- you know what? that looks like fire! - comedy without black people would be like the nba without black players. (kevin screaming) - your biggest, biggest superstars in comedy have been black. (eddie yelling) - just genius and hilarious. - yeah, i said it. (audience cheering) - the chappelle show redefined sketch comedy. - i'm rick james, bitch. (audience laughing) - "in living color" set up a platform for black comedians blowing up. - i don't think so. homie don't play that. (audience laughing) - arsenio hall was, "woo, woo, woo, woo, woo." it was groundbreaking. - [audience] woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. - you had a black man willing to fight the power. - nice being out of jail. (audience laughing) - laughter is healing, laughter purifies the air. actually i don't like to talk about the races, because i'm white. - and we, as black people, have been doing it forever. - i am, this is a freckle. (audience laughing) - all black comedians discuss race. - it's harder being gay than it is being black. i didn't have to come out black. (audience laughing) - we have to address our pain to make you laugh, and so that we could get through it. - "mom, i'm black." "oh, no, lord jesus!" (audience laughing) (upbeat music) (upbeat jazzy music) - in the 1930s, segregation kept black audiences out of white theaters. in response to this, entertainers would perform on the chitlin' circuit. - the chitlin' circuit were clubs and theaters that were meant to only serve a black audience. there was music, there was comedy, there were shows of variety. but very few of these performers could break the color barrier to reach a larger audience. - comedy and music have always been release from stress in black culture. - chitlin' circuit comedy was the outgrowth of the chattel slavery experience and the pain that we had gone through. and what did we have left? we could laugh, man. that's one thing you couldn't take. - white audiences have been afraid of black comics, black comedy, because those comedians are truth tellers and sometimes you don't wanna hear the truth. - so what it meant was if you saw black characters on television, they were always gonna be subservient to allay white fears and to protect kind of white comfort. ethel waters was really the first black to have her own variety show. it was 1939, and later was hazel scott in 1950. but they did not last long on the tube. - so in 1956, we had the debut of "the nat king cole show." you had a smooth, suave, black man leading a variety show. ♪ oh, boy, i'm lucky ♪ i'll say i'm lucky ♪ now this is my lucky day - so he was singing and acting in sketches. the problem with the show was you can't show this kind of black representation in southern cities. - advertisers were afraid that if they sponsored nat king cole that white audiences would boycott their products. - and if you can't get sponsorship, you can't exist. and when the show was canceled, what he said was, "madison avenue is afraid of the dark." and they were. (smooth rock music) - in the late '50s, early '60s, the country starts to change more when civil rights hit. then you're getting grittier comedy that is gonna deal with race. - i hate to see any baseball player having troubles 'cause that's a great sport for my people. that is the only sport in the world where a negro can shake a stick at a white man and won't start no riot. (audience laughing) - dick gregory put politics in his comedy. it was like seeing a curve ball, and he'd throw it and you couldn't see it coming. - 1961, appearing on the "jack paar" show, dick gregory becomes the first black comedian ever to sit down on the couch after his performance. - what kind of car you got? - a lincoln, naturally. - [jack] well, that's a... (audience laughing) - dick gregory in the '50s and early '60s was making $10,000 a week and he gave all that up to march with martin luther king. - dick gregory has been dubbed the father of black political comedy. - and moms mabley was the mother of black female comedians. - he said, "where will you find another man like me?" i said, "in the graveyard." (audience laughing) - she was one of the first black female comics ever, the harriet tubman of comedy. - when she got off that stage, she would transform into her real truth, which was wearing a zoot suit and having two women on her arm. - we have to understand who moms mabley was. she was a gay, black woman. - nobody knew that at the time because she couldn't be out. no one was out. - redd foxx and moms mabley both toiled for decades on the chitlin' circuit. - redd was back in the day when nat king cole, lena horne, harry bellafonte could play in vegas, but they couldn't stay in the hotel. dorothy dandridge had to go through the servants' entrance to go to her dressing room. she went out by the pool and just dipped her feet, her little, pretty feet, in the water. they drained the pool and repainted it. so redd was from that era, from that chitlin' circuit. - redd