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THE HUMOR IN BEING BLACK: D.L.HUGHLEY, KEVIN HART AND STAND-UP COMEDY

- Isha Bihari, Joe Varghese Yeldho, National Institute of Science Education and Research, HBNI, Odisha, India

ABSTRACT Comedy scripts the monotony of life in a language that humors all and mirrors the disruptive social reality of private life. Stand-up comedy, today, is a billion dollar entertainment industry and the , pop-culture icons. The paper evaluates the performances of two celebrity stand-up comedians, D.L Hughley and Kevin Hart through their respective Netflix specials. Their content is drawn from the lived experience of growing up black in America, yet differs in comic style. While D.L Hughley traverses the highs and lows of African-American lives in the States, presenting a satirical take on social issues; Kevin Hart paints a self-deprecating portrait of his personal life, he is animated, free-spirited and exaggerates anecdotal familial episodes to humor the audience. Their performance reveals the meaning of comedy in black lives, and its importance as a public-communication tool beyond entertainment.

Laughter and deep sighs, humor to spice up lives

A joke in troubled times, to impress funny smiles

An escape from the drudgery, from a life of slavery

A thoughtful comedy is a one that coats a tragedy1

In his 2013 novel Inferno, Dan Brown extols the legacy of the famous Italian poet-philosopher Dante Alighieri and explains why the latter’s magnum opus Divine Comedy is named such. He writes, "The Divine Comedy has nothing comedic about it. It is called a comedy for another reason entirely. In the fourteenth century, Italian literature was, by requirement, divided into two categories: tragedy, representing high literature, was written in formal Italian; comedy, representing low literature, was written in the vernacular and geared toward the general 2 population” (90). Written in the native dialect as opposed to the high Latin, the language of the elites, Dante made his poem accessible to the general masses who could picture the writer's journey in the poem through damnation and divinity. The language becomes a means to an end: the reader lives through the horrors of hell and purgatory to finally reach the heights of paradise and attain bliss. Dante's comedy thus ends on a high note: the happy ending that humans always wish for as opposed to the lows of a tragedy. Stand-up comedy, likewise, is scripted in a language that arouses laughter in a diverse audience. It is a refuge for the weary souls to get lost in innocent smiles culminating in a fantastic escape from the lived routine. Out of the many inspirational quotes that keep making guest appearances in social media, there goes one that says, "Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious" by the academy award winner Peter Ustinov. Though the veracity of the quote's origin may be questioned given the source, its meaning is not suspect. Comedy allows one of the best forms of social commentary. Like Dante's poem needed telling in an understandable way, comedy mirrors society, in a form that is digestible to most. The immediate response to a joke may be laughter, but given a second thought, many will find themselves debating its content. The mental dialogue, thus created, presents an opportunity to think beyond the humor to reflect on the underlying questions. And quiet akin to Dante, reaching paradise, comedy creates a paradise where people are humored and inspired to put on their thinking caps.

To lay it bare, making people laugh is not an easy job, more so when the subject of comedy is a sensitive one. One such issue is of racism in America. In her book, Laughing Fit to Kill: Black Humor in the Fictions of Slavery, writer Glenda Carpio traces the origins of African-American humor and notes, “Black American humor began as a wrested freedom, the freedom to laugh at that which was unjust and cruel in order to create distance from what would otherwise, obliterate a sense of self and community” (4). Blacks used humor as a tool to survive the maddening times of slavery and find moments of relief in joking with fellow slaves. With the abolition of chattel slavery and subsequent devolution of rights, acerbic humor formerly contained in intra-group interactions took visible forms in the mainstream as a form of political critique. To stage a performance where the black audience splits at the white-man jokes would have been an act of sacrilege a few hundred years ago. Today three out of ten of the world's highest-paid comedians are black (Berg). What sets these performers apart is the historicity of African-American humor. 3

The content has added meaning for the blacks who can identify with the lived experience of the comedians. The jokes and punch lines sound better with a context that people can relate to. The humor is amplified in the shared understanding of an issue that assures people that others go through the same hardships too, that they are not alone in the quest to negotiate with their troubled identity in a country where they are the minority. This does not mean that everyone resorts to comedy to find their comfortable space. Some do not need euphemisms to voice their concerns. In his book Between the World and Me, Ta Nehisi- Coates is critical of American democracy and writes, “Americans deify democracy in a way that allows for a dim awareness that they have, from time to time, stood in defiance of their God [democracy]” (6). Racism is an implicit reality in America today. How this reality directs and vice-versa can be studied through stand-up comedy. Black comedy here refers to funny/witty narratives by African-American performers. Comedy being one of the most preferred forms of entertainment, has become a staple across most video streaming platforms. Netflix, the American media service provider, for example, has been taking giant leaps when it comes to investing in comedies. The variety of stand-up comedy shows is only proof of their ambition of dominating the comedy market (Schwerdtfeger). Stand-up comedians need only a stage, mic and a stool to perform, drawing a large crowd which gathers for the entertainment. Black performers are making steady strides in this field, with many having their specials on Netflix. A special, as opposed to a series (having several episodes over one or many seasons), is an episode dedicated to the performance of a single .

