If you've seen Amos perform, you'll agree. If you haven't – well, that's where the problems start. According to Anglo-Nigerian comic Gina Yashere, now living and working in the US: "Unless they see you on TV, or they know you, white crowds won't go to a black comedy night because they think that nothing is going to relate to them." Comedy is, or is perceived to be, an art form rooted in recognition and shared cultural references. Its audiences – far more so than those for music, films or fiction – are wary of artists whose experiences may not resemble their own. This perception persists despite many exceptions that prove the rule: as Le Mar points out, the career of US comic Chris Rock proves that an act with what she describes as "very black material" can appeal to audiences across the racial spectrum. … [Read more...] about Heard the one about the black standups?
Us race relations
Depressed about Brexit? Outsiders is the comedy that makes you want to stay in
What are all the immigrants living in the UK supposed to make of the groundswell of support to “take our country back”? Writer Andrew Ellard used to come into meetings groaning about the leave campaign posters. “The ugliness of that poster – how much it looks like a command to foreigners, eerily like “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs”. If we were making the show now, we’d have one on the wall, covered in the flatmates’ obscene graffiti.” … [Read more...] about Depressed about Brexit? Outsiders is the comedy that makes you want to stay in
‘No Irish, no coloureds’ notices were no myth
May I disagree with John Draper’s letter (22 October), in which he seems to suggest that the banning of Irish from sundry lodgings in the 1960s and 70s is a myth perpetrated by discredited activists. I went to Reading University from Belfast in 1966; searching for digs, I was upset and insulted to find notices galore that said “No Irish, no coloureds”. I was so indignant that I took a photo and sent it with a covering note to the Belfast Telegraph. I also brought it up at the university, where they tried to soothe me with the explanation that it really referred to the rather “rough Irish navvies” who were then working on the many building sites around the Thames Valley. (Reading University had a lot of irish students then, and so they didn’t want a bad press – but may have lacked some class sensitivity.) … [Read more...] about ‘No Irish, no coloureds’ notices were no myth
Outrage as LA cops are filmed aiming their guns at three black teenagers who called 911 after THEY were ‘attacked by knife-wielding homeless man’
One of the officers (left) shoos a woman away, shouting at her to ‘get back’ with a swatting hand while the other remains on his assault rifle, The manager of the Buffalo Wild Wings who made the initial 911 call is also heard trying to explain to officers that they were aiming their guns at the wrong people. … [Read more...] about Outrage as LA cops are filmed aiming their guns at three black teenagers who called 911 after THEY were ‘attacked by knife-wielding homeless man’
New rules may force online political adverts in UK to carry labels
To an extent, the regulations formalise requirements that some digital advertisers, such as Facebook, have imposed voluntarily. Political ads on the social network must contain a disclosure marking them as such, and must be linked to a specific named entity. … [Read more...] about New rules may force online political adverts in UK to carry labels
