Where are the Black Female Comedians?
Fuck you for asking that.
Harsh? Maybe. Care? Nope. I sure don’t.
For years I have heard chicks complaining that there are no Black female voices in comedy. Not acting in comedies. But working in the creation of comedy. Just a few weeks ago, a fellow improv comedy chick wrote a freakin’ diatribe/manifesto about why the trend of brothas in drag pisses her off and how that particular disturbance in the force is directly related to the lack of support of Black female comedians/comedy writers. Not that we don’t exist, but that we aren’t hailed and retweeted and hired the way others are. At least, I think that’s what she was saying. It was long. Kinda misguided. Angry. (Not like this at all.) And I quit reading around page 3.
Anyway, I did this little video last week with Robin Thede, fellow Black female comedy writer. It’s called “Shit Black Guys Say.” Maybe you’ve seen it? We got a lot of views and mostly-positive comments on YouTube. We got even more views and mostly-negative comments on worldstarhiphop.com, YouTube’s play cousin. We got retweeted, posted and forwarded. We have gotten a goodly amount of support. But that support has come from only 10% Black male comedians and 90% everyone else. Not a scientific number, but it’s pretty damn close. We’ve specifically asked dudes working in the biz for support. We’ve sent emails, texts, tweets to comedy brothers asking them to do nothing more than retweet and forward the video. I, personally, didn’t even ask for an endorsement. Just retweet. That was my way of telling people that I respect that their little RT is endorsement enough. A favor? Sure. But it isn’t asking anything from these dudes that we wouldn’t/haven’t done for them a hundred times.
So maybe chicky-babe had a point in her “I Am Black Woman (Comedian) Hear Me Roar” blog. (Still, couldn’t finish reading the whole thing.)
Here’s an example of somebody being less than supportive, that happened just this morning. A stand-up/former SNL comic (who shall remain nameless, unless you can finesse it out of the context clues) was tweeting every 20 damn seconds about everything. This, that and the other. Where he’s playing next, jokes, retweeting bullshit from followers, etc. It was a constant stream of tweets. Damn near a barrage. I sent him this message:
@(insert name here), Some love for the sisters? Black female
comedians @RobinThede and @IndaTheBlactor RT http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fmQN8eMeKBw”
20 damn seconds later, he wrote:
Wheels up. Book open. Later tweeters!
Now, maybe he was being pressured by a flight attendant to shut off his cellphone a la Alec Baldwin. But he’s not the only brother who’s working in comedy who has refused/neglected/fucked up retweeting our video. Some know us personally. Some know us very well. Some asked for rides in our cars when they were first taking improv classes and catching the train to they mama’s house. Some, like this comic, don’t know us personally, but they know how to help. Some choose not to.
So, where are the sisters creating comedic work? We’re here. Don’t keep asking where we are. Don’t keep wondering why you don’t hear our voice. I wonder what a “Shit Black Comic Guys Say” video would look like. At points, it’d be silence.
- Inda
29.Dec.11 
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