One such special is the 2018 show, D.L Hughley: Contrarian, which is introduced by Netflix as "a sly take on changing times, political firestorms and growing up black in America." Winner of the 2012 Peabody Award which honors excellence in broadcast and digital media, Hughley, stands tall in the world of comedy. Dressed sharply in a suit and hat, Hughley's signature look, he means business when on stage. His jokes are a satirical take on essential issues, carrying a social message. Minutes into his performance in the show, Hughley talks about the movie Black Panther which is the first black to be made in America and says, "Man, we really showed up for [it]. We [were] all at the mall. White people were shook [and wondered why] there [were] a lot of black people in the food court. ..We all went [to see the movie] for different reasons. Black people [went] for inspiration. White people went for information [to 4 know what] they (blacks) were up to” (Contrarian, 3:89). Hughley talks about the white fear in this joke as the innocuous community act of gathering together to enjoy a movie celebrating black heroism is seen by the whites suspiciously. It is assumed that blacks anywhere in groups must always be up to something. And lest the whites feel threatened by their presence, blacks will always have to be extra cautious to not be in a big group. This white fear of the black is not just abstract but takes solid form when blacks become vulnerable to police excesses, and the majority of whites support the same. Blacks are most likely to be killed and tortured by the police for no apparent reason (Jennings, 77). Rodney King's 1991 torturous beating in jail, which was caught on camera, is when police brutality against blacks first came to be acknowledged publicly (Chaney and Robertson, 483). However, almost 27 years after that incident, racial profiling of blacks continues in America, that projects itself as a colorblind nation and officially denounces racial practices on all platforms. The substantive evidence to this conclusion is reflected in a 2015 report submitted to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization and others, which states that even though blacks constitute just 13.2% (as of 2014) of America's population, when it comes to law enforcement, 26.2% of those killed by police were black in 2015 (22). And these figures are a testimony to black victimization which has been going on for centuries. Starting with slave patrols, restriction of the freedom of the blacks continued even after the end of slavery through Jim Crow laws, which promoted racial segregation, the vestiges of which remained after the civil war through the police who acts as the guardian of white privilege.

Adding a comic element to this issue, Hughley says, "You want a policeman to run into a building with a sense of urgency, do not tell him it's an active shooter. Tell him something that'll really get him going, like there’s two black men sitting in Starbucks” (Contrarian, 15:56). And this is precisely what happened in April 2018, when officers arrested two black men for no good reason in Starbucks (Pomrenze, et al.). To think the same would have happened to whites waiting for their friend in a café is preposterous but since the victims were blacks, the police in what has become a routine in such incidents chose to defend its actions. It is disheartening to note that public spaces which are meant to foster a sense of equality in the citizens are more accessible and safe to some than others. Hughley occupies a public space when performing on stage in the sense that anyone can choose to be his audience by being present in the room physically or 5 virtually through the streaming medium. There is no restriction as to who can or cannot be the audience. This is a fundamental feature of being in a public space; one can if one wants to, choose to be present in a place without fear or intimidation. His words carry weight as he draws the attention of his audience occupying a safe space, to address the incongruity in public places which, contrary to natural assumptions is not safe for all at all times. One would think it would be quiet ordinary sitting in a café or anywhere for that matter, minding one's own business, but it is not to be. To have to continually worry about what fellow whites think of you when in public is not only unsettling but also demeans one's dignity. Like the Starbucks employees who called the police on the black customers or the neighbor who panicked and called the authorities when Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was trying to enter his own house in Cambridge, to be subjected to round the clock white scrutiny and judged on the extent of one's blackness is like being in a virtual prison, any deviation and the virtual prison may become a real one.

