to the victims families, as is normally the case by the prime minister and authorities in other tragedies.

Tension was high. Two months later, an estimated 10,000 people, led by now TV presenter Darcus Howe, (then based in Brixton, south London) marched on Downing Street in protest at the perceived racist attack and the police inaction.

This led to a build up of urban disturbances involving a number of black in the early ’80s. Clearly there was a crucial need for black concerns to be taken seriously. They could no longer be ignored. ‘Riots’ in places like Brixton (London), Toxteth (Liverpool), Moss Side (Manchester), Chapel Town (Leeds) and St. Paul’s (Bristol), saw to that.

This focussed much atttention on the plight of Blacks in Britain. Consequently money was begrudginly poured into these volatile (but vibrant!) innercity areas to improve them.

Particularly money and grants were doled out to encourage ethnic diversity and a number of Black theatre companies sprang up. The Voice newspaper, Britain’s leading Black publication, was born out of this ashes. Suddenly, money was available to rebuild the demaged communities or at least to beautify areas of it. Out of this cultural space a large number of Black comedy groups and most importantly, Black Comedians, who had grown up behind Lenny Henry, the elder statesman of Black Britich Comedy (maybe that’s the real abbreviation for the BBC!)…

The reality, however, was that when loveable Lenny started he was doing objectionable material too. Like appearing in The Black & White Minstrel Show, an Al Jolson type programme that basically took the piss out of Black people for the entertainment of white people.

Lenny slowly gain in status and appeared as co-presenter on programmes like OTT (Over The Top) and TISWAS (a Saturday morning children’s programme). At times you got the impression that he was an appendage. Somewhere along the line, however, he found and got the respect he deserved. He was and still remains a beacon for British Black comedy success.

Detractors will point to his marriage to white comedienne Dawn French, the other half of the French and (Jennifer) Saunders duo, as evidence of his selling out, but that is another story…