OVERVIEW

This article points out how TV is a difficult place for black comedians. Many of these shows have developed in comedy clubs. "The Original Kings of Comedy" is a 2000 film featuring performances by Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey, D. L. Hugley, and Cedric the Entertainer. Networks scout out such performances and then strategize how they can modify the humor for prime-time audiences. This often means a 'blunting of the creative edge." "The Richard Pryor Show" didn't survive such modification, but "The Cosby Show", with its more universal and family-oriented humor, thrived throughout the 1980s. To understand the dilemma of black comedians is to wrestle with the difficult situation to which white society has relegated African Americans and their culture. The response of comics seems to be a need, not only to make fun of their pain, but to challenge-and even shock-dominant culture.

Graham sees Redd Foxx as the "inventor of blue humor" even before he starred in "Sanford and Son" in the 1970s. That was the beginning of "defiant, adult-only humor peppered with profanity and bluntly sexual and scatological references."

When done well, as with Mac (Bernie Mac) who can work obscenities the way Wynton Marsalis can work a trumpet, the risque words pop like improvisational jazz rifts. Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California, studies black comedy:

'For a lot of black comedians, their use of language is transgressive, going against the accepted mores of what can be said. They often use this not only for humor, but for political effect…'

'Network television is about being very mainstream and middle of the road, and black comedy is not generally any of those things. At its best, black comedy is progressive, avant-garde, and cutting edge, and mainstream network television is often the opposite of all those things.'

"The Bernie Mac Show" on Fox is certainly less outrageous than the routine on the "Kings" tour from which its idea came. Time will tell how long it can survive.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Do you watch or like any sitcoms? If so, which are your favorites? Why?
2. Are there differences between white and black sitcoms? If you say no, how do you explain the programming to those specific target audiences? If so, what are the differences between white and black sitcoms?
3. Is there such a thing as "good humor" by popular standards, which is nonetheless unacceptable? What are the criteria?
4. What is humor meant to do, and what cultural factors need to be considered in judging it?

IMPLICATIONS

• Humor is an important, if not necessary, part of life.
• Humor, as with drama and commercials, is a strong cultural influence in our lives.
• Sitcoms, along with stand-up comics, are the main part of television humor.
• Humor, as other forms of popular art, needs to be judged. We all-young and older-need discernment in what we watch.

Dean Borgman cCYS