Rolling

Alfred L. Martin, Jr. is Associate Professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Miami. He is author of The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom (IUP).

"Rolling offers a rigorous and absorbing exploration of the spaces where blackness, comedy, and media converge. Meticulously researched and wide ranging in scope, the essays assembled by Dr. Alfred Martin present an in-depth look at the myriad ways that Black humor has operated as a site of catharsis, social commentary, and resistance within popular media. Rolling is more than a study of Black humor and media: it is a celebration of one of the most enduring forms of Black culture."—Racquel Gates, author of Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture"Alfred L. Martin, Jr. has constructed the most comprehensive collection of Blackness and humor to date. Black humor evokes deep feeling, bodily movement, and a cackling laughter from the Black interiority. Through its series of cultural, industrial, and political examinations, Rolling requires its readers to confront these emotions and to revisit and reframe theories of comedy that have historically privileged whiteness and heteropatriarchy. Readers of this text are prompted to ask themselves, what does it mean to laugh Black?"—Adrien Sebro, author of Scratchin' and Survivin': Hustle Economics and the Black Sitcoms of Tandem Productions

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Finding the Funny: Recentering the Comedy in Black Comedy, by Alfred L. Martin, Jr.Part One: Black Comedy Crossing Over1. Black Stand-up Comics in Chicago: Navigating a Changing City (1955-1970), by Gerald R. Butters, Jr.2. Blue is the New Green: Martin Lawrence and the Mainstream Appeal of Vulgarity, by Joshua Truelove3. "There's a New Sheriff in Town": Eddie Murphy and the Comedy of Double Conscious Law and Order, by Lisa GuerreroPart Two: Black Comedy/Black Performances4. "What Can We Do That No One Else Can Do?": On Key & Peele, Comedy and Performing Race, by Phillip Lamarr Cunningham5. "These Black Kids Want Something New, I Swear It": Donald Glover's Racial Performance, Atlanta, and the New Quality Comedy, by Jacqueline Johnson6. Steve Urkel and the Continuing Resonance of the "Blerd": Satirical Television Characters and Cultural Change, by Timothy Havens7. Giving (Funny) Face: Prince and His Humors, by Scott Poulson-BryantPart Three: The Liberation and Limits of Black Comedy8. "I Need Miss Rona to Start Tap Dancing Around in Them Lungs": Black Twitter's Political Humor in COVID-19 Times, by Anshare Antoine and Mel Stanfill9. "Can You Say P-Failure?": The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer and UPN, by Kelly ColePart Four: Producing Comedy10. Geraldine and Me: Flip Wilson's Legacy and this Black Female Sketch Comedy Artist, by Ellen Cleghorne11. From Network Comedy to Streaming Dramedy: How The Game's Creator Challenged the Boundaries Placed on Black-Themed Sitcoms, by Felicia D. Henderson12. "Look at Me!": Jackie's Back, Lifetime, and the Production of Black Camp, by Alfred L. Martin, Jr. and Ken FeilBibliographyIndex