Hughley offers a solution to this problem in his book How Not To Get Shot And Other Advice From White People and writes that blacks can make themselves seem white friendly by being deferential to them. He addresses his black readers and explains, "Just do what the cop says [and] make sure [to] comply with both their command and the way they want it done" (15). He then sarcastically concludes that the blacks may die whether the advice is heeded or not. Referring to the incident when tennis star James Blake was manhandled in broad daylight outside his hotel in Manhattan for just being there, Hughley alludes that being a known face also does not guarantee one safety (94). If the police are convinced of somebody's criminal intent by seeing their facial features and color, no amount of courtesy can save them. The irony underpinning the solution speaks to the brazen disregard for the black life by whites. This disregard has historical roots in how the blacks were shipped from Africa to serve as slaves. Hughley draws from this history and cracks the audience when he remarks, "Everybody want to know where they [are] from, their ancestry. I think it's [crazy] to live in America. When they stole you from your homeland then sell your ancestry back to you" (Contrarian, 5:98). The identity crises that blacks face is crucial to the understanding of modern racism where racial discrimination is not acknowledged publicly but practiced privately. Having been forcefully displaced from their ancestral homes, the slaves were stripped off their identities and treated as mere objects that did the bidding of their masters. 6

The generations that followed have carried the burden of their forefathers' dispossession. Even though blacks today have American identities, their citizenship is continuously questioned.

The attempts by the white supremacists who questioned the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s right to the Presidential seat is a case in point. In his book, We Were Eight Years In Power, writer Ta- Nehisi Coates refers to the "tie between citizenship and whiteness" (128). He quotes Stephen Douglas who was running for a seat in the U.S Senate in 1857 and said, "this government was made on the white basis and that the Framers had made no reference to the Negro…or any other inferior and degraded race, when they spoke of the equality of men" (129). This tacit belief in the inferiority of the blacks continues to this day and contributes to modern-day racism. Ta-Nehisi explains, "The idea that blacks should hold no place of consequence in the American political future has affected every sector of American society, transforming whiteness itself into a monopoly on American possibilities" (130). This dominance of the whites in all areas of importance reduces the blacks to second class citizens. The glass ceiling prevents them from living up to their full potential. More often than not, they have to make do with piece-meal concessions ensuring that white privilege works at the expense of black progress. Commenting on this privilege, Hughley writes, "For a white person, there's something about being called 'sir' that whisks them away to a more genteel time…Back when white people didn't suffer from 'white privilege' or be taken to task for acknowledging their primacy in the world” (28). White supremacists have been so set in their ways and historical advantage that they implicitly equate American culture with being white. Any idea which strays from this belief makes them feel threatened. They hold on to the cherished dream of going back to the golden times when racism was an open practice and not grounded in diplomatic correctness. Hughley talks of one end of the spectrum where people are ultra-conservative and do not wish to see blacks as equals, however quite different from them are people who live in a state of denial when it comes to racism and even get offended when questions of race come up. They believe racism is a cause long stretched since the end of the civil war, which needs to be rested for they understand it only in the shallow sense of physical violence or segregation. Robin Di Angelo uses the term 'white fragility' in his 2011 article of the same name published in the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, to explain why the majority of whites live in their utopian world where they believe no wrong is being done to the blacks and by not acknowledging modern racism are in a way 7 contributing to its existence. He reasons, "For many white people, a single required multicultural education course taken in college, or required cultural competency training in their workplace, is the only time they may encounter a direct and sustained challenge to their racial understandings… these courses and programs use racially coded language [such as] urban, inner city, and disadvantaged [instead of] white or over-advantaged, or privileged. This racially coded language …reproduces the comfortable illusion that race and its problems are what [others] have, not us…[directly addressing racism elicits responses ranging from] anger, withdrawal, emotional incapacitation, guilt, argumentation, and cognitive dissonance..[all of which are] forms of resistance to the challenge of internalized dominance" (57). Having been socialized in the comforts of their white homes with the natural privilege that comes with color, the idea that others live differently becomes unfathomable for some, who grow up dismissing any and every notion of racism. Such is the education system that it strips blacks off their rightful place in the historical narrative of the country and feeds comfortable truths to impressionable young minds who grow up never knowing about the contribution of blacks in the building of America. This creates tension in a society where the majority fails to empathize with the blacks and treats news of racial discrimination as isolated incidents. These even seeds feelings of hostility as they do not understand why blacks are the ones who always get in trouble with the law, are poor, not academic achievers or why they deserve affirmative action. They feel that the American philosophy of hard work yielding commensurate reward should be adhered to by everyone, all the while being ignorant of the fact that the hard work of a white operates on a privilege that the blacks could only dream of. To prove oneself, a black would have to work doubly hard and face challenges that whites cannot comprehend. Lived experience teaches lessons that the whites will never be aware of.

