Wanda Sykes is a writer, comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America. She is well-known for her role as Barbara Baran on The New Adventures of Old Christine and for her appearances on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Continue reading
All in the Family is a sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. The show revolves around the life of a working class bigot and his family. Produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin the series starred Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, and Sally Struthers.
The show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy. Themes such as racism, homosexuality, women’s liberation, rape, miscarriage, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television’s most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with more realistic and topical conflicts. Continue reading
Popeye the Sailor Man is a cartoon fictional character, created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and theatrical and television animated cartoons. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929; Popeye became the strip’s title in later years. In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer’s Fleischer Studios adapted the Thimble Theatre characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s, and the Fleischers—and later Paramount’s own Famous Studios—continued production through 1957. Continue reading
The skit, which was well known on the vaudeville circuit, goes something like this: A bedraggled man buttonholes a stranger and tells him a tale of betrayal and vengeance. A rogue seduced his sweetheart. He trailed the miscreant from town to town, finally catching up with him in Niagara Falls, where he pummeled him mercilessly. The hearer of the story haplessly says the magic words, “Niagara Falls,” causing the man to turn on him and mete out the same punishment. Continue reading
50 years after Jeopardy! debuted, “Saturday Night Live” came up with a new way to parody the iconic game show. Black Jeopardy! is hosted by Darnell Hayes or “Alex Treblack” (Kenan Thompson) and features categories such as “It’s Been A Minute,” “White People,” and “Psssh.” Let’s just say it’s not exactly what African Studies professor Mark (Louis C.K.) had in mind when he signed up. The sketch includes Jay Pharoah and Sasheer Zamata as fellow contestants. Continue reading
In the classic 3-D short SPOOKS (1953) Moe Howard, his brother Shemp Howard, and Larry Fine again encountered a mad scientist attempting to put a human brain into a gorilla. SPOOKS was one of the Three Stooges’ best blends of comedy and scares. With howling winds, skeletons and conwebs, it has a fun and spooky Halloween-type atmosphere that’s sure to grab any monster kid. The laboratory scenes with the mad scientist, his brutish assistant, a caged gorilla and a beautiful girl in bondage resembled an old pulp magazine cover of the ’30s and ’40s. Continue reading
Homey D. Clown – Damon Wayans plays an ex-con who works as a clown (real name Herman Simpson) for his parole agreement. Homey lashes out at anyone (usually by hitting them on the head with a sock full of pennies) who attempts to make him perform the standard antics of the role – “I don’t think so… Homey don’t play dat!”. His goal in life is to get even with “The Man”, a personification of the white males that are “holding him down”.
Near the end of most sketches, Homey would lead a group of children (played by the cast members) in a call and response sing-along. This would end with him degenerating into a rant, then intimidating the children into repeating after him. Homey was also the first, and only, In Living Color character to get his own video game. Continue reading
Broderick Steven “Steve” Harvey is an actor, comedian, entertainer, television/radio personality, and author. He hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Steve Harvey, and Family Feud. He is the author of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, which was published in March 2009, and the book Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find and Keep a Man. Harvey starred in The Steve Harvey Show and he was featured in The Original Kings of Comedy. Continue reading
The Dance of the Village Elders are back ! This time we exercise, dance and just have fun through the zoom platform or in-person at R.A.I.N. Nereid 
The Dance of the Village Elders are back ! This time we exercise, dance and just have fun through the zoom platform or in-person at R.A.I.N. Nereid 
