Sass, p.28
Sass, page 28
12. Bing and Heller, “How Many Lesbians Does It Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?,” 157.
13. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 5.
14. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 5.
15. “Combahee River Collective Statement,” 272.
16. Bailey and Richardson, “Will the Real Men Stand Up?,’” 109.
17. Bey, Them Goon Rules, 68.
18. See Avilez, Black Queer Freedom.
19. Cohen, “Deviance as Resistance,” 30.
20. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 152 (emphasis mine).
21. Hartman, Scenes of Subjection, 77.
22. See Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism.
23. Stevens, Smart and Sassy, x.
24. See Wilson, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies.
25. Wilson, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies, 173.
26. Chauncey, Gay New York, 252.
27. Garber, “Gladys Bentley,” 58
28. Hartman, Wayward Lives, 199 (emphasis mine).
29. Redmond, “Gospel Drag,” 141.
30. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 152.
31. I Be Done Been Was Is.
32. “Marsha Warfield from ‘Night Court’ LIVE in San Francisco (1987),” YouTube, accessed July 25, 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvDJvuCmDpE&list=RDBhtPjiNPPYg&start_radio=1.
33. I Be Done Been Was Is.
34. The original Facebook post was either deleted or is no longer publicly viewable. The Root published an article by Angela Helm, “Comedian Marsha Warfield Says That Her Mother Didn’t Want Her to Come Out until She Was Dead, Defends Patti LaBelle,” on December 17, 2017, containing the original text. See www.theroot.com/comedian-marsha-warfield-says-that-her-mother-didn-t-wa-1821159357.
35. Stallings, Mutha’ Is Half a Word, 134.
36. I Be Done Been Was Is.
37. Quoted in Mizejewski, Pretty/Funny, 159.
38. Quoted in Mizejewski, Pretty/Funny, 159.
39. Maury, formerly known as The Maury Povich Show, was a syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that ran for thirty-one seasons, from 1991 to 2022, mostly on NBC. The show brought on guests dealing with various relationship issues, incorrigible teenagers who needed to be disciplined, transgender revelations, and most popularly, paternity tests. In the early years of the 2000s, Maury became known for paternity revelations with theatrical staging, dialogue, and explosive interview segments. Male guests would repeatedly storm offstage after finding out they had been deceived or that they had indeed fathered the child(ren) in question. Many times, the mothers of the children would dramatically berate the father-in-question, using some version of “That IS your baby!” or “You need to take care of your baby!” The host, Maury Povich, read the results from a small card, the audience in a state of high anticipation: either “You ARE the father!” or “You are . . . NOT the father!” These catchphrases are part of the pop cultural lexicon for castigating, punishing, and rendering humorous working-class (Black) people who publicly air their sexual dirty laundry.
40. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 5.
41. See D. Morgan, Laughing to Keep from Dying.
42. Sam Jay: 3 in the Morning.
43. Keeling, Witch’s Flight, 125.
44. Shep Kelly, “Cosmic Comedy: A Celebration of Life,” YouTube, accessed November 12, 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbWwEn_5K6Q.
45. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 8.
46. Takemoto, “Queer Art/Queer Failure,” 86.
47. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 1.
48. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 156.
49. Halberstam, Queer Art of Failure, 95–96.
50. Bailey and Richardson, “‘Will the Real Men Stand Up?,’” 111.
51. Sam Jay: 3 in the Morning.
52. Keeling, Witch’s Flight, 130.
53. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 14.
54. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 3.
55. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 14.
56. Harper, “Evidence of Felt Intuition,” 652.
57. Harper, “Evidence of Felt Intuition,” 644.
58. Moore, “Lipstick or Timberlands?,” 132–33 (emphasis in original).
59. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 2.
CHAPTER 4
1. “Meet Me in the Ladies Room, Cuz We Gotta Talk,” Females in Comedy Association Convention, J Spot Comedy Club, Los Angeles, April 25, 2012.
2. The Tonight Show Starring Sherwin, season 2, episode 1, “Miss Laura Hayes,” YouTube, accessed August 10, 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HiXnFPOEic.
3. Alexander, Black Interior, ix.
4. Queens of Comedy.
5. Rowe, “Nothing Else Mattered after That Wig Came Off,” 22.
6. Rowe, “Nothing Else Mattered after That Wig Came Off,” 23.
7. 2 Bees from Oakland, accessed March 6, 2015, www.2beesfromoakland.com.
8. 2 Bees from Oakland.