Alluding to this difference in the white understanding of discrimination, Hughley jokes amidst the cheering crowd, "You [ever] notice white people are always very excited when they got a little black in them? (and as if mimicking a white, continues) 'Hey, I'm three per cent black. You're not gonna report that to Equifax, are you? I want to be black enough to be cool but not [mess] up my credit score' " (Contrarian, 6:58). The joke is just an exaggerated way of saying how token association with blacks is fine as long as it does not harm the self-interest of whites. Equifax is a major consumer credit reporting agency which is referred here. Poor credit rating 8 hampers the availability of institutional credit at a reasonable rate. Hughley hints how it is easier for whites to get good credit scores and that institutional barriers prevent the creation of a level playing field for citizens to avail equal opportunities. Housing policies which were first implemented in the early 1930s made it costly for blacks to avail credit to own houses by redlining the areas where blacks lived (Hanks). Redlining meant that African-American populated areas were deemed too risky, making the lenders wary of extending loans to blacks. Where the whites got to realize their dream of living in a house with a white-picket fence in the suburbs, the blacks were segregated in cramped spaces and dirty streets. Though redlining was officially derecognized in later decades, it did what many such policies were meant to do- reinforce the idea that the blacks can never rise to the level of the whites, can never live like them let alone live with them.

A black man may have been the president yesterday, but that does not stop the white president from thinking any differently today. To drive home this point Hughley, writes, "It's interesting because even in his first few weeks of office his [Donald Trump] actions were insulting. He met with , Jim Brown, Ray Lewis, and : a rapper, two football players, and a comedian. It sounds like the beginning of a [crazy] knock-knock joke, doesn’t it? Why did he do that? Because those are the positions, he's used to seeing us black folk in" (107). It is not to say that being a rapper, a football player or a comedian is a job not good enough, but to believe and perpetuate the idea that these probably are the only areas blacks are good at and suited to, is marking invisible boundaries across work opportunities. For long, the notion of blacks being not good enough in studies or being low-achievers has acted as a placebo in stunting the progress of black students. A black teen in school has to keep up with grades in the backdrop of racial prejudices. That's a pressure which creates a vicious cycle of unemployment and poverty amongst blacks. Added to this, is the factor of biological determinism, a theory which for long has vouched for the superiority of whites while at the same time creating an aura of flawed danger around looking too black. Post civil war, when outright physical segregation of African- Americans was not possible, the entirety of the blacks who looked too tall or too strong, with thick lips and afro-hair were deemed dangerous for society. The same physical qualities that might get one drafted in football may get one in trouble in the streets. Negative stereotypes 9 denigrate the self-worth of people who then struggle to rise above the expected standards of their race.

Though America would like the world to believe that she is well past racism Hughley thinks otherwise and says, "They (the whites will) call the police on the black people for anything” (Contrarian, 11:71). Ta-Nehisi would agree on this as he writes, "America had a , and in that biography, the shackling of black people-slaves and free-featured prominently" (69). The modern day equivalent of slavery in America is the mass incarceration of blacks. Hughley simplifies the concept in his book and explains that blacks are arrested for reasons ranging from not wearing appropriate clothing, listening to hip-hop, eating barbeque, having tattoos, growing long hair, coming from a single-parent household, not having a good car, having too fancy a car and to cut the reasons short, for just being black. The reasons may seem funny, but that doesn't change the fact that under any given situation, a black, poor or rich, is more likely to face jail time vis-à-vis his/her white counterpart.

“Imprisonment," Angela Y. Davis writes in her book Are Prisons Obsolete?, “[is viewed ]as a fate reserved for others, [which] in the collective imagination of the people,[is] fantasized as people of color. The prison, therefore, functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers"(16). Now when the whites couldn't put a leash on the black body due to changing times, they have resorted to putting the blacks behind iron bars. Coates traces the history of incarceration and writes, "The end of enslavement posed an existential crisis for white supremacy because an open labor market meant blacks competing for white jobs and resources… Postbellum, Alabama solved this problem by manufacturing criminals. Blacks who could not find work were labeled vagrants and sent to jail, where they were leased as labor to the very people who had once enslaved them" (244). During slavery, blacks used to gather discreetly to exchange information and voice concern. Strict surveillance prevented open assembly of blacks. Now the same physical policing has turned into moral policing of black dialogue. Sure, a black comedian can talk about racism but has to fashion it as harmless entertainment, without leveling any overt or severe charge against the whites. A comedian thus is reduced to a laughable caricature. Comedy turns into a safety valve which helps the blacks laugh away their misery. 10

