Black comedians are often the most successful in comparison to white/ comedians of other races. However, it took a while to get there, as many black comedians have to cover topics such as racism, Bullying even killings from the beginning of their careers, facing prejudice and often more ridicule compared to other comedians. Many black comedians have coping methods, such as implementing these horrible things into their jokes. Some of these comedians go over politically controversial topics such as drug abuse, police brutality, and more.
One prime example of this happening is with Dave Chappelle. One of the most Influential comedians of all time, and in my opinion, one of the funnier comedians. However him being a person of color has allowed him to provide more exposure on the daily life for many black Americans around the United States, as many black people in general face injustice every day by people of other races, sometimes even their own race. Dave Chappelle is widely known to go over HIGHLY controversial topics, Often to provoke thought, laughter and deep thinking, he has went over topics like LGBTQ issues, the #metoo movement, and others, often to spread awareness while also making talking about the topics easier to talk about while making it fun, and or entertaining for his audience without scaring them away.
Dave Chappelle has talked about deaths such as goerge floyd. In Specials such as (8:46) and Sticks and Stones. “Things like racism are institutionalized. You might not know any bigots… but you benefit from racism. Just by the merit, the color of your skin… we need to talk about these things for them to change.” Showing how, as a black man, just for the color of his skin, was persecuted and experienced racism firsthand, calling for change and awareness of racism in the United States.
Another black comedian to do a similar thing is Kevin Hart. One of the most successful comedians in general. He has gone over his many struggles and mistakes in many of his comedy shows and specials, even though difficult, often embarrassing topics such as infidelity. Him being homophobic when he was younger, and others. Highlighting how, even though in general these comedians might seem like jokesters and just funny people, they are just like us, facing many issues. As more and more black comedians cover tough topics, it helps spread awareness about the everyday struggles of a black person. After these examples, we can see just how much these comedians struggle with everyday life and even life choices, showing how they can proactively cope with them aswella nd even as how to spread awareness on specific topics while making them accessible for the average person. And even making them entertaining, too. Getting specials put on Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming services.
These examples show how black comedians emphasize and help visualize these topics, and to great avail, too often making huge specials that rake in millions of views and millions of dollars. These comedians often implement their struggles into small jokes. Or some crowd source to talk about them. Some do it so subtly that most don’t notice. In conclusion, demonstrating how black comedians can go over their issues in life, shining an important light on these issues, which brings awareness and hopefully helps limit or stop the problems, some issues being personal others being systemic, resonating with their black audiences, nationwide.
