Last week I went to see a comic I had only corresponded with do a set. It was at a club that I have played at before and they were doing an Urban Comedy show. I was told there would be a lot of BET comics. I am friends with a woman who has been on BET, Vh1 and is a top Black female comic. She has offered to take me to perform at a mostly Black venue. I shied away because I didn't know it my material and stage persona would do well with a mostly black audience. Chicken shit....that's me. Which is strange because I perform mostly for people not like me most of the time. I perform for a lot of college aged kids, I perform in Coffee houses with kids not old enough to drink. I perform for mostly single people. But why was a shying away from a doing a set to Black dominated crowd. I have Black friends who play in mostly white rooms. They do great. What's the fear. Perhaps I just wasn't comfortable in an environment where I was the minority. No that's not it. I'm always not the majority in just about any comedy situation. So I went to see the show and looked at my fear from the safety of a paid audience members seat. The comic I was to see is a really good one and recently just passed at a major NYC club. The room was about 90% Black. It was a packed house and everyone seemed ready for fun. The MC was from a major NYC Hip Hop radio station. He got the room somewhat warm and introduced the comic I had come to see the recently passed at a NYC club comic. He got up and a chill came through the room. It was palatable. He got off to a rocky start continued on and got more groans than laughs. I felt awful for him.....he was twisting in the wind. He came back like a prize fighter and got off 2-3 strong jokes and finished his set. We were supposed to discuss an upcoming show after his set....he just took off. I don't know why he didn't say good night. I respected him more than I felt sorry for him. Although Id be lying if I said I didn't feel bad for him too. He left me with his friend who I just met and we watched the rest of the show. I never found out if we were going to do a show we had discussed doing together the morning before. Nor did I get to give him my tape.
There were 3 more comics. The next one really was no better than my friend in his material but he was comfortable and somehow was able to connect with his audience. He had a good set. He was all the things you need to be to do a good set. I don't think the audience was kinder to him than my comedian I think he knew how to connect better with his audience. I will admit there is a different style of delivery.... its more familiar, more were here together. There is a lot of cultural observational humor that I would not be familiar with. The truth is though, funny is funny and these comics could connect better with the energy of the room. The next comedian was a white comic married for 15 years to a black woman. He came on and right away said " I know what your thinking another white comic .... I hope he's not like the first comic. He said no disrespect but I'm not him so let it go people let it go." He proceeded to have the set of the night. His delivery was not pandering to the crowd...he did a set that you could do in any room any color. What he did have was material that the room could relate too and he had high confidence and connected to the people. He showed that he knew what he was taking about. Granted he did a lot of his early part of his set talking about being married to a black woman.....he had there attention. I sat there like I was in college trying to learn anything I could. The last comic had a good set but really was not as good as my comic. Yet once again he found a common ground with the room. All the black comics mentioned the white folks in the room. All of them spoke to the women... They did what we all need to do in every room.......relate to the audience in a way that gets them to get us. Hey I'm a woman, a mom and a live in suburbia. I play in rooms with men, and kids and tourist. I open my act and acknowledge who I am with my first joke. I mention My family or my age or my job as a mom right off the bat and get the differences out of the way. That way the air is clear for the similarities. I'm a human more than I am anything else....mom, daughter, comic etc. I will say that the show was different. There is a different style and a different kind of delivery. The energy was very high and dirty. I loved it. Then at the end of the night I went up to the promoter and asked about getting booked. I was invited to do a guest spot in a few weeks....just about then the terror struck. The more I think about it the more I think it will be fine. But who knows. Nothing is certain. If I crash and burn at least I tried. I have a new respect for this thing we do. Playing only to people just like ourselves might be safe and get us an easier laugh.... but to really do well I think I need to be able to play to all different people....because really were not all that different. Somebody please start singing kum ba ya.
Comments are below
I think you will do just fine
Posted on 04/19/2005 at 09:56 AM by Kelly Shannon
Your stuff play well to just about everybody. I don't have kids but yet I can relate to you being a mom ( one of the reasons I decided not to become one by the way). I can actually say I had a similar experience but it was playing to a younger crowd. I've tried to put material into my act that they will enjoy too. As of late, I have tried to find something funny in things that happened to every one. This way we can all relate. You go out there and know um dead.
I LOVE Black Crowds...
Posted on 04/20/2005 at 08:42 AM by Adam Sank
...because like most black comics, they keep it real. If you suck, they let you know. If they like you, they let you know even louder.
And at the risk of grossly over-generalizing (which I've already done in this comment), black audiences seem to most enjoy comedy that shatters pretense and cuts straight to the starkest, meanest reality. They smell bullshit from a mile away, and if you can dispense with the bullshit and really expose yourself, you got 'em.
(And it helps if you have a big ass... like me.)
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