So no matter how much blacks try to find solace in comedy or hip-hop or football, at the end of the show they have to live with the fact that they aren't considered equal citizens by the whites. This reality haunts them, and they grow up feeling different and burdened with the expectation of being twice as good than the whites, to be entitled to the same rights that the constitution guarantees. In a chapter titled 'Your Bill of Rights' Hughley lists all the Rights of an American and then goes on to title a separate section 'YOUR Bill of Rights' addressing African- Americans and writes, "This space intentionally left blank" (128). The blank space is symbolic of the empty promises that blacks live with, and Hughley explains, "White people will tell you that you have the same rights as they do, but what happens when you try to exercise them? That's a different story" (128). It's the story that has the same narrative. The narrative of struggle and survival of a race in the face of evolving racism, where the forms of discriminations change but the pain felt is the same. And in this fight people like D.L Hughley keep performing much like the musicians on board the sinking Titanic.

Hughley’s keen sense of observation helps him go beyond his race and find content in other social issues as well. He addresses issues ranging from gun control, religion, politics, immigrants- all topics with the potential to stir up controversy. In this day and age of political correctness, it’s not easy to joke about issues where people have divided opinions and sentiments. But he takes his chances and does what he knows best, engage his audience in a conversation where he is the sole narrator but treats his audience as active participants leaving them much to think about at the end of the night. If one were to reflect upon Hughley’s humor in a comedy spectrum, Kevin Hart would stand on the other end. Struggling his way through small gigs, Hart burst into the comedy scene with several movies and stand-up shows, earning a rare spot in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2015. What sets Kevin Hart apart from seasoned performers such as Hughley, or Dave Chapelle is his appeal across a diverse audience. His jokes are self-deprecating, and the points of references for his humorous stories is his own life, something that people would be more comfortable with, than jokes on racism and other pressing issues. In a sense, his performance is white-friendly, where he makes a conscious choice to steer clear of potentially divisive subject matters. Both blacks and whites can equally enjoy his shows without having to deal with a charged atmosphere. Donning an all-black ensemble and gold jewels, Kevin is at his fanciest best in his 2016 stand-up comedy film What 11

Now? Performing in his hometown , in front of 50,000 plus people, he made history for selling out an entire football stadium, the kind of crowd one would expect for a rock star. A comedian performing in front of that huge a crowd was previously unheard of, but that's Kevin Hart for you. He uses the space on the stage to move around, his energy and pitch never hitting a low. His comedy comes from his animated style of acting out characters in his jokes. The audience is assured of a good time, with no baggage to carry around. One pays for, gets entertained, and returns to the usual routine at home with memories of a time well spent.

Growing up, Hart’s earliest memory of stand-up comedy comes from observing his family watch comedians perform on television. His parents were fans of comedians like Red Foxx, Robin Harris, , Sinbad, and . They would laugh hysterically, and "it sounded like more happiness than [Hart] had ever heard in the house" (Hart and Strauss, 24). He was intrigued by his family’s reaction to these shows, and it influenced his later years as a comedian. Hart believes that his sense of humor and optimism stems from his father and attributes his mother for teaching him work ethics (14). Comedy involves effective communication with the audience, a skill that he picked up in school, "playing in different leagues and gyms, meeting kids of all races and backgrounds, and traveling… to different places in the state" (70). Hart knows how to humor through his shortcomings to keep the audience engaged in his performance. He narrates how, as a kid, he was comfortable being short, not good-looking, and not having better clothes or shoes. He points out that," you can be the tough guy and over-compensate for your [flaws] …constantly defending your ego …or you can be the funny guy…which is the most freeing thing in the world" (82). Hart believes that having a shoulder-shrugging attitude, which is his ability not to let negativity affect him, helps him gain perspective where he always tries to "look at the bigger picture instead of being reactive" (82). So, when his parents separated, he could control his anger and depression due to this ability and move on in life (92). Hart finds humor where most wouldn't; he is self-aware and hence can laugh at himself. And it was in high-school that he realized that he had a fun personality and people liked hanging out with him. When graduation drew closer, and his friends got acceptance letters from college, Hart was left without a plan, but he never gave up (92). On his swim team's graduation banquet where others were being awarded trophies and applauded for their achievements, Hart got only a participation certificate for the best attendance in the team. He 12 knew that it was a minor recognition, yet he went on stage (and it was his first time), made a speech that had everyone in splits and that's when he felt that "something unlocked in [him]" (96). He realized that his comic timing worked outside of a conversation and he could captivate an entire room. In retrospect, Hart considers that night to be significant for his career.

