1

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 comedians, 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 black comedy 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 comedian.

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 superhero movie 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 Kanye West, Jim Brown, Ray Lewis, and Steve Harvey: 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 biography, 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, Chris Rock 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 Philadelphia, 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, Richard Pryor, Sinbad, and Bill Cosby. 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.
 14

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 satire (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: Jerry Seinfeld 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 United
States 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