foxx, he had comedy albums that were raunchy, and they thought he would never make it on tv. how could he clean up his act? and then he goes on television. - my first wife, i had a 1942 buick, and her. (audience laughing) and i left both of them to come to california. (audience laughing) didn't hurt too bad 'cause neither one of 'em was working. (audience laughing) - now did he clean up his act? in a way he did. but you knew what he was thinking. (upbeat percussive music) - in 1971, the intensity was something that was really everywhere. you know, we've had assassinations recently, riots, there's nixon talking about law and order. but "soul train" suggested that there's joy in black culture. - we're gonna turn the questioning over to the soul train gang, marvin, okay? - what else do you like to do besides singing at your spare time? - well, i enjoy, i like fooling around. (audience laughing) - one reason "soul train" succeeded 15 years after "the nat king cole show" is because they found a sponsor to take it national. - that was for us, by us and we loved it. - let's welcome them warmly, gladys & the pips, mr. barry white, sly and the family stone, curtis mayfield, aretha franklin. - don cornelius was an icon. this man changed the game. when i was growing up, you did not miss "soul train." i mean, that was a part of my youth. - it was the regularly scheduled national platform for black culture. someone does popping on "soul train" in 1971 and people are tryin' popping in the schoolyard two hours later. it was a kind of universal black experience. - back in the '80s, which i'll never forget, i was a "soul train" dancer. oh, my god, that was such a huge deal. to go to the set was just mind blowing. and then here walks out don cornelius with his afro. i was just kind of like, "oh, my god! pinch me. is this real?" - "soul train" was clearly geared towards a black audience. but at the same time, in the 1970s, you had flip wilson, who was the first black comedian that could gear a show for all of america and still stay very authentic to who he was. - flip wilson was amazing, he was brilliant. 40 million people would watch that show and i was one of them. and he was also bringing in black artists, black entertainers. - mm, mm. (audience laughing and cheering) - he proves that black people can be on television, they can have 40 million viewers, they can be shown in the south. and if we were given a chance, it can happen. - now, you don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't fool around with wild women. when you go into training, what do you give up? (audience laughing) - flip wilson was really huge. who didn't know geraldine? say, geraldine, "is it true that blondes have more fun?" - not in my neighborhood. (audience laughing) - and flip played the character so well that you thought geraldine really existed. - when that character came out, baby, the audience just went up. so before there was nutty professor, before there was shanaynay, there was geraldine, baby. - and one of flip's writers was a young richard pryor. and when he found his voice, he became the new king of comedy. (richard laughs) (audience laughing) - woo! (audience clapping) (upbeat music) - for the first time on television, richard pryor. - hate to take the subway because the first thing you see when you walk down the subway, is some guy down there, "give me a nickel." (audience laughing) - on television, back in the '60s, you gotta come on stage clean. and richard pryor adapted for a while, but he wasn't happy. - and richard, at some point, understands, "this is not who i am. this is not what i care about. and i have to speak in a way that's authentic to me." - so richard left hollywood. - [richard] people who live in berkeley are put under curfew, they're tear gassed. - in the late '60s, richard pryor went up to oakland. at the time, it was just a black militant, wild thing, man. and he met some black panthers. but the main guy he met there was paul mooney. paul mooney was his muse. - you can't get sight, you gotta get hip to what you are. - and paul mooney told him, "you come out, you do your thing, you be black, you go for it." without paul mooney, there is no richard pryor. - comedy before that and comedy after that is never the same. - richard's appearance in 1975 on "saturday night live" kind of showed what black comedy could be. - you got to get down and say things like, "excuse me." (audience laughing) "would you move out of my way?" and you walk like this, check this walk. (audience laughing) - what people don't know is that richard pryor insisted upon writing a lot of his own material for that show. so he didn't rely on the white writers to write his skits. he said, "i'm gonna do it myself. i'm gonna bring paul mooney in to come in and help me write this." so they write these amazing sketches that are talking about what blackness is. - it's just a word association. i'll throw you out a few words, anything that comes to