- I did enjoy the fact that
Charlottesville and these white lives matter rallies
they show an alternate image of angry protestors.
Because they like to put this whole rioting narrative
on the black community.
Like that's our thing.
And like, rioting is not a black thing.
Resilience is a black thing.
Overcoming the odds is black thing.
Frying chicken, barbecuing, durags, that's black shit.
(audience laughing)
But riots, that's not our thing, okay?
That's not, it's... and it's not like we wanna do it.
'Cause I don't like in the news
when they're talking about these cases
and these verdicts that are about to come out,
they're always like, "The verdict will be read at 04:00 PM.
We'd advise you to stay inside,
board up your windows, evacuate the city if you can."
Like it's some kind of hurricane warning.
It's like, rioting is not plan A,
it's plan C.
Plan A is telling America,
"Ay, there's some messed up stuff going on."
And we hope they hear it.
Plan B is showing footage of the messed up stuff
we have been talking about and we hope that's digested.
But if plan A don't work, and plan B don't work,
(grunts) (audience laughing)
We gonna have to burn something.
(audience laughing)
I'm not a rioter, or one who riots.
Too much smoke, I got asthma, you know?
It gets in between me and my message,
I can't even get the full slogan out, you know?
So what I like to do is let the rioters do their thing,
and then when they go to sleep, then I hit the streets,
go to racist people's cars
and take off their current registration sticker.
Yeah, yeah. (audience laughing)
I'm not gonna fuck up your property,
I'ma gonna fuck up your day.
I'ma send you to the DMV
'cause black lives matter.
And then I'ma key your shit.
'Cause I be mad but I don't wanna like,
be a riot person, but I do wanna strike back.
Like I don't know. I just wanna be like, a petty rioter.
Like, next time somebody does some messed up stuff,
shoot some unarmed black dude,
I'ma be mad but I'm not gonna burn the city down,
I'ma just find the house of that cop
and break in, and take they best wine
(audience laughing)
and throw it in the freezer, you know?
(audience laughing)
I'ma just mess up their next celebration.
"Grab the wine, honey."
(James screaming) (audience laughing)
- To me, the only difference between a good comedian
and a good reporter is a neck tie.
You see a issue, gather the facts of the issue,
you deliver an opinion and perspective on the issue
that you hope will educate people.
And some cases with some comedians that (indistinct) change.
(upbeat music)
- I know black people are tired though,
we really fucking tired.
So we just voting for black people right now.
And I know white people try to make us feel guilty.
Like, "Oh, you only voted for Obama because he's black."
Fuck yeah!
We voting for everything.
Jamal, Trey, Ray Ray, Little Rell,
all them n****s, we voting for them, yeah.
If there was a candidate named Niggi Niggerson,
I would vote for him, do you understand? Like,
(audience laughing)
white people vote for white people too,
that's why the fuck y'all still in power,
ain't enough n****s voting,
so we gotta get out and vote.
Where the camera at? (audience laughing)
You know it's like Kevin Hart talked about it, right?
He says he don't wanna do anything too political.
He's experiences these things,
but he wants to just, you know, have fun,
and people come out to see him and have a good time,
and I understand that.
I just don't wanna be that
because you're saying things out of your mouth
that people are picking up with their ears and digesting.
- I like watching Trump rallies, yeah.
'Cause for the first time in my black life
I get to see white people be embarrassed
by other white people.
Now you know how we feel when we watching news
and they always pick the worst eye witness.
They're like, "Live from the fire,
sir with the missing teeth, and the cornrows on the side
with a bald spot, would you like to tell us
what happened tonight?" (audience laughing)
He be like, "Yo news lady, bitches shit was crazy, yo.
I was pushing my cart across the street,
I saw a fire. (audience laughing)
They'll be like, "Do you know how the fire started?"
"It was me, it was me."
Over the course of the past four years of traveling
I've definitely seen a change.
Like, I knew Trump was going to win
before everybody else that I knew knew.
Because I would be out there for the past two years
driving, cornfields miles, hours,
huge Trump signs.
I'm not talking about like,
a little thing in the front yard,
I'm talking about like, 10 by 10 erected in the cornfield.
It was kinda like white people just woke up and was like,
"Oh, we don't have to hide the way we feel anymore.
We have somebody that's gonna back us up."
- There's a turn back the clock agenda going on
in Washington DC.
N****s have gotten a little too far, you know?
Eight years of a black man coming out of the White House
drove certain people to madness, all right?
'Cause when you vote for a orange motherfucker,
you know, that's madness.
When you vote for a motherfucker
who has the IQ of plant life, that's madness.
- You know, I was working at the "Tonight Show" at the time
and everyone was crying and everything.
And then some of my friends were like,
"Well, I'm not even going home for Thanksgiving.
This is crazy."
And I was like, "Why aren't you
going home for Thanksgiving?"
And they were like, "'Cause Trump is a racist,
and they're racist, and they voted for a racist."
And I was like, "Oh, cool, cool cool.
Your uncle was racist last year.
Like, nothing has changed."