9. Phelan, Unmarked, 146.
10. Heddon, Autobiography and Performance, 31.
11. Heddon, Autobiography and Performance, 9.
12. Willett and Willett, Uproarious, 110.
13. Willett and Willett, Uproarious, 3.
14. “Luenell Talks w/ Pierre about Her Struggles & Becoming One of the Most Sought After Comedians—Full,” aired on Pierre’s Panic Room, video posted by Comic Pierre on January 26, 2023, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRsxxxxdkn0.
15. “Luenell on Being a Prostitute, Katt Williams, VLADTV, The Comedy Game, & More,” YouTube, November 11, 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWIVVr1lpwU.
16. Stevens, Smart and Sassy, 33.
17. Fauset, “Gift of Laughter,” 164.
18. VH1 Presents: All Jokes Aside.
19. I Be Done Been Was Is.
20. Fordham, “‘Those Loud Black Girls,’” 10.
21. Fordham, “‘Those Loud Black Girls,’” 10.
22. “Live @ The Apt” is a stand-up comedy web series recorded in an East Village apartment in New York City, and, according to the New York Times, it is “an unexpectedly ideal place for an indie comedy show.” Elise Czajkowski, “When Getting Laughs Annoys the Neighbors,” New York Times, June 19, 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/arts/live-the-apt-comedy-shows-really-happen-in-apartments.html. See www.liveapt.tv/about.
23. “About UnCabaret,” UnCabaret, accessed November 17, 2023, http://uncabaret.com/our-story.
24. Hertz, “Alternative Comedy,” 21.
25. E. Alex Jung, “The Sharp, Sensitive, and Surreal New Wave of Black Male Comedians,” Vulture, April 1, 2015, www.vulture.com/2015/04/black-comedians-the-new-wave.html (emphasis mine).
26. Gillota, “Black Nerds,” 21.
27. Gillota, “Black Nerds,” 22.
28. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 3.
29. Gillota, “Black Nerds,” 17.
30. Blau and Brown. “Du Bois and Diasporic Identity,” 221.
31. Thompson, Beyond the Black Lady, 2.
32. Ekperigin interview.
33. Ekperigin interview.
34. Awkward Comedy Show, liner notes.
35. Wanzo, “Precarious-Girl Comedy,” 46.
36. Wanzo, “Precarious Girl-Comedy,” 30.
37. Awkward Comedy Show.
38. Marina Franklin, live performance, Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, March 5, 2016.
39. Bradley, “Awkwardly Hysterical,” 149 (emphasis in original).
40. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 3.
41. Eckert, “Vowel Shifts in Northern California and the Detroit Suburbs.”
42. Lo, “‘We Can’t Even Play Ourselves,’” 177.
43. Tom Lamont, “Maya Rudolph: ‘I’m Not a Woman in Comedy. I’m a Comedian,’” The Guardian, December 5, 2015, www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/05/maya-rudolph-im-not-a-woman-in-comedy-im-a-comedian-saturday-nigh-live-bridesmaids-sisters.
44. Lo, “‘We Can’t Even Play Ourselves,’” 161.
45. Brooklyn Comedy Festival, accessed March 12, 2017, https://bkcomedyfestival.com (site discontinued).
46. Sasheer Zamata, live performance, Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, June 3, 2016.
47. Fauset, “Gift of Laughter,” 164.
48. UCB Comedy, “Be Blacker: A SKETCH from UCB Comedy,” online video clip, YouTube, posted February 14, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefZk3q0U_U.
49. Becker, “Playing with Politics,” 426.
50. Hariman, “Political Parody and Public Culture,” 252.
51. Sarah Cooper, live performance, Largo at the Coronet, Los Angeles, September 20, 2021.
52. Wanzo, “Precarious Girl-Comedy,” 45.
53. Wanzo, “Precarious Girl-Comedy,” 46.
54. Standups. Ekperigin says “white woman” in the beginning of this bit with an affected, breathy, upper-class emphasis as part of the sendup of that classed whiteness that is the target of her joke. I have styled this pronunciation “WHite WHoman” to capture this part of her humor on the page.
55. Alexander, Black Interior, 5.
56. Emily Mahaney, “The 2 Dope Queens Podcast Hosts on the One Joke They Never Want to Hear a Dude Make Again,” Glamour, August 10, 2016, www.glamour.com/story/the-two-dope-queens-podcast-hosts-on-the-one-joke-they-never-want-to-hear-a-dude-make-again.