your mind, just throw back at me, okay? - and i say blackness because that's exactly what is was. it was about blackness. - colored. - redneck. (audience laughing) - jungle bunny. - peckerwood. (audience laughing) - spade! - honkey! (audience laughing) - nigger. - dead honkey. (audience laughing) - richard's voice was so powerful, nbc gave him "the richard pryor show." (upbeat jazzy music) - so "the richard pryor show" was ahead of its time. they were doing sketches about "star wars." they were doing sketches about a black president. that sketch show was incredible. - yeah, what is it? - mr. president, you've been courtin' an awful lot of white women. will this continue? - mm. (audience laughing) as long as i can keep it up. (audience laughing) - for the kids that are coming up now, look to the dave chappelle show, and to me, richard was the chappelle show before the chappelle show. and he knew how to take what was deemed taboo, what was deemed dangerous, and make it hilarious. - four years later, pryor's influence was seen on "saturday night live" in a 19-year-old black comic named eddie murphy. - this is how you answer a door in my neighborhood. who is it?! (audience laughing) - he was fresh, and funny, and fearless. - "i wanna be a ho." (audience laughing) - [kim] you could just feel the energy that this kid had and you knew he was going somewhere. ♪ gonna get in a hot tub ♪ gonna get it wet ♪ good god! ow! - he showed the versatility that white people didn't even think black people was paying attention to, and it made them go, "oh, oh, he knows about all these different white artists and actresses and actors, whatever." he mimicked them, you know? and it made them accept him more and it made us go, "wow!" - how are you? (audience exclaiming) - that's good that we feel good. i feel great! (audience laughing) - now eddie murphy made it real easy for leslie jones, chris rock and kenan thompson to have regular spots on there. - so he's this breakout star on "snl" and then he was like, "boom! i'm gonna land this huge, influential hbo special called "delirious." - my favorite standup, bar none, is "delirious." he does the impressions of james brown. - (vocalizing indistinctly) the band says, "yeah." (vocalizing indistinctly) "yeah." (vocalizing indistinctly) "yeah," the band be goin', "what the (beep) is james talkin' about, man? (audience laughing) - luther vandross. - (vocalizing indistinctly) women going, "ah!" - but more importantly, elvis. - "elvis, want some lemonade?" ♪ lemonade (audience laughing) ♪ that cool, refreshing drink (audience laughing) - it showed you how talented he was 'cause he could do it all. - he opened doors for so many people, his boy, arsenio hall. - [announcer] "the arsenio hall show" staring arsenio hall! - so black entertainers were being showcased in variety shows and sketch shows and things like that. but in late night tv, it was like the water fountains back in the '60s, whites only. - so when we were watching david letterman in college or johnny carson or jay leno, here comes arsenio hall, a black man. - who does eddie go to for advice when he has problems? do you have somebody you can talk to when you have problems, even on a personal level? - just you. (audience laughing) - that was like a party every single night. - what's up? - [audience] woo, woo, woo, woo. - arsenio created the destination for black entertainers to be themselves. - i was born with the name sinbad. - what's your last name? - bad. (audience laughing) - he kind of set the table as far as like, "hey, look, hip-hop culture, black culture, it can be represented on tv." - you could watch arsenio hall every night. oh, yeah, 11:30 after the news, "oh, yeah, yeah, hey, hey. let's watch arsenio." it was a thing. - you've had late night shows before that weren't on the same level as arsenio. he was going toe-to-toe with jay leno, all the big shows. he had big guests. - he was able to kind of conquer that in late night space and he was able to give us people like prince and michael jackson as guests, which led that to be a great show. (all laughing) (upbeat music) - minister louis farrakhan, the controversial leader of the nation of islam. he's been called enlightened and inspirational. he's also been called racist and anti-semitic. many people are thrilled that i'm having him here tonight. others are furious with me. - arsenio's interview with louis farrakhan was groundbreaking, and controversial, and advertisers and networks were like, "we can't have this guy on tv". - so he brings in louis farrakhan, and he sits the minister down for an hour and he lets him talk. - if fear is that nobody will oppose me, and as a result, truth will get out and people might be made free. - america may not have been ready for a sit-down, hour-long conversation with louis farrakhan on late night television, and that's unfortunately, the demise of "the arsenio hall show." - now arsenio, you gotta remember, he's really well situated