- you know what? that looks like fire! - comedy without black people would be like the nba without black players. (kevin screaming) - your biggest, biggest superstars in comedy have been black. (eddie yelling) - just genius and hilarious. - yeah, i said it. (audience cheering) - the chappelle show redefined sketch comedy. - i m rick james, bitch. (audience laughing) - in living color set up a platform for black comedians blowing up. - i don t think so. homie don t play that. (audience laughing) - arsenio hall was, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. it was groundbreaking. - [audience] woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. - you had a black man willing to fight the power. - nice being out of jail. (audience laughing) - laughter is healing, laughter purifies the air. actually i don t like to talk about the races, because i m white. - and we, as black people, have been doing it forever. - i am, this is a freckle. (audience laughing) - all black comedians discuss race. - it s harder being gay than i
- she was funny and she was real, and i really related to her characters. the little girl who put the shirt on her head so she could have long hair, that was me. - then she said, even if you sit in a vat of clorox til hell freeze over, you ain t gonna be nothin but black. and she was right cause i sat in the clorox and i got burned. (audience laughing) - although it was really successful, she was the only black female that had a special for a really long time to come. - 2001 was the very important time in black standup because you cannot ignore the sisters in comedy. - the queens of comedy was mo nique, sommore, miss laura and adele givens. and these were ladies, who on their own, were powerhouses. - (beep) these skinny bitches! look at her shakin . bitch, cause you hungry! (audience laughing) - but to put all that power together, it exploded. - oh no, not tonight, mother. (audience laughing) - i think it was just like girl power unleashed. they got together and they showed us
- then she said, even if you sit in a vat of clorox til hell freeze over, you ain t gonna be nothin but black. and she was right cause i sat in the clorox and i got burned. (audience laughing) - although it was really successful, she was the only black female that had a special for a really long time to come. - 2001 was the very important time in black standup because you cannot ignore the sisters in comedy. - the queens of comedy was mo nique, sommore, miss laura and adele givens. and these were ladies, who on their own, were powerhouses. - (beep) these skinny bitches! look at her shakin . bitch, cause you hungry! (audience laughing) - but to put all that power together, it exploded. - oh no, not tonight, mother. (audience laughing) - i think it was just like girl power unleashed. they got together and they showed us women can do it too. - god bless you. keep supporting us. (audience cheering) people don t know that i wasn t one of the original queens of comedy. they had taken
and i m like, none, because i didn t get to see any. but black women have been funny this whole time, and so often we are simply just not considered star-worthy. - different female comics, they had to do different things in order to get exposure. like with whoopi goldberg, she wrote her own one-woman act and she put it out herself. nobody would ve given whoopi her set if she hadn t did it herself, and she ended up getting it on hbo. - she come up to me talkin bout, fasten your seat belt. (audience laughing) i said, (beep) you! (audience laughing) - she was funny and she was real, and i really related to her characters. the little girl who put the shirt on her head so she could have long hair, that was me. - then she said, even if you sit in a vat of clorox til hell freeze over, you ain t gonna be nothin but black. and she was right cause i sat in the clorox and i got burned. (audience laughing)