57. Allison P. Davis, “Yes, Queens,” The Ringer, August 10, 2016, https://theringer.com/2-dope-queens-podcasting-phoebe-robinson-91bfe785ed4d.
58. E. Alex Jung, “The Sharp, Sensitive, and Surreal New Wave of Black Male Comedians,” Vulture, April 1, 2015, www.vulture.com/2015/04/black-comedians-the-new-wave.html.
59. Meserko, “Standing Upright,” 28.
60. Phoebe Robinson, “Two Dope Queens on Feminism,” Note to Self podcast, WNYC, April 13, 2016, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/notetoself/episodes/feminist-podcasts-phoebe-robinson.
61. A “Khaleesi” is a queen in the fictional Dothraki language on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
62. “Who Is Jeff Tweedy?,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, June 13, 2017, www.wnyc.org/story/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-36-who-jeff-tweedy/.
63. New York Public Radio Media Kit, Q2 2014, accessed November 29, 2023, www.nypublicradio.org/media/resources/2014/Jun/24/NY_Public_Radio_Media_Kit.pdf.
64. George Scialabba, “Welcome to Our Neoliberal World,” comment on Radio Open Source, March 17, 2017, https://radioopensource.org/welcome-neoliberal-world/.
65. Thompson, Beyond the Black Lady, 6.
66. “Who Is Jeff Tweedy?”
67. W. Brown, “Neo-liberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy,” 44 (emphasis mine).
68. Davis, “Yes, Queens.”
69. Rottenberg, “Rise of Neoliberal Feminism,” 428.
70. “Thank You, Harriet Tubman,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, April 25, 2016, www.wnyc.org/story/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-5-thank-you-harriet-tubman/.
71. “Mom Jokes with Kevin Bacon,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, June 6, 2017, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dopequeens/episodes/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-35-mom-jokes-kevin-bacon.
72. Yasmin Nair, “Welcome to Our Neoliberal World,” Open Source podcast, March 17, 2017, https://radioopensource.org/welcome-neoliberal-world/.
73. The New York Public Radio Media Kit elaborates on what the station means by “affluent” in describing trends of its core audience: its listeners are more than twice as likely to have incomes in excess of $250K and investments of more than $1 million.
74. “Adele Givens—Def Comedy Jam,” video clip, YouTube, posted August 3, 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGi-ihN4EDA.
75. “Get Outta My Window Seat,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, November 29, 2016, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dopequeens/episodes/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-24-get-outta-my-window-seat.
76. Stevens, Smart and Sassy, 33.
77. Isabelle Khoo, “Feminist Podcasts That Will Leave You Feeling Empowered,” Huffpost, March 13, 2017, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/03/13/feminist-podcasts_n_15336944.html.
78. Davis, “Yes Queens.”
79. Rottenberg, “Rise of Neoliberal Feminism,” 411.
80. Rottenberg, “Rise of Neoliberal Feminism,” 422.
CHAPTER 5
1. Celeste Ntuli, “ZULU GIRL IN LA,” Instagram video, October 9, 2017, www.instagram.com/p/BaBVoy9gEuM/?igshid=13j6wdr84v8b5.
2. Kemp, “This Black Body,” 123.
3. Werbner and Fumanti, “Aesthetics of Diaspora,” 151.
4. Werbner and Fumanti, “Aesthetics of Diaspora,” 149.
5. Elam and Jackson, Black Cultural Traffic, 19.
6. Johnson, Appropriating Blackness, 2.
7. Cole, “When Is African Theater ‘Black’?,” 43.
8. Elam and Jackson, Black Cultural Traffic, 5.
9. Coplan, In Township Tonight, 5.
10. Donian, “Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa,” 1.
11. Donian, “Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa,” 2.
12. Donian, “Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa,” 8.
13. Crigler, “No Laughing Matter?,” 168.
14. Crigler, “No Laughing Matter?,” 155.
15. Crigler, “No Laughing Matter?,” 168.
16. “Birthing Our Feminine Divine Conference: Celeste Ntuli,” YouTube, posted October 9, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp8-E2Oii2U.
