Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.
Had my name been Jessie Mendoza, then people might have asked, “What are you?” Not because I look ethnically ambiguous, but precisely because I don’t; I am absolutely white-passing. In Vermont, where my entire family (with the exception of my grandfather) is from, my white skin, green eyes, and light brown hair would blend in, but my surname certainly would not. In Tucson, my color and new surname would each be common, but not necessarily common together, especially when considered alongside my mother s French-Canadian last name, Geraw. As an adult in California, where even stricter phenotypic expectations by and for Mexicans often hold sway, people of any ethnicity might feel the need to clarify my own.
Based on the popular web series, Drunk History is the liquored-up narration of our nation’s history. Host Derek Waters, along with an ever-changing cast of actors and comedians, travels across the country to present the rich tales that every city in this land has to offer. Booze helps bring out the truth. It’s just that sometimes the truth is a little incoherent.
Jordan Peele, left, and Keegan-Michael Key in a scene from the final season of “Key & Peele.” Credit Comedy Central
The scene is a hauntingly familiar one: A white police officer stalks an unarmed black man in a dark alley and slams the man’s head into the open door of his patrol car.
But then, rather than being taken into police custody, the man is led through a magical door to the sunlit, upbeat streets of a utopia called Negrotown, whose black populace serenades the visitor about its city, where “you can walk the street without getting stopped, harassed or beat” and “you can wear your hoodie and not get shot.”
This comic sketch is one of many that have made “Key & Peele,” the Comedy Central series created by and starring Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, a television program that is uniquely calibrated to the current American moment, when real-life examples of racial polarization and conflict are ubiquitous, but opportunities in pop culture to process these divisions are rare.
It will be a bittersweet moment when this sketch comedy series concludes its final season on Sept. 9, after three years of fixing its satirical lens on stereotypes and social injustices. In its absence, there may be no alternative that so frankly addresses these enduring prejudices and disparities, especially at a moment when America’s racial divide has taken center stage in the national discourse…
…Mr. Key, 44, and Mr. Peele, 36, who are biracial, say they are ending the show by mutual agreement for the least complicated of reasons: They want to pursue other projects…
…“When Obama was elected, there was this mythology that, O.K., we’re over the racist thing — this is a postracial world,” Mr. Peele said. “And now, obviously, we’ve uncovered why that’s not true.”…
Speaking to the online entertainment journal TheWrap, one of the show’s stars Keegan-Michael Key said that it was time for him and his co-star, Jordan Peele, “to explore other things, together and apart.”
“It’s not because of Comedy Central, it’s us,” Mr. Key said.
“Key & Peele” premiered on the network in 2012 and won a Peabody Award in 2013 for its “inspired satirical riffs on our racially divided and racially conjoined culture.” The show, currently in its fifth season, received seven Emmy nominations this year, including a nod for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series…
…Both comedians are biracial and much of their comedy is given to exploring, mocking and confounding racial stereotypes. In accepting the show’s Peabody Award, Mr. Key expressly thanked the network for allowing “Key & Peele” to tell a diverse set of stories.
“We’d like to thank Comedy Central for giving us the opportunity to show the African-American experience as not a monolith, because it’s not,” he said. “It’s so many different stories and the danger of the world sometimes is trying to assign a single story to an entire group of people.”…
James Braxton Peterson, Host and Associate professor of English Lehigh University, Lehigh, Pennsylvania
Comedy Central has named South African comedian Trevor Noah to helm “The Daily Show” when John Stewart departs later this year. It took slightly less than 24 hours for Noah to come under attack for remarks he made on Twitter that some perceived as anti-semitic and misogynistic. We can’t predict how Noah will weather the controversy, but Dr. James Peterson says he’s not surprised, because comics seem to consistently run into trouble for offensive remarks on Twitter.
“The Remix” is more interested in the fact that Comedy Central has appointed two men of color to lead their two most popular time slots (Larry Wilmore’s “The Nightly Show” replaced “The Colbert Report“) and the ways that might affect the nation’s daily consumption of news and news satire.
Peterson welcomes scholar, teacher and activist Dr. Yaba Blay to “The Remix” to discuss colorism, segregation within the African-American community, and cultural expressions of whiteness. The two also take a look at Blay’s book, “(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race,” and her initiation into the Yoruba religion.
After a brief hiatus, “Props” is back, and this time, Kendrick Lamar gets some praise for taking risks on his new album “To Pimp a Butterfly.”
31 Year-Old Comedian to Take the Helm Later This Year
NEW YORK, March 30, 2015 – Trevor Noah has been selected to become the next host of the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning “The Daily Show,” it was announced today by Michele Ganeless, president, Comedy Central. His show’s premiere will be announced at a later date.
Noah (www.trevornoah.com) joined “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” in 2014 as a contributor. He made his U.S. television debut in 2012 on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and has also appeared on “Late Show with David Letterman,” becoming the first South African stand-up comedian to appear on either late night show. Born in South Africa to a black South African mother and a white European father, he has successfully become the top comedian in Africa. Noah has hosted numerous television shows including his own late night talk show in his native country, “Tonight with Trevor Noah.”
“Trevor Noah is an enormous talent. He has an insightful and unique point of view, and most importantly, is wickedly funny,” said Ganeless. “For the next host of ‘The Daily Show,’ we set out to find a fresh voice who can speak to our audience with a keen take on the events of the day, and we found that in Trevor. He has a huge international following and is poised to explode here in America, and we are thrilled to have him join Comedy Central.”
“It’s an honor to follow Jon Stewart. He and the team at ‘The Daily Show’ have created an incredible show whose impact is felt all over the world,” said Noah. “In my brief time with the show they’ve made me feel so welcome. I’m excited to get started and work with such a fantastic group of people.”
Said Jon Stewart: “I’m thrilled for the show and for Trevor. He’s a tremendous comic and talent that we’ve loved working with…In fact, I may rejoin as a correspondent just to be a part of it!!!”…
