Please note: This Audible Original contains explicit content and language some people may find offensive. It is intended for mature audiences only. Discretion is advised.
Take a deep dive into the personal and political lives of six trailblazing Black comedy icons with your host comedian/actor JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm). This engaging docuseries shows you how these fearless heroes of comedy broke color barriers and challenged the racist status quo, all while making audiences roar with laughter. Without them, we wouldn’t have the superstars we have today.
Produced by Team Coco, AYR Media and Toni Judkins, each episode of Funny My Way: Breaking Boundaries in Black Comedy presents a comedy great of the past: Paul Mooney (known as “The Godfather of Comedy”), Flip Wilson (the first Black entertainer to host a successful weekly variety show on network TV), Moms Mabley (the first Black comedian to play Carnegie Hall), Dick Gregory (the first Black comedian to break the color line in the nightclub scene), Rudy Ray Moore (known as “The Godfather of Rap”), and Redd Foxx (known as “The Dean of X-rated comedians”).
Through funny and moving archival footage, their stories are told alongside incisive commentary from various popular comics, political commentators, and legendary creators, including Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley, Godfrey, RuPaul, Margaret Cho, Deon Cole, Sandra Bernhard, Norman Lear, and more. Hear how these Black comedy legends made it to the top and influenced so many by doing it their way.
The original queen of comedy who styled herself “The Funniest Woman in the World,” Moms Mabley shattered barriers that had kept Black comics, and especially women, from taking center stage. Over nearly six decades, Moms’ randy-but-grandmotherly persona allowed her to subversively address lightning-rod issues such as race, gender, and sexuality in ways not dared by any performer who came before. From North Carolina to Carnegie Hall, Moms fought her way onto the stage and into America’s hearts.
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