17. Mintz, “Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation,” 75.
18. Nixon, Homelands, Harlem, and Hollywood, 3.
19. See Collins and Kuumba cited in Kuumba, “African Feminisms in Exile,” 7–9.
20. Johnson, “Black Performance Studies,” 447.
21. Mercer, “Black Art and the Burden of Representation,” 63.
22. Gilroy, “. . . To Be Real,” 14.
23. “New Just for Laughs Festival Heading to Africa in 2018,” Suburban, August 1, 2017, https://www.thesuburban.com/arts_and_entertainment/entertainment/new-just-for-laughs-festival-heading-to-africa-in-2018/article_8410d5a0-770d-11e7-ac9d-3f0907c9b5a1.html.
24. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 513.
25. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 515.
26. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 519.
27. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 526.
28. Penelope Mack, “In Stitches’ Highlights Rise of Vernac Comedy in South Africa,” Bowdoin Orient, November 30, 2018, https://bowdoinorient.com/2018/11/30/in-stitches-highlights-rise-of-vernac-comedy-in-south-africa/.
29. “Blacks Only Comedy Show,” YouTube, July 31, 2014. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BIQnDL_6xA.
30. “Blacks Only Comedy Show.”
31. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 13.
32. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 22.
33. See the documentary film Lady Was a Mshoza, directed by Nokuthula Mazibuko, for a fuller explication of Black women’s experiences in the mapantsula lifestyle.
34. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 19.
35. Black and colored women in South Africa perform distinctive styles to diverse audiences. I am including colored comics here because many of them were influenced by and identify with Black American comics, as well as with many of the styles and aesthetics of diasporic comics, both in the United States and in South Africa. These comics include Tumi Morake, Celeste Ntuli, Anele Mdoda, Khanyisa Bunu, Lihle Msimang, Noko Moswete, Judy Jakes, Nonkululeko Mthethwa, Lindy Johnson, Mel Jones, Shimmy Isaacs, Samkelo Ndlovu, and Brenda Ngxoli.
36. See Finley, “From Awkward to Dope.”
37. Darren Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen,” accessed July 15, 2019, www.voanews.com/africa/irreverence-rules-s-african-comedy-queen.
38. Cheryl Kahla, “Trippin’ with Skhumba: In Conversation with Celeste Ntuli,” The South African, September 4, 2019, www.thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/trippin-with-skhumba-celeste-ntuli-interview/.
39. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 12.
40. “Funny Girls,” News24, July 13, 2012, www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Funny-girls-20150430.
41. Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen.”
42. Kahla, “Trippin’ with Skhumba.”
43. Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen.”
44. Amanda Ndlangisa, “5 Min with the Hilarious Celeste Ntuli,” Bona, accessed November 17, 2023, www.bona.co.za/celebrity/5-min-with-the-hilarious-celeste-ntuli/.
45. “Best Stand Up Comedians: Best Stand Up Comedians Comedy Video Just for Fun by Lihle Lindzy!!,” YouTube, accessed September 28, 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFuyaaxreuQ (video discontinued).
46. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 517.
47. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 159.
48. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 17.
49. Comedians of the World.
50. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 137.
51. Pumza Fihlani and Dominic Bailey, “South Africa Elections: Charting Divides 25 Years after Apartheid,” BBC News, May 1, 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48050197.
52. “Afrotaking Celeste Ntuli 99% Zulu Comedy 6,” YouTube, posted November 4, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRXVQ9Q1GHQ.
53. Seizer, “On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy,” 211.
54. “The Brilliant Tumi Morake at the Comic’s Choice Awards,” YouTube, July 6, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgS9QapMXJE.
55. Seizer, “On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy,” 230.
56. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 19.
57. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 20.
58. Rowe, Unruly Woman, 20.
59. Hobson, “‘Batty’ Politic,” 89.
60. Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen.”
61. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 528.
62. Bobo, Black Women as Cultural Readers, 22.
63. “Khanyisa Bunu,” YouTube, August 17, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0tS2D7wfWo.
64. Vincent, “Fat in a Time of Slim,” 915.
65. Vincent, “Fat in a Time of Slim,” 923.
66. Comedians of the World.
67. Vincent, “Fat in a Time of Slim,” 915.
68. “Tumi Morake Stand Up Comedy on Late Night with Kgomotso2.mp4,” YouTube, February 25, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ygf_4084Mo.
69. Hobson, “‘Batty’ Politic,” 89.
70. Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, 19.
71. Ndlangisa, “5 Min with the Hilarious Celeste Ntuli.”
72. “Tumi Morake—Comedy and Feminism,” KASIBIZ/MAHALA, July 8, 2015, https://kasibiz.co.za/?p=8681.
13. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 5.
14. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 5.
15. “Combahee River Collective Statement,” 272.
16. Bailey and Richardson, “Will the Real Men Stand Up?,’” 109.
17. Bey, Them Goon Rules, 68.
18. See Avilez, Black Queer Freedom.
19. Cohen, “Deviance as Resistance,” 30.
20. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 152 (emphasis mine).
21. Hartman, Scenes of Subjection, 77.
22. See Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism.
23. Stevens, Smart and Sassy, x.
24. See Wilson, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies.
25. Wilson, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies, 173.
26. Chauncey, Gay New York, 252.
27. Garber, “Gladys Bentley,” 58
28. Hartman, Wayward Lives, 199 (emphasis mine).
29. Redmond, “Gospel Drag,” 141.
30. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 152.
31. I Be Done Been Was Is.
32. “Marsha Warfield from ‘Night Court’ LIVE in San Francisco (1987),” YouTube, accessed July 25, 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvDJvuCmDpE&list=RDBhtPjiNPPYg&start_radio=1.
33. I Be Done Been Was Is.
34. The original Facebook post was either deleted or is no longer publicly viewable. The Root published an article by Angela Helm, “Comedian Marsha Warfield Says That Her Mother Didn’t Want Her to Come Out until She Was Dead, Defends Patti LaBelle,” on December 17, 2017, containing the original text. See www.theroot.com/comedian-marsha-warfield-says-that-her-mother-didn-t-wa-1821159357.
35. Stallings, Mutha’ Is Half a Word, 134.
36. I Be Done Been Was Is.
37. Quoted in Mizejewski, Pretty/Funny, 159.
38. Quoted in Mizejewski, Pretty/Funny, 159.
39. Maury, formerly known as The Maury Povich Show, was a syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that ran for thirty-one seasons, from 1991 to 2022, mostly on NBC. The show brought on guests dealing with various relationship issues, incorrigible teenagers who needed to be disciplined, transgender revelations, and most popularly, paternity tests. In the early years of the 2000s, Maury became known for paternity revelations with theatrical staging, dialogue, and explosive interview segments. Male guests would repeatedly storm offstage after finding out they had been deceived or that they had indeed fathered the child(ren) in question. Many times, the mothers of the children would dramatically berate the father-in-question, using some version of “That IS your baby!” or “You need to take care of your baby!” The host, Maury Povich, read the results from a small card, the audience in a state of high anticipation: either “You ARE the father!” or “You are . . . NOT the father!” These catchphrases are part of the pop cultural lexicon for castigating, punishing, and rendering humorous working-class (Black) people who publicly air their sexual dirty laundry.
40. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 5.
41. See D. Morgan, Laughing to Keep from Dying.
42. Sam Jay: 3 in the Morning.
43. Keeling, Witch’s Flight, 125.
44. Shep Kelly, “Cosmic Comedy: A Celebration of Life,” YouTube, accessed November 12, 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbWwEn_5K6Q.
45. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 8.
46. Takemoto, “Queer Art/Queer Failure,” 86.
47. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 1.
48. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 156.
49. Halberstam, Queer Art of Failure, 95–96.
50. Bailey and Richardson, “‘Will the Real Men Stand Up?,’” 111.
51. Sam Jay: 3 in the Morning.
52. Keeling, Witch’s Flight, 130.
53. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 14.
54. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 3.
55. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 14.
56. Harper, “Evidence of Felt Intuition,” 652.
57. Harper, “Evidence of Felt Intuition,” 644.
58. Moore, “Lipstick or Timberlands?,” 132–33 (emphasis in original).
59. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 2.
CHAPTER 4
1. “Meet Me in the Ladies Room, Cuz We Gotta Talk,” Females in Comedy Association Convention, J Spot Comedy Club, Los Angeles, April 25, 2012.
2. The Tonight Show Starring Sherwin, season 2, episode 1, “Miss Laura Hayes,” YouTube, accessed August 10, 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HiXnFPOEic.
3. Alexander, Black Interior, ix.
4. Queens of Comedy.
5. Rowe, “Nothing Else Mattered after That Wig Came Off,” 22.
6. Rowe, “Nothing Else Mattered after That Wig Came Off,” 23.
7. 2 Bees from Oakland, accessed March 6, 2015, www.2beesfromoakland.com.
8. 2 Bees from Oakland.
