The show neatly rebuts the assumption that establishing the black woman’s perspective as the default means sacrificing universality or relatability by tackling a far-ranging slate of topics from unrealistic beauty standards to depression to problematic wokeness (Thede’s turn as Dr. Send me updates about Slate special offers. A Black Lady Sketch Show shifts the focus back to where it should always have been. Black male comedians have, for years, relied on caricatures of black women to boost their careers while cheerfully maintaining that we are nothing but shrill harpies or silent caretakers of the community. Our slang, our fashion, even our bodies have been rendered marketable-except when black women are the ones who stand to benefit. (One of Thede’s characters offhandedly mentions being dumped in the comments of a Venmo transaction.) Though black women rarely take center stage, so much of internet culture and pop culture writ large is built on their voices. The show switches between them with a frenetic pace that conveys casual fluency in the language of the internet. Black’s portrayal of a spy whose secret weapon is her forgettable face was one of my favorites, along with Brunson and Dennis’ ill-fated attempt to patronize a new black-owned restaurant in their neighborhood. It’s a conversation that could have played out in the hair salon or on Black Twitter, with reaction shots that are almost lab-engineered to wind up in the arsenal of black lady GIFs.Īs with all sketch shows, some of the sketches work better than others. But their magnanimity has its limits: When Dennis confesses that she doesn’t wear lotion, she’s quickly abandoned. ![]() Black admits that she doesn’t cover her hair at night-a tenet of black ladyhood-and the confession is initially met with shock, derision, and hilariously accurate statements like “Unnecessary pain is an important part of being a black woman” and that sleeping on a satin pillowcase is like “sleeping on a roller coaster.” Eventually, the other three admit that there are tenets of black culture that they, too, don’t subscribe to: Brunson doesn’t eat chicken Thede doesn’t like The Five Heartbeats. ![]() ![]() In the longest-running gag of the first season, the core four black ladies (Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis, Ashley Nicole Black, and Thede) are all hanging out in Thede’s apartment, hours after a mysterious apocalyptic event that viewers quickly find out has left them the last remaining people on Earth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |