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Last Updated: May 30th, 2008 - 11:49:13 |
“Stand Up Black Britain,” featured at The Fringe International Festival in New York City, helped fill the recent void in representations of Black British culture in the United States. While Black Brits have not been completely invisible in the American entertainment—performers such as Sade, Soul to Soul and Seal have made a significant impact on American music—this show evokes a broader movement of Black British performers re-establishing their presence and voice.
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| John Simmit |
Indeed, voice, the sound of it, was a reoccurring topic throughout the show. John Simmit was the first comedian to come on stage, and he informed the audience that he was not mimicking or mocking a British accent. While this sort of mocking would be common in Black American comedy, Simmit complicated what is assumed to be Black people’s way of speaking English (or Ebonics), especially within comedy acts like those that were found on “Def Comedy Jam.” Simmit addressed a racially diverse crowd and some of his jokes made the audience unsure of whether to laugh freely or self-consciously chuckle.
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| Curtis Walker |
The issue of Black Britons’ invisibility in American public consciousness continued when Curtis Walker went on stage. Several minutes into his performance, Walker asked the general crowd whether they imaged Black people as citizens of Britain. He quieted down a group of young women who countered his presumptions about the audience’s lack of awareness. Earlier, these three young women mentioned that they had family in Brixton, the predominantly Caribbean neighborhood of London. He made those women exception to the rule because they were Jamaicans. Throughout his stage time, Walker was energetic and more interactive with the audience members, whereas Simmit made more sweeping statements about the audience and spoke at us. Curtis Walker’s embracive attitude encouraged the audience to shout out remarks, participate and craft the comedic experience along with the performer.
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| Gina Yashere |
Gina Yashere, the last comedian, made time appear irrelevant. Her skit was all over the place but this lack of linearity contributed to the comfortable pace of her act that began with the predictable contrast between Black British and Black American culture.
She demonstrated the awkwardness that would arise if she emulated the persona of an abrasive Black American from an urban setting. She reinforced the fact that Black American cultural products are being viewed, enjoyed, and criticized cross-culturally among the “race”-- even if they are not universal in regards to a transnational Black experience. One unavoidable contrasting point is hip-hop’s vulgarly, glorification of violence, and misogyny. Nonetheless, these criticisms are not new to Black American culture. There have been critical intra-communal comments about hip-hop from personalities including Cedric the entertainer and Steve Harvey. These older comedians’ observations and frankness were based on a generational distance meanwhile the British comedians gained their critical perspective from their transnational experience.
What went unsaid were the similarities and differences between American hip-hop and British hip-hop. For a show that wishes to correct the outsider’s vision by making the invisible seen, this was one obvious blind spot. Perhaps, for the sake of humor, such nuances were compromised.
Yashere did recognize mainstream hip-hop’s façade. She joked about the excessive quality found in Black American culture, including the absurdity and contradictions when rappers from the “hood” showcase their lavish homes on “MTV Cribs.” She further rejected the simplified representations of American culture. The intricacies of identity politics and representation were illuminated when Yashere provided a closer insight to her background. While the first two comedians asserted a sound connection between Black British people and a Caribbean background, Yashere brought the African, specifically Nigerian, heritage also found in the Black British population. It was with her performance that racial identity and representation became undeniably complicated and, yet, the most humorous.
Perhaps sensing that the audience was growing increasingly comfortable with each comedian’s hybridity, Yashere spoke about a wider range of topics. She told a joke about a mother shark who advised her offspring to eat all of the comedian because there are staving sharks in Africa. Here, Gina cleverly employed a common saying about hunger and abject poverty that spreads awareness but does not incite action other than encouraging consumption for one’s benefit. This quick remark was the moment where Yeshere’s humor transformed to satire. Such clever remarks made Yashere performance smart without being didactic. After her performance, Yashere received a generous applause. Even though she ran over her allotted time, the audience was not quick to leave.
Overall, “Stand Up Black Britain” provided a transcultural interaction but in the reverse direction from the norm. It was an active exchange between the Black community in two Western Anglophone countries. It would be interesting to see how these Black British comedians developed their art and, specifically, how they, if they, politicized their material because they are performing in an intensely race-conscious American landscape.
Astride Charles lives in New York City.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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