Sep 13, 2022
Someone very smart sent me an article just today that talks about the role of humor when we deal with stressful situations/anxiety-creating moments. And on that front: have any of you (and in this moment, I think we’re specifically talking to White people) ever felt weighed down by how heavy anti-racism work can be? You maybe noticed that sometimes we’re pretty serious on this show…
Though I’m a serious, overthinking person sometimes, in real life I’m goofy and I actually make fun of myself quite a lot, texting photos of myself in awful workout outfits to you, you have the driest sense of humor of all the people I know except for your husband like we’re not that dry.
So what do you all think about listening to about 15 minutes of one of the funniest activist-comedians out there today - hearing how HE, a funny guy, might explain what might be great for White women to do in this work, how to process how tired we all are, and what crocheting has to do with it.
What to listen for:
W. KAMAU BELL is a dad, husband, and comedian. He directed
and executive-produced the four-part Showtime documentary We Need
To Talk About Cosby, which premiered at Sundance. He famously met
with the KKK on his Emmy-Award-winning CNN docu-series United
Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, where he serves as host and
executive producer. He has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy
Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan, The Daily Show
with Trevor Noah, CBS Mornings, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Comedy
Central, HBO, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, WTF with Marc Maron, The
Breakfast Club, and This American Life. He has two stand-up comedy
specials, Private School Negro (Netflix) and Semi-Prominent Negro
(Showtime). Kamau’s writing has been featured in Time, The New York
Times, Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN.com, Salon, and The
LA Review of Books. Kamau’s first book has an easy-to-remember
title, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4",
African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic,
Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. He
is the ACLU Artist Ambassador for Racial Justice and serves on the
board of directors of Donors Choose and the advisory board of
Hollaback! Along
with Kate Schatz, he’s the co-author of Do the Work: An Anti-Racist
Activity Book. For more information, please visit:
http://www.wkamaubell.com/,
or follow W. Kamau on
Twitter
here
and Instagram
here.