Geoff Bennett on the history of Black comedy from vaudeville to sitcoms

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

PBS Newshour co-anchor Geoff Bennett is out with a new book that presents portraits of Black artists who shaped comedy. Black Out Loud is a history that starts with vaudeville and runs through the ‘90s, when sitcoms like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In Living Color and Family Matters carried the responsibility of representing a varied Black experience. In today’s episode, Bennett speaks with NPR’s Scott Simon about vaudeville and minstrelsy as the DNA of Black comedic performance, the impact of Amos ‘n’ Andy, and comedians like Bert Williams, Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi there, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Timbidiremias. I grew up in the 90s and I have a really deep love for the comedies of that era. The quirky characters, the multi-camera setup, the laugh tracks, all of it stirs deep feelings of nostalgia for me. But there was something especially resonant about the black sitcoms of that period,
0:26.2	shows like a different world and in living color.
0:29.3	The characters felt familiar, like they could be in my family or in my friend group.
0:34.3	The humor was sharp, and these shows also had something to say about the world.
0:39.0	And that's not by accident, according to journalist Jeff Bennett. The PBS News Hour host takes
0:44.8	on this topic in Black Out Loud, the Revolutionary History of Black Comedy, from vaudeville
0:51.4	to 90 sitcoms. He spoke with weekendend Edition host Scott Simon about modern black comedy
0:57.8	and how the specificity of that form carries universal appeal.
1:05.7	Jeff Bennett was 10 years old and in the wilds of New Jersey
1:10.0	on a spring night in 1990 when he saw a show created by Keenan Ivory Wayans called In Living Color.
1:17.0	All right, kids, I'm home to clown.
1:20.8	Y'all ready, have some fun?
1:22.0	Yeah!
1:23.9	All right, what y'all want me to do first?
1:25.5	Oh!
1:26.3	Oh, my, how do a silly cloud dance for do first? Oh! Hi, Harvey, Harvey!
1:30.0	You'll do a silly cloud dance for us.
1:31.6	Yeah, degrade myself, huh?
1:34.4	I don't think so.
1:37.9	But we don't play that.
1:42.5	I couldn't believe they were getting away with this on television, Scott.
1:48.3	Jeff Bennett obviously joins us, co-anchor of the PBS News Hour,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.