On the Real Side: Laughing Lying and Signifying-Underground Tradition of African-American Humor That Transformed American Culture from Slavery to Richard Pryor

A comprehensive history of African-American humor--from the antebellum South to the Apollo Theater--reassesses such figures as Stepin Fetchit and Amos and Andy and offers a new appreciation of familiar and less well-known performers. 20,000 first printing.

Declaring that African American humor "shadows, satirizes and humanizes America's main body," Watkins delivers a rich and ambitious history of such humor both in the mainstream media and in the black community. A former editor at the New York Times , he draws on prodigious research to describe such aspects of black humor as the African sources of slave wordplay, the sources of the minstrel tradition, the Negro caricatures of Hollywood silent films and the controversy over Amos 'n' Andy. He examines the contributions of the oft-forgotten early 20th-century comedian Bert Williams and the brillant Richard Pryor, and ventures into such topics as literary humor and street folklore. Because Watkins's research is so deep and his interest historical, his study of the varieties (and controversies) in black comedy after Richard Pryor is brief. This extensive compilation makes a valuable contribution to our cultural history. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this timely, encyclopedic, personable history of African- American humor, Watkins (journalist, editor New York Times) offers in his rich examples and unpretentious analysis a history of a culture through its entertainment and, in a wider context, an explanation of the functions of laughter among minorities. Starting in West Africa, the origin of over 50% of American slaves, Watkins follows the migration of black humor, its meaning, function, evolution in the South, and its influence on the white culture. An irreverent and aggressive private humor helped blacks survive, and Watkins contrasts this private humor with the public one--the submissive, naive, inept, ridiculous stereotypes that appeared in minstrel shows and later black comics. Thus Watkins offers a particularly potent example of how an endangered race survived by assuming the image created by its adversary: theories from Freud, Bergson, Langston Hughes, even Stepin Fetchit explain the gradual transformation of this public humor in various media- -black clubs, silent films, radio, TV, records, ``genre films''-- and its new meaning to blacks and to their audiences. The public and private merge in the impious and outrageous style of the 70's, the cerebral Dick Gregory; the vulgar, slapstick, and power images of Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, and Richard Pryor, to whom a final and eloquent chapter is devoted. Watkins's style is personal and vivid, and his eye for human detail animates whole sections on Harlem and the Apollo Theater, folk and street humor, early television, the ironic and ambivalent fascination of whites with black life, and their love affair with black entertainers of all sorts, from Lena Horne to Flip Wilson. A careful balance of example and commentary--as filled with the voices and laughter of black humor as with the pain, injustice, indignities, and exclusion that gave rise to it. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This book is a detailed look at the history of black humor from slavery days to current times. The author has been an editor of literary magazines, lectured at several universities, and written numerous magazine articles. Here, he assembles every fact he could find on African American humor and demonstrates how it is different from the humor of other ethnic groups, and shows where pieces of it have found their way into mainstream comedy. He includes many examples of the comedy styles of prominent comedians of each era he discusses. The research here is carefully documented and detailed. Highly recommended for academic libraries and larger public libraries with collections on humor, black studies, or entertainment.
- Anita L. Cole, Miami-Dade P.L. System, Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Watkins surveys African American humor in an expansive and penetrating study that probes many facets of black American culture. Exploring ties to tribal sources in Africa, Watkins traces modes of behavior employed by African Americans for coping with the untenable situation of slavery. He also examines traditions such as minstrel shows, where distorted portrayals of blacks were commonplace. Watkins goes on to examine images of black Americans in vaudeville and silent movies, and to highlight entertainers in radio and television, literature, film, and the music industry. Above all, Watkins comprehensively records the history of African American comedy performers and the social constraints affecting their artistry. Fascinating and highly readable, this is also a copiously researched work of scholarship. Alice Joyce