Hart joined community college but couldn't bear the routine for more than a few weeks and hence left. He then worked at a store where he had to sell shoes. His experience there and his interactions with his colleagues and customers helped polish his personality. He had a way of engaging his customers, and this didn't go without notice. He would make his colleagues laugh, and they would encourage him to perform at local clubs (120). Those early stints changed his life as he "[fell] in love with stand-up comedy [and] wanted to do it all the time" (132). He won several amateur competitions which prompted him to take comedy more seriously. He saved money to work on his look and bought "thick Banana Republic dress slacks, black dress shoes, and a J. Crew sweater" (136). He wished to look professional and create an image that would identify him as Lil' Kev the Bastard, the stage name that he went with, in the comedy circuits. Hart was riding high on success and applause until he met Keith Robinson, a well-known comedian, who was critical about his stage-name and comedy content (161). Robinson critiqued that Hart was playing it safe by not using his real name on stage and not experimenting with comedy. Hart saw Robinson perform talking about, “his life, his point of view, his family… sharing insights about them that were so specific, that they had to be true. Unlike [Hart], he was very relaxed on stage and wasn’t afraid to take long pauses and let things settle” (162). Hart then decided to let go of his stage name and show a more personal side of him to his audience. It took him a while to implement changes in his comedy sets, but as he grew more comfortable, he saw the audience respond favorably. He transformed from "an entertainer [who] makes [people] laugh to an artist [who] makes people understand" (226). His comic exaggerations of real life- incidents involving his parents and then-girlfriend clicked with the audience, which related to his content on more a personal level. He started taking inspiration from his life and observed his reactions to them and over time, “[his] sets became more about the situation that [he] found [himself] in and [his] response to them” (227). Fellow comedians started addressing him as Mission Man, as he was tirelessly performing in one club after the other, even the risky ones that some black and white comedians avoided for fear of offending the white and black audience respectively. At times he would get booed off the stage, or the audience wouldn't laugh as much 13 as he hoped for, but he didn't let failure dishearten him. Hart writes, "The entertainer who chooses the hard road, lined with jeering haters throwing chicken wings, not only learns to survive any terrain but to run even the easy road better than the competition" (208). He is more involved in his acts now, performs effortlessly by being himself, and conveys his feelings to the audience. Hart believes that success is a joint effort of all the people involved in a person's life. So, he treats everyone well and doesn't take them for granted. In his words, being likable is what sets him apart from others, a factor that he attributes to how he was raised by his mother who taught him never to belittle anyone. When performing, Hart tries to blend in the crowd to make his content have a broad appeal. This does not mean that he chooses not to acknowledge his roots or ancestry; instead, he presents an alternate way to honor his race by setting standards for creative work and success. In one of his interviews, he said, "I love representing my race all over the world at the highest level where people have to look and go, 'Hey man, that strong Black man right there is a smart individual. He's got it together; he's trying to do some positive things' "(Feasteau). Through his positivity, optimism, and hard work, he wants to set an example that it is possible that a good life beyond the streets awaits those who persevere and not give up.

Comedy critic Sam Friedman believes that there is no universal comedy and that good comedy is one that addresses the taste of its intended audience as what may be funny to one may not induce laughter in others (Freidman, 3). In that sense, Hughley creates a common ground to directly address his audience, the majority of which is black. This direct address qualifies the black audience as the recipient hearers in the words of Erving Goffman (who categorizes the participation status of people in a conversation based on how they are addressed) and since the white audience has a different lived experience and may never comprehend Hughley's humour the way a black audience does, it makes them ratified hearers, the indirect addressee, whose presence is acknowledged by Hughley but who are not directly addressed (Katayama, 128). Whereas Hart's neutral comedy makes the entirety of his audience, the recipient hearers, as his content does not need one to have a prior understanding of being black or white. This is not to imply that his humor is culture-neutral; he knows the broad context of American living and social practices and creates humor that Americans find funny. Hughley's cultural competence, on the other hand, makes his content more focused, as it is laced with a sharp observational critique of social happenings, which would need a liberal attitude to laugh at the status-quo.