9. Phelan, Unmarked, 146.
10. Heddon, Autobiography and Performance, 31.
11. Heddon, Autobiography and Performance, 9.
12. Willett and Willett, Uproarious, 110.
13. Willett and Willett, Uproarious, 3.
14. “Luenell Talks w/ Pierre about Her Struggles & Becoming One of the Most Sought After Comedians—Full,” aired on Pierre’s Panic Room, video posted by Comic Pierre on January 26, 2023, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRsxxxxdkn0.
15. “Luenell on Being a Prostitute, Katt Williams, VLADTV, The Comedy Game, & More,” YouTube, November 11, 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWIVVr1lpwU.
16. Stevens, Smart and Sassy, 33.
17. Fauset, “Gift of Laughter,” 164.
18. VH1 Presents: All Jokes Aside.
19. I Be Done Been Was Is.
20. Fordham, “‘Those Loud Black Girls,’” 10.
21. Fordham, “‘Those Loud Black Girls,’” 10.
22. “Live @ The Apt” is a stand-up comedy web series recorded in an East Village apartment in New York City, and, according to the New York Times, it is “an unexpectedly ideal place for an indie comedy show.” Elise Czajkowski, “When Getting Laughs Annoys the Neighbors,” New York Times, June 19, 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/arts/live-the-apt-comedy-shows-really-happen-in-apartments.html. See www.liveapt.tv/about.
23. “About UnCabaret,” UnCabaret, accessed November 17, 2023, http://uncabaret.com/our-story.
24. Hertz, “Alternative Comedy,” 21.
25. E. Alex Jung, “The Sharp, Sensitive, and Surreal New Wave of Black Male Comedians,” Vulture, April 1, 2015, www.vulture.com/2015/04/black-comedians-the-new-wave.html (emphasis mine).
26. Gillota, “Black Nerds,” 21.
27. Gillota, “Black Nerds,” 22.
28. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 3.
29. Gillota, “Black Nerds,” 17.
30. Blau and Brown. “Du Bois and Diasporic Identity,” 221.
31. Thompson, Beyond the Black Lady, 2.
32. Ekperigin interview.
33. Ekperigin interview.
34. Awkward Comedy Show, liner notes.
35. Wanzo, “Precarious-Girl Comedy,” 46.
36. Wanzo, “Precarious Girl-Comedy,” 30.
37. Awkward Comedy Show.
38. Marina Franklin, live performance, Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, March 5, 2016.
39. Bradley, “Awkwardly Hysterical,” 149 (emphasis in original).
40. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 3.
41. Eckert, “Vowel Shifts in Northern California and the Detroit Suburbs.”
42. Lo, “‘We Can’t Even Play Ourselves,’” 177.
43. Tom Lamont, “Maya Rudolph: ‘I’m Not a Woman in Comedy. I’m a Comedian,’” The Guardian, December 5, 2015, www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/05/maya-rudolph-im-not-a-woman-in-comedy-im-a-comedian-saturday-nigh-live-bridesmaids-sisters.
44. Lo, “‘We Can’t Even Play Ourselves,’” 161.
45. Brooklyn Comedy Festival, accessed March 12, 2017, https://bkcomedyfestival.com (site discontinued).
46. Sasheer Zamata, live performance, Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, June 3, 2016.
47. Fauset, “Gift of Laughter,” 164.
48. UCB Comedy, “Be Blacker: A SKETCH from UCB Comedy,” online video clip, YouTube, posted February 14, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefZk3q0U_U.
49. Becker, “Playing with Politics,” 426.
50. Hariman, “Political Parody and Public Culture,” 252.
51. Sarah Cooper, live performance, Largo at the Coronet, Los Angeles, September 20, 2021.
52. Wanzo, “Precarious Girl-Comedy,” 45.
53. Wanzo, “Precarious Girl-Comedy,” 46.
54. Standups. Ekperigin says “white woman” in the beginning of this bit with an affected, breathy, upper-class emphasis as part of the sendup of that classed whiteness that is the target of her joke. I have styled this pronunciation “WHite WHoman” to capture this part of her humor on the page.
55. Alexander, Black Interior, 5.
56. Emily Mahaney, “The 2 Dope Queens Podcast Hosts on the One Joke They Never Want to Hear a Dude Make Again,” Glamour, August 10, 2016, www.glamour.com/story/the-two-dope-queens-podcast-hosts-on-the-one-joke-they-never-want-to-hear-a-dude-make-again.
57. Allison P. Davis, “Yes, Queens,” The Ringer, August 10, 2016, https://theringer.com/2-dope-queens-podcasting-phoebe-robinson-91bfe785ed4d.