because he's part of the black pack. - the black pack was five gentlemen, eddie murphy, arsenio hall, robert townsend, keenan ivory wayans, and paul mooney. - certainly there were other famous black comics but they had never really corralled their forces like the "justice league" or something. that level of talent and that connectivity with creatives was not something that we'd seen before. so it turns into some specials, it turns into some movies, you know, it turns into all sorts of wonderful offshoots. - you know the black pack were very significant because they had agency over their careers and ownership, laying this foundation to what we see now, laying the foundation for shondaland, laying the foundation for own, laying the foundation for tyler perry. all this stuff kind of has its roots in the black pack and what they were able to do. - so it was a really fertile crew. robert townsend made his first movie on credit cards and it was a great movie. - i was auditioning for slaves, and you know all the stereotypes, then that's when i was saying to keenan, "we should make our own movies." - [both] winky dinky dog. winky dinky dog. - yeah. - my dad and keenan came up very closely together. keenan and him would stand in line at the unemployment office to see what they could figure out. they were both young, broke, extremely talented, just trying to get in the game and they did it. ♪ you can do what you wanna do ♪ in living color - in the case of "in living color." i did pitch it to robert townsend. he didn't wanna do it. so we brought keenan into fox, and we pitched a very bare bones idea, just a black sketch comedy show. we gave him a pilot. - [both] welcome to the homeboy shopping network. - everything past the idea is keenan's thing. - sometimes those little fellas don't like to come out. - well hell, can you blame 'em? i wish i could move back. (audience laughing) - it was an immediate hit out of the box, huge. you know, the younger audience ate it up. they were able to sort of merge the suburban white crowd with the black crowd and they all just started watching that show religiously. - yeah, keenan ivory wayans and he had his family. we had never seen that before. he had all the wayanses, you had the fly girls and they would come out and it was so much hip hop and it was dancing. you had to be in front of the tv because you never know what sketch was gonna come out. - now i'd like to talk about a film i've been anxiously awaiting to see, "great balls of fire." (audience laughing) - "in living color" was so breakthrough, so innovative, so many great characters and the tone of the writing was from a perspective we had not seen before. - when his mama gave birth to him, he ran off with the placenta. (audience laughing) - we were coming out of an era in television where it was all the white writers' perception of what blacks were. so keenan got paul mooney as head writer. it's a big, big difference. - who are you? - i am the minister louis farrakhan. (audience laughs) (triumphant music) - so jim carrey had been kicking around comedy in hollywood for years. keenan said, "i know how to use that guy." and he put him in and next thing you know... - a deadly combination. - i discovered jamie foxx from "in living color." - you know we drive up. boom! bust somebody head. and, ah! (audience laughs) - you know, i was like, "who is this guy that can do so much?" he was funny. he really could get into a character that you forget it was him. ♪ just a game i play ♪ i- (screams) - we were doing things that were really on the edge. there was some controversy, there was some pushback from fox. - if living with oppression is a sin, then i'd be guilty! - [narrator] oppression for black men. if only he wasn't so dark. (audience laughs) - another show that really served up our comedy and our music, our culture, was "showtime at the apollo." - for a lot of artists to make a name for themselves, you had to come through the apollo and prove yourself. - and don't you know backwards begin with a b? (audience laughs) - the apollo theater is a very magical place. you can literally feel the energy of every performer that ever performed there. - i was reading about michael jackson 'cause you know all about the nose, and i don't get it. 'cause they tell me he can't breathe late at night, just... (shrill vocalizing) (audience laughs) "i want my black nose back." (shrill vocalizing) (audience laughs) - they always say if you can perform on that stage, you can perform anywhere in the world. - but the whole family had their noses worked on. do five, get one free. (audience laughs) - the crowd at the apollo was a hard crowd. you had to be good to be at the apollo. ♪ one of these mornings (crowd booing) - i've seen a gospel choir get booed. how you boo jesus, i don't know. the great dave chappelle got booed on "showtime at the apollo." - from "showtime at the apollo", there became this interest in black entertainment and bet created "106 & pa