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Kevin Hart's apolitical stance and avoidance of racial issues have not gone without notice with fellow comedians taking a critical view of it. In June 2018, Kathy Griffin slammed Hart for not talking about Donald Trump and said, "I personally think that's a [cowardly] move because he's a black man. But, I guess he's selling more tickets than I ever will" (Ryan). It is ironical how Hart's racial affiliation is called in question by a white comedian who believes that Kevin being black should shoulder the responsibility of talking about the white presidents' racial prejudices. Hart, however, believes that social identities are more diverse today and that he does not have to explicitly play the race card to garner people's attention and would instead let his work speak for him. To sustain and succeed in the entertainment business, an artist needs to create a positive self-image not to distance his/her audience. In their theory of politeness Brown and Levinson add to the concept of Goffman's face which is either positive or negative based on people's acceptance and use the term, face-threatening acts for remarks which may mar an individual's positive face in an interaction (Wagner,22). So, by eschewing controversial topics, Hart prevents face-threatening acts from hampering his positive face. In a 2017 interview with Variety magazine, he states, "When you jump into that political realm you're alienating some of your audience. The world today, it's really not a laughing matter. It's serious. I don't want to draw attention to things I don't have nice things to say about" (Lang). It is clear from his narrative that he understands that openly discussing racial discrimination will not help serve his purpose; he would, in effect distance his diverse audience, who may not relate to his racial background. In a digital age, where what one says can be alt-picked to extreme levels on social media, a person can never be too careful. The case where Kevin had to step down from hosting the 2019 Oscars (Lyons) is a case in point. His jokes on gays tweeted years ago re-surfaced to sharp criticism when the news broke that he would host the Oscars. Having previously apologized for hurting any sentiments, Kevin refused to feed the controversy and rather chose to let go of the opportunity to become a host. This, to a certain extent, explains why Kevin continues to focus on his personal life in his comedy. Recurring elements in his jokes are his dad's troubled past where he was an absentee figure in his life, his relationship with his mother, brother, wife and his kids. An instance where he pre-emptively stalled a face-threatening act was when he came clean on cheating on his wife before it could erupt into a major scandal. By acknowledging his mistake and joking about it, he maintained his honest image. 15

Mintz (71) argues that “stand-up comedy is the oldest, most universal, basic, and deeply significant form of humorous expression. It is the purest [form of] public comic communication, performing…essential [socio-cultural] functions.” In that essence, Hughley and Hart are important pop-culture figures who “[reveal] America’s values, attitudes, dispositions and concerns” through their comic dialogues (72). “Th[eir] styles of standup comedy [may] differ almost as much as the content of jokes and joke routines themselves, but the essence of the art is creative distortion…[which] is achieved through exaggeration, stylization, incongruous context, and burlesque”(79). Mintz further takes note of Orin Klapp’s observations, who states that stand- comedy helps in “the sublimation of aggression, [provides] relief from routine and discipline, controls [extreme social emotions as comedy is] less severe and disruptive than vilification, affirms standards of propriety, and unifies people” (73). Hart and Hugley’s jokes need to be interpreted in the backdrop of racial differences in America as “the contexts and processes of joke telling are as important as the texts of the jokes themselves” (73). As comedians, both act as “mediators and articulators of [American] culture” (75). The use of informal language peppered with black dialect by both Hughley and Hart suggests elements of commonality in their comedy which creates an indexical inclusion, i.e., the audience is treated as an in-group and made to feel at home with the banter and casual (Katayama, 130). “As part of the public ritual of stand- up comedy, [Hughley and Hart] lead [the audience] in a celebration of a community of shared culture, of homogenous understanding and expectation” (Mintz, 74). It is the degree of indexical inclusion, which varies, as different section of the audience may feel differently about the subject referred to in the comedy. In his book Comic Relief- A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor, writer John Morreall provides a fascinating account of why jokes are funny by categorizing the reasons under three theories, the superiority theory, the incongruity theory, and the relief theory. Superiority theory reasons that feelings of superiority makes one laugh at someone they find inferior and situations or behavior not in harmony with socially accepted forms, is what people find funny as per the theory of incongruity (4-9). The brute caricature of blacks in the minstrel shows where whites painted their faces black, making a mockery of the latter as lazy, foolish, self-indulgent is an apt example of how the theory of superiority works. Relief theory explains the importance of African-American stand-up comedy as it acts as a pressure valve for the blacks to deal with issues of racism (15). To be able to laugh at generations of injustices where equality between whites and blacks is still a distant dream, helps individuals to cope with reality and 16 move on in life. Kevin Hart could have lost himself in the streets, drowning himself in the miserable conditions of his life, or taken up after his troubled father and brother, but he chose to rise above his situation and be the best version of himself. D.L Hughley could have chosen to be politically correct and diplomatic, but he did not let the fear of public scrutiny define his comedy. He is blunt, observant and speaks against prevailing racial divide and social discrimination. Where Hart enhances his comedy through the use of incongruous elements such as exaggerated personal stories, walking around the stage, mimicking characters, falling on stage and making a joke out of his height, Hughley keeps it nuanced, and the only time that he walks on stage is to grab his glass of whiskey and take frequent sips in between his sharp jokes.