Like, I don't know why we give this dude all this credit.
Maybe 'cause he puts his name on everything,
we're letting him put his name on history.
- We are living in a weird political time right now.
I know 'cause I'm on Facebook.
A lot of people get in political arguments
on Facebook called Facebook drama.
If Facebook is drama for people
who've never been in a fist fight.
(audience laughing)
I don't think Facebook is drama
'cause I been in a fist fight.
Like, I'm from the projects,
the only time I've seen words hurt someone
is when I saw a girl get hit with a belt buckle
that said Denise. (audience laughing)
In the era of Trump I kind of already act on
my impulse to turn my anger
and make it productive for me.
So a lot of people who are like,
the age of Trump or talk about that in a way,
I feel like just started getting angry in November.
And I've been angry the whole time.
Like, going to five high schools,
seeing my grandfather die when I was 10 years old,
not growing up with my dad in the house,
growing up in the projects,
knowing friends getting killed when I was a teenager.
Everything that, you know, could have like,
broken me down, has made me like,
someone who overlooks all the political stuff,
and is just like, you don't understand like,
what I escaped.
I'm a lot stronger than
whatever this four years, age of Trump whatever bullshit.
Niggers don't got time for that.
- Yeah, I mentioned it, you have to
because this is the world we're living in now,
but I'm not spending my time talking about that man.
I'ma let you guys get used to the voice,
'cause I can see some confusion.
(audience laughing)
He's looking at me like, "Is that Idris Elba?
What's happening? (audience laughing)
You didn't know before Idris,
that there was black people in England.
You didn't know, you didn't know.
I've been living in America 10 years,
and for nine and a half of those years,
people thought I was an Australian Aborigine.
(audience laughing)
I get into a lot of twitter fights
with people going, "You immigrants, you guys come
into our country and taking our jobs."
I'm like, "The only reason I'm born in England
is 'cause you guys came to Nigeria and fucked it up."
When you come to someone's house and mess it up
don't be surprised if they turn up at yours,
we're family now.
- People are taking obvious sides.
They either incorporating politics into their humor,
or they're not.
- I'm not a political comic at all.
I have opinions, but it's not like
I consume politics on a daily basis.
I wish we could have a break, just a break.
- The way that cops describe black men
after they shoot us is insane.
It's like, "He looked like a beast from hell."
"He charged at me like a linebacker."
"I feared for my life."
- Let us not forget the classic,
"I thought he had a gun."
vintage law enforcement. - Oh yeah.
That's their catchphrase.
That's their version of, "Did I do that?"
And you're like, "Yeah, I saw the video."
(audience cheering and applauding)
- Our experiences in England as black people
are very similar.
You forget the Brits were the best racists.
They were the most prolific slavers.
The Americans did the equivalent of like,
if you rob someone's house, or you steal something,
and you take it back to your own house.
Whereas the Brits rob someone's house
and hid it somewhere else.
The experiences in England as black people, it's the same.
The only reason black people don't die at the same rate
in England at the hands of police,
is 'cause our police don't carry guns.
- But one time... this is actually how
I was stopped by the cops in a cab.
I was pulled over by the cops in a cab
on the way to another comedy show.
And I was in Brooklyn, and I felt like
they were working with this cab driver I should say,
to just like, stop brothers who were surprised
that they got a cab in the first place.
I had to go to another show and still process that.
Of course, I have to joke it off,
but it still like, that pain,
it doesn't really fully leave me,
or I'm not over it 'till I can like, you know,
write a joke about that.
This actually happened to me recently.
I was pulled over by the cops in a cab.
Yeah. I didn't know they could do that either.
And they put on the lights, boop.
And the cab driver was like, "I don't know.
I think I'm good." (laughs)
They came to shine the lights in the back seat
and like, "I'm sorry, I just wanna make sure
this guy's all right,
we had some robberies at gunpoint tonight.
And it made me nervous, 'cause like as a kid like,
cops would come to my school and read books to us.
But like in that moment I felt like
I was in the Dr. Seuss book
that was trying to demonstrate racism to children.
Just like cop I am, I am cop, I am. (laughs)
I do not like black men or women. (laughs)
I would not like them on a boat.
I would not like them on the go.
I would not like them eating cookies.
I would not like them wearing hoodies.
I would not like them anywhere to be honest.
Except maybe my fantasy basketball team.
They came over like, "Where you coming from?"
I was like, "A comedy show."
They're like, "Where you going to?"
I was like, "A comedy show." (laughs)
They're like, "Oh really? You're a comedian?
Tell me a joke."
And I was like, "You just pulled over my cab."
(audience laughing)
N**** that's the joke.
That's all you get you goofy bitch.
You know? So, and it gets darker than that, but yeah.
I mean, it's real life too. Pretty dark, I'm pretty black.
- There's a few jokes I do about being black in America.
So I do one joke where I say
my accent gets me out of a lot of trouble.
I have no fear of your American police officers.
In fact, I pull them over.
I do a routine where I was driving down the street
and I saw some police officer, I pulled them over.
