{"id":19008,"date":"2026-04-09T21:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=19008"},"modified":"2026-04-09T21:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:31:48","slug":"black-out-loud-the-revolutionary-history-of-black-comedy-from-vaudeville-to-90s-sitcoms-by-geoff-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/black-out-loud-the-revolutionary-history-of-black-comedy-from-vaudeville-to-90s-sitcoms-by-geoff-bennett\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBlack Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to \u201890s Sitcoms\u201d by Geoff Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"

c.2026, Harper\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\n$32.99\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\n336 pages<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wait. Did you hear that right?<\/p>\n

Yes, you did \u2013 and it was so funny that you just now caught your breath. What the guy onstage said was so unexpected, so dead-on, so real <\/em>that you couldn\u2019t stop laughing. And as you\u2019ll see in the new book \u201cBlack Out Loud\u201d by Geoff Bennett<\/strong>, his routine reaches back more than a hundred years.<\/p>\n

On April 15, 1990, ten-year-old Geoff Bennett was watching TV in his family living room when his world was shaken. He\u2019d stumbled on the debut of In Living Color,<\/em> the irreverent, hilariously funny sketch show that featured mostly Black entertainers.<\/p>\n

Entertainers, in other words, who looked like him.<\/p>\n

That show was a first for Bennett. But it wasn\u2019t the only first, by any means.<\/p>\n

In the late 1800s, there was minstrelsy, the cast of which were usually mostly white people with burnt-cork-blackened faces – until African American entertainer Billy Kersands came along and performed song-and-dance comedy acts in blackface. Audiences loved him, and he \u201cbecame the first Black entertainer in America to achieve national celebrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hot on Kersands\u2019 heels, Bert Williams and George Walker became vaudeville stars in the early 1900s, followed by Stepin Fetchit and his controversial, but very successful, career. Then Hattie McDaniel, who lampooned stereotypes with over-exaggeration in movie roles, became the first Black actor to land an Oscar.<\/p>\n

As others made the transition from movies and radio to TV, Rochester (The Jack Benny Show<\/em>) eased the roles of Black characters into that of friends, rather than domestic workers. Black comedians began recording their acts on LPs, as they moved from live stage to small screen. Some landed their own TV shows, changed popular sketch programming, and made fun of white America right under white America\u2019s noses.<\/p>\n

And they made us laugh at ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than a century,\u201d says Bennett, \u201cBlack comedians have been witnesses\u2026 And when the world was finally ready to hear the real story of America, it knew exactly where to turn \u2013 to America\u2019s conscience: the Black comedian.\u201d<\/p>\n

LOL. That was you every Monday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday night, or whenever you caught your favorite comedy show.<\/p>\n

Everybody talked about it the next day. Now, read about it.<\/p>\n

Yes, you may have a few favorites that aren\u2019t inside this book, but author Geoff Bennett\u2019s work here is pretty comprehensive: he includes today\u2019s hottest Black comedians and some who were once famous but are unremembered today. You\u2019ll have a chance to know them and, while you get acquainted or you read about superstars you love now, Bennett also surprises readers with biographies, little-known facts, and notable accomplishments those stars worked hard for \u2013 all in a narrative that\u2019s casual, sometimes profane, but very highly enjoyable. Bonus: read some of the stars\u2019 comedy bits here, and LOL while you enjoy this excellent book.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Out Loud\u201d is a great collection for anyone who devours pop-culture entertainment or who just loves to laugh. It\u2019s one of those books you won\u2019t want to let go, so don\u2019t miss it. No, you shouldn\u2019t hear of that.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Want more? Then look for \u201cDarkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment\u201d by Rhae Lynn Barnes<\/strong> (Liveright, $39.99), a book that dives deep into two centuries of racism in American entertainment. It\u2019s unsettling, but a must-read if you love Black performance history.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

c.2026, Harper\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 $32.99\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 336 pages Wait. Did you hear that right? Yes, you did \u2013 and it was so funny that you just now caught your breath. What the guy onstage said was so unexpected, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[20],"class_list":["post-19008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book_review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19010,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19008\/revisions\/19010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19008"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=19008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}