NOTE 1. Extract from a personal poem Works Cited 1. Angelo, Robin Di. “White Fragility.” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, vol. 3, no. 3, 2011, pp. 54-70. 2. Berg, Madeline. “World’s Highest -Paid Comedians 2017: Returns to the Top Spot.” Forbes, July 27, 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2017/07/27/the-worlds- highest-paid-comedians-2017-jerry-seinfeld-returns-to-the-top-spot/#2b4db8476929 3. Brown, Dan. Inferno. London: Transworld Publishers, 2013, ebook. 4. Carpio, Glenda R. Laughing Fit to Kill. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 5. Chaney, Cassandra, and Robertson, Ray. V. "Racism and Police Brutality in America." Journal of African American Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, Dec. 2013. 6. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between The World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015. 7. ---. We Were Eight Years In Power. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2017. 8. D.L Hughley: Contrarian. Netflix, 2018, show. 9. Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003. 17

10. Fecteau, Jessica. "Kevin Hart Sounds Off on 'Playing the Race Card in Hollywood':‘I don't feed Into That." People, June 24, 2016, people.com/movies/kevin-hart-on- race-in-hollywood/ 11. Freidman, Sam. Comedy and Distinction: The Cultural Currency of a 'Good' Sense of Humor. Routledge, 2017. 12. Hanks, Angela, et al. "Systemic Inequality- How America's Structural Racism Helped Create the Black-White Wealth Gap." Centre For American Progress, Feb 21,2018, www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/02/21/447051/systematic- inequality/ 13. Hart, Kevin, and Strauss, Neil. I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons. New York: Atria Books, 2017, ebook. 14. Hughley, D.L. How Not To Get Shot And Other Advice From White People. Harper Collins Publishers, 2018, ebook. 15. Jennings, Reginna. “From Slavery to Contemporary Genocide: A Literary and Linguistic Analysis of Why American Blacks Deserve Reparations.” Race, Gender & Class Journal, vol. 18, no. ½, 2011, pp. 73-94. 16. Lyons, Kate. “Kevin Hart steps down as Oscars host after three days of controversy." The Guardian, December 7, 2018, www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/07/kevin-hart-steps- down-as-oscars-host-after three-days-of-controversy

17. Katayama, Hanae. "A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Humor in Stand-up comedy in the and Japan.” The Journal of Linguistic and Inter-Cultural Education, vol. 2, no. 2, 2009. 18. Kevin Hart: What Now? Hartbeat Productions, 2016, Netflix, show. 19. Lang, Brent. “Kevin Hart Wants to Be the Oprah of Comedy.” Variety, May 30, 2017. variety.com/2017/film/features/kevin-hart-interview-childhood-i-cant-make-this-up- 1202446225/ 20. Mintz, L. E. “Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation.” American Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 1, 1985, pp. 71-80 doi: 10.2307/2712763, accessed on July 15, 2019. 21. Morreal, John. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 18

22. Pomrenze, Yon and Simon, Darran. “Black Men Arrested at Philadelphia Starbucks reach agreements.” CNN, May 3, 2018, edition.cnn.com/2018/05/02/us/starbucks-arrest- agreements/index.html 23. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, et.al. “Excessive Use of Force by the Police Against Black Americans in the United States.” Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2016. rfkhumanrights.org/assets/documents/iachr_thematic_hearing_submission_- _excessive_use_of_force_by_police_against_black_americans.pdf 24. Ryan, Patrick. "Kathy Griffin on tour, that "harmless 'bloody' trump photo, her gripe with Kevin Hart." USA TODAY, June 13, 2018. www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/columnist/2018/06/13/kathy-griffin-talks-laugh-your- head-off-tour-harmless-trump-photo/686101002/ 25. Schwerdtfeger, Connor. “Why Netflix is spending so much money on stand-up comedy specials.” Business Insider, March 3, 2017 www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2017/07/27/the-worlds-highest-paid-comedians- 2017-jerry-seinfeld-returns-to-the-top-spot/#99e40cf6929a 26. Wagner, Lisa. C. "Positive- and Negative-Politeness-Strategies: Apologizing in the Speech- Community of Cuernavaca, Mexico.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language, vol. 27, 2012