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See it Loud The History of Black Television

- 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.

Comedians , Television , Audiences , Comics , Black-comedy , Kind , Characters , Fears , Truth-tellers , The-truth , Don-t-wanna , White-comfort

See it Loud The History of Black Television

- 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.

Sketch-comedy , Richard-pryor , Thing , Same , Paul-mooney , Hip , Sight , Audience , Black-comedy , Kind , Way , Things

See it Loud The History of Black Television

♪ 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.

In-living-color , Case , Idea , Robert-townsend , Keenan-ivory-wayans , Sketch-comedy-show , Pitch-it , Bones , Fox , He-didn-t-wanna , Thing , Em

See it Loud The History of Black Television

progression is possible in this country sometimes. (upbeat music) - when barack obama was elected president, there was such this exhale and you felt that the world had shifted, it changed. - and not only has america changed, but we have changed as a culture. we expect fair representation. - when chappelle decided not to renew his contract and return with the "chappelle's show," comedy central knew they needed to do something to capture that magic again. and they looked to mad tv alums, keegan-michael key and jordan peele, and decided to give them their own show. - where'd the picture go? - we deleted it. - gross. - what? - i had child-birth face. - yeah, i looked like my grandmother having an orgasm. - [both] deleted! - "key & peele" was so brilliant to me because the range of characters was out of this world. - man, how you want me to smoke somebody when i got poop in my pants? - from the wigs to the voices to the risks that they were willing to take, it's unbelievable work.

World , Music , President , Country , Progression , Barack-obama , The-richard-pryor-show , Something , Us , Dave-chappelle , Contract , Comedy-central

See it Loud The History of Black Television

on his property? nigga, i got one right here. that don't mean i did anything. (audience laughing) - he's willing to tell it like it is and sometimes what it is, is not comfortable, but his ability to make us laugh at those uncomfortable things, that was a gift. - is this the 5 o'clock free crack giveaway? - i feel like dave chappelle can exist because there was a richard pryor that is the mold. - ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. i quit! ow! (audience laughing) - you have to understand that at the height of his power, he felt that the original concept of the show was not where the show was going. - the comedy central star stunned his fans when he suddenly just walked away from the hit tv show and a $50 million contract. - everybody was like, "what the hell is going on?" we were all perplexed and confused. - i was doing sketches that were funny but socially irresponsible. it's like you're getting flooded with things and you don't pay attention to things like your ethics. i mean, i don't want black people to be disappointed in me for putting that out there.

Audience , Homie-don-t , Anything , Things , Ability , Laugh , Property , Gift , One , Richard-pryor , Dave-chappelle , Power

See it Loud The History of Black Television

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?

She-hadn-t , Soul-train , Don-cornelius , God , Deal , Dancer , Afro , Audience , The-richard-pryor-show , Comedian , All , Us

See it Loud The History of Black Television

- 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

The-richard-pryor-show , Madison-avenue-is-afraid-of-the-dark , Sponsorship , Smooth-rock-music , Late-50s , 60 , 50 , People , World , Cause , Comedy , Race

See it Loud The History of Black Television

but then being like, "damn, that's true." you know what i mean? - i didn't know he was taking me to the ghetto at first. i started looking out the window. i was like, "what the (beep)? gun store, gun store, liquor stor, gun store. where the (beep) are you taking me?" - three years after that, dave chappelle teamed up with comedy central, bam! dave chappelle show. - yes, they deserve to die and i hope they burn in hell! (audience laughing) - the chappelle show redefines sketch comedy. it brought "in living color" back to the fore, but it even took it further. - i always wanted to say this, for shizzle. (audience laughing) - it passed boundaries that you thought were, woo, we can't touch. a blind, black kkk member? - don't be afraid! i feel the light. (audience laughing) - [desus] chappelle was an amazing show. - he was like so on it with the commentary, but still hard funny, which which is hard to do, man, to toe that line. - mm-hmm. - what black man don't have some bloody gloves

Beep , Dave-chappelle , Comedy-central , Window , Ghetto , Gun-store , Liquor-stor , True , Bam , Three , Audience , The-richard-pryor-show

See it Loud The History of Black Television

- one of the most iconic sketches on "key & peele" involved barack obama and his alter ego, luther. - a lot of folks say that i haven't done a good job at communicating my accomplishments to the public. - because y'all mother (beep) don't listen! - and it was so popular that obama himself invited luther to come up on stage with him during a white house correspondent's dinner. so funny. - we won't always see eye-to-eye. - oh, and cnn, thank you so much for the wall-to-wall ebola coverage. for two whole weeks we were one step away from "the walking dead!" - "key & peele" proved that an all-black sketch show could be something that was bankable, and the best thing about it is that it paved the way for the next one. - kevin was a good boyfriend, okay? now he stole my car one time, but he brought that shit back. - uh-huh, with a girl in it! - the creator of "a black lady sketch show" robin thede, packed that show with so many talented black women,

One-of-these-mornings , Beep , Sketches , Mother , Lot , Folks , Luther-vandross , Key-peele , Barack-obama , Accomplishments , Public , Job

See it Loud The History of Black Television

who helped us very early on in our career, the way he treated us and took us under his wing that will always, like, stand out to me. - desus and mero are two of the most hilarious brothers out there. - you know, you in the hood mcdonald's when the drive-through says, "yo, no walking," like, "you can not walk through here." - people be knocking on the glass like. (knocks) "hello! hello! i see y'all in there." - "yo, i'm in a car, i'm in a car, don't worry about it. look, ten-and-two, ten-and-two. look." and they're like, "sir!" i was like, "hold up." (imitates window rolling down) (audience laughing) "how can i help you?" - late night tv has certainly expanded its stable of black voices and people who can not only entertain, but offer black perspectives, which have long been missing from late night television. - as far as like pressure and feeling like, "oh, i have to represent this, i have to represent that," it's like we are who we are, and we are that. - the show we make is a reflection of black culture in america. - hell, yeah. - part of their success was going viral to keep the audience engaged. - with cable and streaming, there have been so many more opportunities and platforms

Way , Us , Desus , Yo , Career , Walking , Drive-through , Wing , Brothers , Mero , Hood-mcdonald-s , Two