Wanda Sykes (courtesy photo)
Comedians are literally masterminds of human communication and manipulation. They know how to make the most serious situations seem so insignificant, and they can change an audience’s entire perspective on a subject by a small change in tone. Comedy is one of the most powerful and underrated tools that are used to deliver ease, and joy into life. It’s deceptively frivolous deliverance that allows the audience to easily accept what the comedian is saying.
Comedians like Wanda Sykes and Dave Chappelle are good examples of people who know how to properly deliver a political view or concern without making the receiver feel too threatened as to where they won’t try to understand what they are saying. A lot of people don’t like direct confrontation, because of how awkward it can make them feel. But comedians have a way of making the most disgusting and terrible subjects seem so light and even humorous.
Life is full of mistakes and unfortunate events. So why not express the negative in the positive?
Dave Chappelle was raised in the D.C. area, and started his career in comedy shortly after he graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He starred in his first show when he was 20 and his career gained more success throughout the years. This eventually led him to star in his own show called The Chappelle Show, which was produced by Comedy Central and featured a lot of political and cultural satire that was coated by its farcical delivery. After Dave Chappelle had his ups and downs with Comedy Central, he really started to stand out as not just your typical comedian but a political activist. He is now so respected that when he has a show he’s not really concerned about negative feedback from the audience, because people will sit and actually listen to the message of the show as well as the jokes that are there to ease the conversation.
An example of this is Dave Chappelle’s stand up show “Redemption Song – Dave Chappelle”. In this video Dave Chappelle talks about the U.S. government spying on it’s citizens, the militarization of the police, the Capitol Riot, and gaining his equal rights while working for Comedy Central. Dave Chappelle is not afraid to tell the truth even if it makes a group of people feel uncomfortable, because the way he says it enables people to absorb the information through a comedic light which can allow people to easily want to genuinely understand the point.
Wanda Sykes was raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, and from a young age was very outspoken. After attending University of Maryland and Hampton University, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1986, and decided to try out stand-up comedy, because it always interested her. She ended up loving it and eventually quit her government job to pursue her career in comedy. In 1992, she ended up moving to New Jersey and started performing in New York city very often. This is where Sykes created her on-stage character of a know-it-all, sarcastic, no-nonsense woman who does not take bullcrap from anyone or put up with any stupid situation.
She soon became close friends with other well known comedians including Chris Rock. This boosted her career, as she started off writing scripts for the show “Everybody Hates Chris” to hosting the Emmys. She also had a one-hour stand-up special on Comedy Central, that was called “Wanda Sykes: Tongue Untied”, and started a new career as an author. By 2020, Wanda Sykes spoke up about BLM when she stated on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show that “We need white people to tell white people to stop being racist because when we do it, obviously it’s not working,”. She is a comedian known for her sharp responses and relevant opinions on social and political subjects.
Wanda Sykes in her stand up act “White People are Looking” was joking about having to be Black and forever conscious of how people will perceive them just because of the color of their skin. People need to realize that even though we are slowly advancing into a more equitable race, there are still hidden and underlying stereotypes, prejudices and racism that still have a stronghold on the world.
Something that people can learn from both Wanda Sykes and Dave Chappelle is that there are better and more effective ways in getting a point across without the backlash of defensive negativity. This is a good lesson for Black people to learn how to use because they are the main people that are automatically discriminated against just based on appearance. Comedy is a good tool to use for expressing yourself under the protection of playfulness, but people need to know that most comedy has an underlying meaning and it’s our job to find that meaning and use it to learn from our mistakes.
Sources:
The Watoto Speak! 