I was like, "Excuse me, officer,
I can't help but notice that you've been following me
for 12 miles.
And the accent confused him.
And he was like, "Oh, I'm sorry Ma'am,
I thought you were black."
So I do a whole routine about the whole accent
and being discriminated against,
and then I open mouth, and that has really happened.
I do another routine where I say
where I was followed around a jewelry store.
I don't know if you can see I liked jewelry.
And I was in the jewelry store, and I was walking around,
and this woman was following me around the store
assuming that I'm gonna steal something.
And I stopped her and I was like,
"Why are you following me?"
And then as soon as I started speaking,
she was like, "Oh my God."
Her whole attitude changed towards me.
She's like, "Oh my God, you're not one of our blacks.
You're a special black, you're a different black."
There's a presumed intelligence with this accent.
Since I start speaking people just assumed
I'm super educated.
And I am, but it doesn't matter, you don't know. (laughs)
I could be an idiot, you'd no idea
because I sound like this.
Yeah. I call myself a superhero.
That I am now the undercover African-American
sent out to find all racists.
- Comedians, especially like, your Seth Meyers,
your Samantha Bees, Trevor Noah,
like, they can do satire to make fun of the president
in a way that the news can't.
- But you see, you still haven't told us
the right way for black people to protest.
I mean, we know it's wrong to do it in the streets,
it's wrong to do it in the tweets,
you cannot do it on the field,
you cannot do it if you've kneeled.
And don't do it if you're rich,
you ungrateful son of a bitch,
because there's one thing that's a fact,
you cannot protest if you're black.
- So the TV show I write for is basically
a Trump impersonator doing a late night show
hosted from the Oval Office.
- I'm just one sad old man
in way over his head.
- I think because our host is in a suit
and looks like Trump, no one takes us seriously.
Or people are reluctant to engage
with how seriously we write the politics of that show.
One time, you know, people were talking about
neo-Nazis and how neo-Nazis are racist.
And I had to push the idea
that when you focus on neo-Nazis
you're taking it and exporting the racism
as if Nazi-ism is the beginnings of it.
So if we stop focusing on neo-Nazis
and focus more on white supremacy,
then we can get to the root of American racism
and talk about it more authentically.
And I think at the very least
my presence in the room is opening them up
to other places where we can tap into
real commentary, but also find humor in places
they would never have thought to go.
- If I really was a true showman,
what I would do is fire everyone in my cabinet,
and like a wrestling heel, flip, and become a good guy.
Join with the democratic party,
actually advocate for Black Lives Matter
and other organizations,
and basically flip the script on everybody.
And then everyone would finally love me,
which all I really want.
- I've lost my rhythm in this Trump era
because I'm intimately engaging with
what we think the psyche of Donald Trump is for our show.
And I don't get to disengage the way I need to
to write my own stuff.
And I'm so lost in the rhythm of the TV show
that when I wanna talk about Trump as myself,
I don't remember how.
- I'd say the biggest difference now in comedy
in the age of Trump, is that people are quick to get angry
and don't know why they angry.
We live in an outrage culture
where everyone has a right to be offended.
There wasn't that recoil before.
So I feel like as comedians with edgier topics
you're kind of juggling dynamite,
because you don't know which way
the audience is gonna fall,
but you have to be prepared for them
to not agree with you,
and still go forward and spit your truth.
But if we get rid of the Confederate flag,
(audience laughing)
how am I gonna know who the dangerous white people are?
(audience laughing)
I'm just saying the flag had a couple upsides,
let's just be real about it.
I ain't saying keep it around,
but I grew up in the South,
I can't tell you how many times
the Confederate flag came in handy.
We stopping for gas at a strange place at 02:00 AM,
you see that flag hanging from the window,
you know this is not the place to get gas.
(audience laughing and applauding)
And you keep it moving.
(audience laughing and applauding)
what's the rush to get rid of the flag?
Especially if you're white.
If you're white you should want to keep the flag
for a little while longer,
so at least black folks will know you cool.
'Cause if you white and you not an asshole
that's the one thing that helps us identify you.
You get rid of that flag, well we... (mumbles)
We got to figure out a way to know
who the cool white people.
Cool white people, we just got to start giving y'all
wristbands or hand stamps.
Just something you can show in a dark alley.
Let us know you down with the struggle.
That'd be cool.
Give me your money white dude.
Like whoa, ah ah ah.
I've always tried to put my comedy in a place
of where I hope we could be as a people.
I'm using now and things that happen now as an example
for where I hope we could be.
- I'ma be honest with y'all, I don't march,
I don't go out there and march.
I'm too tall to march, 6'1.
I'm head and shoulders above most people,
that's just two rubber bullets to the dome,
I don't want that.
That's what kinda like, keeps me going,
because I realized that through every traumatic experience,
from war, slavery, nuclear threat,
there was always entertainment.
And so that's the only thing that like,
gives me motivation to keep going.
'Cause I'm like, yeah, shit is fucked up,
but I can give somebody like,
a little bit of hope
while they throwing that Molotov cocktail.
(upbeat music)