58. E. Alex Jung, “The Sharp, Sensitive, and Surreal New Wave of Black Male Comedians,” Vulture, April 1, 2015, www.vulture.com/2015/04/black-comedians-the-new-wave.html.
59. Meserko, “Standing Upright,” 28.
60. Phoebe Robinson, “Two Dope Queens on Feminism,” Note to Self podcast, WNYC, April 13, 2016, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/notetoself/episodes/feminist-podcasts-phoebe-robinson.
61. A “Khaleesi” is a queen in the fictional Dothraki language on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
62. “Who Is Jeff Tweedy?,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, June 13, 2017, www.wnyc.org/story/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-36-who-jeff-tweedy/.
63. New York Public Radio Media Kit, Q2 2014, accessed November 29, 2023, www.nypublicradio.org/media/resources/2014/Jun/24/NY_Public_Radio_Media_Kit.pdf.
64. George Scialabba, “Welcome to Our Neoliberal World,” comment on Radio Open Source, March 17, 2017, https://radioopensource.org/welcome-neoliberal-world/.
65. Thompson, Beyond the Black Lady, 6.
66. “Who Is Jeff Tweedy?”
67. W. Brown, “Neo-liberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy,” 44 (emphasis mine).
68. Davis, “Yes, Queens.”
69. Rottenberg, “Rise of Neoliberal Feminism,” 428.
70. “Thank You, Harriet Tubman,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, April 25, 2016, www.wnyc.org/story/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-5-thank-you-harriet-tubman/.
71. “Mom Jokes with Kevin Bacon,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, June 6, 2017, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dopequeens/episodes/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-35-mom-jokes-kevin-bacon.
72. Yasmin Nair, “Welcome to Our Neoliberal World,” Open Source podcast, March 17, 2017, https://radioopensource.org/welcome-neoliberal-world/.
73. The New York Public Radio Media Kit elaborates on what the station means by “affluent” in describing trends of its core audience: its listeners are more than twice as likely to have incomes in excess of $250K and investments of more than $1 million.
74. “Adele Givens—Def Comedy Jam,” video clip, YouTube, posted August 3, 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGi-ihN4EDA.
75. “Get Outta My Window Seat,” 2 Dope Queens podcast, WNYC, November 29, 2016, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dopequeens/episodes/2-dope-queens-podcast-episode-24-get-outta-my-window-seat.
76. Stevens, Smart and Sassy, 33.
77. Isabelle Khoo, “Feminist Podcasts That Will Leave You Feeling Empowered,” Huffpost, March 13, 2017, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/03/13/feminist-podcasts_n_15336944.html.
78. Davis, “Yes Queens.”
79. Rottenberg, “Rise of Neoliberal Feminism,” 411.
80. Rottenberg, “Rise of Neoliberal Feminism,” 422.
CHAPTER 5
1. Celeste Ntuli, “ZULU GIRL IN LA,” Instagram video, October 9, 2017, www.instagram.com/p/BaBVoy9gEuM/?igshid=13j6wdr84v8b5.
2. Kemp, “This Black Body,” 123.
3. Werbner and Fumanti, “Aesthetics of Diaspora,” 151.
4. Werbner and Fumanti, “Aesthetics of Diaspora,” 149.
5. Elam and Jackson, Black Cultural Traffic, 19.
6. Johnson, Appropriating Blackness, 2.
7. Cole, “When Is African Theater ‘Black’?,” 43.
8. Elam and Jackson, Black Cultural Traffic, 5.
9. Coplan, In Township Tonight, 5.
10. Donian, “Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa,” 1.
11. Donian, “Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa,” 2.
12. Donian, “Comedy-Scape in Apartheid South Africa,” 8.
13. Crigler, “No Laughing Matter?,” 168.
14. Crigler, “No Laughing Matter?,” 155.
15. Crigler, “No Laughing Matter?,” 168.
16. “Birthing Our Feminine Divine Conference: Celeste Ntuli,” YouTube, posted October 9, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp8-E2Oii2U.
17. Mintz, “Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation,” 75.
18. Nixon, Homelands, Harlem, and Hollywood, 3.
19. See Collins and Kuumba cited in Kuumba, “African Feminisms in Exile,” 7–9.
20. Johnson, “Black Performance Studies,” 447.
21. Mercer, “Black Art and the Burden of Representation,” 63.
22. Gilroy, “. . . To Be Real,” 14.
23. “New Just for Laughs Festival Heading to Africa in 2018,” Suburban, August 1, 2017, https://www.thesuburban.com/arts_and_entertainment/entertainment/new-just-for-laughs-festival-heading-to-africa-in-2018/article_8410d5a0-770d-11e7-ac9d-3f0907c9b5a1.html.
24. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 513.
25. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 515.
26. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 519.
27. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 526.
28. Penelope Mack, “In Stitches’ Highlights Rise of Vernac Comedy in South Africa,” Bowdoin Orient, November 30, 2018, https://bowdoinorient.com/2018/11/30/in-stitches-highlights-rise-of-vernac-comedy-in-south-africa/.
29. “Blacks Only Comedy Show,” YouTube, July 31, 2014. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BIQnDL_6xA.
30. “Blacks Only Comedy Show.”
31. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 13.
32. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 22.
33. See the documentary film Lady Was a Mshoza, directed by Nokuthula Mazibuko, for a fuller explication of Black women’s experiences in the mapantsula lifestyle.
34. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 19.
35. Black and colored women in South Africa perform distinctive styles to diverse audiences. I am including colored comics here because many of them were influenced by and identify with Black American comics, as well as with many of the styles and aesthetics of diasporic comics, both in the United States and in South Africa. These comics include Tumi Morake, Celeste Ntuli, Anele Mdoda, Khanyisa Bunu, Lihle Msimang, Noko Moswete, Judy Jakes, Nonkululeko Mthethwa, Lindy Johnson, Mel Jones, Shimmy Isaacs, Samkelo Ndlovu, and Brenda Ngxoli.
36. See Finley, “From Awkward to Dope.”
37. Darren Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen,” accessed July 15, 2019, www.voanews.com/africa/irreverence-rules-s-african-comedy-queen.
38. Cheryl Kahla, “Trippin’ with Skhumba: In Conversation with Celeste Ntuli,” The South African, September 4, 2019, www.thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/trippin-with-skhumba-celeste-ntuli-interview/.
39. Avilez, Black Queer Freedom, 12.
40. “Funny Girls,” News24, July 13, 2012, www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Funny-girls-20150430.
41. Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen.”
42. Kahla, “Trippin’ with Skhumba.”
43. Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen.”
44. Amanda Ndlangisa, “5 Min with the Hilarious Celeste Ntuli,” Bona, accessed November 17, 2023, www.bona.co.za/celebrity/5-min-with-the-hilarious-celeste-ntuli/.
45. “Best Stand Up Comedians: Best Stand Up Comedians Comedy Video Just for Fun by Lihle Lindzy!!,” YouTube, accessed September 28, 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFuyaaxreuQ (video discontinued).
46. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 517.
47. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 159.
48. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 17.
49. Comedians of the World.
50. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 137.
51. Pumza Fihlani and Dominic Bailey, “South Africa Elections: Charting Divides 25 Years after Apartheid,” BBC News, May 1, 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48050197.
52. “Afrotaking Celeste Ntuli 99% Zulu Comedy 6,” YouTube, posted November 4, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRXVQ9Q1GHQ.
53. Seizer, “On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy,” 211.
54. “The Brilliant Tumi Morake at the Comic’s Choice Awards,” YouTube, July 6, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgS9QapMXJE.
55. Seizer, “On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy,” 230.
56. Gilbert, Performing Marginality, 19.
57. Gqola, “Ufanele uqavile,” 20.
58. Rowe, Unruly Woman, 20.
59. Hobson, “‘Batty’ Politic,” 89.
60. Taylor, “‘Irreverence Rules’ for S. African Comedy Queen.”
61. Seirlis, “Laughing All the Way to Freedom?,” 528.
62. Bobo, Black Women as Cultural Readers, 22.
63. “Khanyisa Bunu,” YouTube, August 17, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0tS2D7wfWo.
64. Vincent, “Fat in a Time of Slim,” 915.
65. Vincent, “Fat in a Time of Slim,” 923.
66. Comedians of the World.
67. Vincent, “Fat in a Time of Slim,” 915.
68. “Tumi Morake Stand Up Comedy on Late Night with Kgomotso2.mp4,” YouTube, February 25, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ygf_4084Mo.
69. Hobson, “‘Batty’ Politic,” 89.
70. Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, 19.
71. Ndlangisa, “5 Min with the Hilarious Celeste Ntuli.”
72. “Tumi Morake—Comedy and Feminism,” KASIBIZ/MAHALA, July 8, 2015, https://kasibiz.co.za/?p=8681.
