Comedy Politics was mixed in with so much of what went onthat I remember it now as two sides of the same

coin, politics and jazz. Comedians like ick !re"ory, #ill Cosby and $oody %llen opened for the players and it was all part of the same thin" & the music and the comedy, the jazz and the politics, it all went to"ether.' Nina Simone with (tephen Cleary, )*++,- I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone, .(%, a Capo Press, p./0 Identity, Education and Words 1. I did a book report for 1rs. I2erson on ick !re"ory3s new autobio"raphy, Nigger, and a battle of wills ensued4 about her sayin" the title. (he refused. I had said it first, but her awkwardness made the word sound dirty, e2en in my mouth. 1ost of all, I remember the funny shad of crimson 1rs. I2erson3s face took on when she nurtured crescendo of my oral presentation somehow culminated on that word4 nigger.' %nd I sat down to silence, part of me satisfied, part of me fri"htened, but all the time knowin" I had passed throu"h some kind of "ate. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., )5667- Colored People: A Memoir, 8ew 9ork4 %. %. :nopf 2. ;ow could I explain how I felt the day a white ;istory instructor wrote the word 8e"ro on the blackboard and spelled it with a small n< %t the end of the hour I went to the board and erased the letter and wrote in a capital N.' Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, pp.=5?=* 3. edication to Dick Gregory3s book Nigger, 8ew 9ork4 Pocket #ooks )56=/- & first published 56/74 ear 1omma & $here2er you are, if e2er you hear the word ni""er' a"ain, remember they are ad2ertisin" my book.' Use of Humour as a Chi d @I "ot picked on a lot around the nei"hborhoodA skinniest kid on the block, the poorest, the one without a addy. I "uess that3s when I first be"an to learn about humor, the power of a joke. %t firstI3d just "et mad and run home and cry when the kids started. %nd then, I don3t know just when, I started to fi"ure it out. Bhey were "oin" to lau"h at me anyway, but if I made the jokes they3d lau"h "ith me instead of at me. I3d "et the kids off my back, on my side. (o I3d come off that porch talkin" about myself. ;ey !re"ory, "et your ass o2er here. $ant you to tell me and ;erman how many kids sleep in your bed.' !oo"obs of kids in my bed, man, when I "et up to pee in the middle of the ni"ht "otta lea2e a bookmark so I don3t lose my place.' #efore they could "et "oin", I3d knock it out first, fast, knock out those jokes so they wouldn3t ha2e time to set and climb all o2er me. Cther ni"ht I crawled throu"h one of them rat holes in the kitchen, would you belie2e it them rats were sleepin" six to a bed just like us.' %nd they started to come o2er and listen to me, they3d see me comin" and crowd around me on the corner D2erythin" be"an to chan"e then. Cnce you "et a man to lau"h with you, it3s hard for him to lau"h at you. Bhe kids be"an to expect to hear funny thin"s from me, and after a while I could say anythin" I wanted. I "ot a reputation as a funny man. %nd then I started to turn the jokes on them.' Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, pp.7+?75 Use of Humour in Ci!i "ights Strugg e @I32e "ot to be a colored funny man, not a funny colored man. I32e "ot to act like a star who isn3t sorry for himself & that way, they can3t feel sorry for me. I32e "ot to make jokes about myself, before I can make jokes about them and their society & that way, they can3t hate me. Comedy is friendly relations. Eust my luck, bou"ht a suit with two pair of pants todayburnt a hole in the jacket.' Bhat3s makin" fun of yourself.

Bhey asked me to buy a lifetime membership in the 8%%CP, but I told them I3d pay a week at a time. ;ell of a thin" to buy a lifetime membership, wake up one mornin" and find the country3s been inte"rated.' Bhat makes fun of the whole situation. 8ow they3re listenin" to you, and you can blow a cloud of smoke at the audience and say4 $ouldn3t it be a hell of a thin" if all this was burnt cork and you people were bein" tolerant for nothin"<' 8ow you32e "ot them. 8o bitterness, no .ncle Bommin". $e3re all aware of what3s "oin" on here8ow you can settle down and talk about anythin" you want4 Fall?out shelters, taxes, mothers? in?law, sit?ins, freedom riders, the Con"o, ;?bomb the President, children. (tay away from sex, that3s the bi" pitfall. If you use blue material only, you slip back into bein" that 8e"ro stereotype comic. If you mix blue and topical satire that white customer, all hun" up with the 8e"ro sex mystiGue, is "oin" to "et uncomfortable.' Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, pp.5,*?5,, Dea ing #ith "acist Heck ers $;andlin" a heckler just ri"ht is 2ery important to a comic. .nless you3re well known as an insultin" comic you can3t chop hecklers down too hard or the crowd will turn a"ainst you. 1ust hecklers are half drunk anyway, and you will lose a crowd if you "et mean with a drunkH(Iome day, somewhere, I3d be in a white club and somebody would "et up and call me a ni""er. I worried about that I used to make >illian H!re"ory3s wifeI call me a ni""er o2er the dinner table, and I3d practice the fast comeback. (omehow I couldn3t "et it ri"ht. I3d always come back with somethin" a little bitter, a little e2il. 8i""er' 1aybe you3d feel more like a man if you li2ed down (outh and had a toilet with your name on it.' 8o, !re", that3s not ri"ht at all.' ';ey, >il.' 9es, !re".' $hat would you do if from here on in I started referrin" to you as bitch<' (he jumped out of the chair. I would simply i"nore you.' Bhat was it. Bhe Guick, sophisticated answer. Cool. 8o #itterness. Bhe audience would ne2er know I was mad and mean inside. %nd there would be no time to feel sorry for me. 8ow I3d "et that comeback I "ot my chance a few weeks laterBhe customers were workin"?class white men, laborers, factory hands, men whose only marks of di"nity were the 8e"roes they bossed on the job and kept away from on weekends 8i""er.' Bhe audience froze, and I wheeled around without battin" an eye. 9ou hear what that "uy just called me< Joy Jo"er3s horse. ;e called me Bri""er.' I had hit them so Guick that they lau"hed, and they lau"hed so hard because that was what they really wanted to belie2e the "uy had called me. #ut I had only bou"ht myself a little timeso I took a few seconds to look them o2er and blow out some smoke. 9ou know, my contract reads that e2ery time I hear that word, I "et fifty dollars more a ni"ht. I3m only makin" ten dollars a ni"ht, and I3d like to put the owner out of business. $ill e2erybody in the room please stand up and yell ni""er<' Bhey lau"hed and clapped and I swun" ri"ht back into my show.3 Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, pp.5,,?5,K % #hite southern audience @Cn Eanuary 5,, 56/5, my a"ent calledthe comic at the Playboy Club, had "otten sick. Bhey needed a replacement that ni"ht.

