- 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
was making $10,000 a week and he gave all that up to march with martin luther king. - dick gregory has been dubbed the father of black political comedy. - and moms mabley was the mother of black female comedians. - he said, where will you find another man like me? i said, in the graveyard. (audience laughing) - she was one of the first black female comics ever, the harriet tubman of comedy. - when she got off that stage, she would transform into her real truth, which was wearing a zoot suit and having two women on her arm. - we have to understand who moms mabley was. she was a gay, black woman. - nobody knew that at the time because she couldn t be out. no one was out. - redd foxx and moms mabley both toiled for decades on the chitlin circuit. - redd was back in the day when nat king cole, lena horne, harry bellafonte could play in vegas, but they couldn t stay in the hotel. dorothy dandridge had to go through the servants entrance
was making $10,000 a week and he gave all that up to march with martin luther king. - dick gregory has been dubbed the father of black political comedy. - and moms mabley was the mother of black female comedians. - he said, where will you find another man like me? i said, in the graveyard. (audience laughing) - she was one of the first black female comics ever, the harriet tubman of comedy. - when she got off that stage, she would transform into her real truth, which was wearing a zoot suit and having two women on her arm. - we have to understand who moms mabley was. she was a gay, black woman. - nobody knew that at the time because she couldn t be out. no one was out. - redd foxx and moms mabley both toiled for decades on the chitlin circuit. - redd was back in the day when nat king cole, lena horne, harry bellafonte could play in vegas, but they couldn t stay in the hotel. dorothy dandridge had to go through the servants entrance
- and moms mabley was the mother of black female comedians. - he said, where will you find another man like me? i said, in the graveyard. (audience laughing) - she was one of the first black female comics ever, the harriet tubman of comedy. - when she got off that stage, she would transform into her real truth, which was wearing a zoot suit and having two women on her arm. - we have to understand who moms mabley was. she was a gay, black woman. - nobody knew that at the time because she couldn t be out. no one was out. - redd foxx and moms mabley both toiled for decades on the chitlin circuit. - redd was back in the day when nat king cole, lena horne, harry bellafonte could play in vegas, but they couldn t stay in the hotel. dorothy dandridge had to go through the servants entrance to go to her dressing room. she went out by the pool and just dipped her feet, her little, pretty feet, in the water. they drained the pool and repainted it. so redd was from that era, from that chitli