HBheI room had been booked by a con2ention of frozen food executi2es from the (outhH%I room filled with well?to?do (outherners would be tou"h to handle !ood e#ening$ ladie% and gentlemen& I under%tand there are a good many Southerner% in the room tonight& I no" the South #ery "ell& I %pent t"enty year% there one night' It(% dangerou% for me to go bac & You %ee$ "hen I drin $ I thin I(m Poli%h& One night I got %o drun I mo#ed out of my o"n neighborhood' )a%t time I "a% do"n South I "al ed into thi% re%taurant$ and thi% "hite "aitre%% came up to me and %aid: *+e don(t %er#e colored people here&, I %aid: *That(% all right$ I don(t eat colored people& -ring me a "hole fried chic en&, About that time three cou%in% come in$ you no" the one% I mean$ .lu$ .luc $ and .lan$ and they %ay: *-oy$"e(re gi#in( you fair "arnin(& Anything you to that chic en$ "e(re gonna do it to you&, About then the "aitre%% brought me my chic en& */emember$ boy$ anything you do to that chic en$ "e(re gonna do to you&, So I put do"n my nife and for $ and I pic ed up that chic en$ and I kissed it&, I went all the way back to childhood that ni"ht in the Playboy Club, to the smile 1omma always had on her face, to the cle2er way a black boy learns ne2er to let the bitterness inside him show. Bhe audience fou"ht me with dirty, little, insultin" statements, but I was faster, and I was funny, and when that room broke it was like the storm was o2er. Bhey stopped hecklin" and they listened.' Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, pp.57,?577 SNCC, Green#ood, &ississi''i and Ci!i "ights (rotest @Bhen I "ot to the 8e"ro church. Bhere were fifteen 8e"ro churches in !reenwood, and only two of them had opened their doors to the demonstrators. I stood up there and told that crowd how the 8e"ro preachers had brou"ht us to the battle lines and then had abandoned us. Bhey were scared of losin" their jobs, of ha2in" their churches bombed, of comin" up empty in their collection platesBhe preachers were scared, and the 8e"ro schoolteachers were scared and principals were too afraid for their jobs to "o out in the streets.3 Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, p.5K* $hen we came back to Chica"o there was a letter waitin" for me that brou"ht tears to my eyes. I had made +ho(% +ho in America. Bhat3s why so many people are willin" to lay down their li2es to sa2e this "reat country from the cancer of hate that is destroyin" it. $here else in the world could a 8e"ro, born and raised on relief, make +ho(% +ho< In 56K* I was a welfare case, and in 56/, I was on a list of famous men. In %merica, with all of its e2ils and faults, you can still reach throu"h the forest and see the sun. #ut we don3t know yet whether that sun is risin" or settin" for our country.' Dick Gregory, )56=/- Nigger: An Autobiography by Dic !regory, >ondon4 Pocket #ook, first published 56/7, p.56, ick !re"ory http4LLwww.2isionaryproject.comL"re"orydickLM* *++* talkin" about 8i""er http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2NC#cyha(#"$k speech 560+ Jichard Pryor ? http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2N5df(w;xl*=oOfeatureNrelated that ni""er3s crazy album ? http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2NfDPm%bxC57" Jichard Pryor & the n wordL%frica ? http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2N?Qcdb#yBe8DOfeatureNrelated black president Dddie 1urphy http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch< 2N6fp/0"euhE1OfeatureNPlay>istOpN+%7#*/+*%#+,F%#,OplaynextN5OplaynextQfromNP>Oinde xN56 Jocky http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2N?Qcdb#yBe8DOfeatureNrelated & black president Chris Jock http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2NC7ytfuGpib9 ? racism http4LLwww.youtube.comLwatch<2N=jRSkbc07CD can a white person say n Cbama4

http4LLwww."uardian.co.ukLworldL2ideoL*++6LmayL55Lbarack?obama?jokes