5 Black Comics That Have Set A Path For Today's Comedians

Sebastián González de León y León
Feb 15, 2018
4 min read

We are living 2018’s Black History Month. A few weeks back, we featured black comedians in Chicago who are successfully working the scene. In this article, we want to focus instead on the careers of some women who have paved the way for black comics in the United States and who are worthy of celebrating. From Moms Mabley to Mo´Nique, here are our top 5 comedians that have set a path for today’s top entertainers.

Moms Mabley

North Carolina's’ Loretta Mary Aiken, better known as Moms Mabley, was one of the first comedians to acquire a legendary status. You might remember her from her recorded albums, but she had a long and successful career performing comedy for vast audiences during a period of the American History that was harder on both women and the Black Community.

Moms Mabley had a rough life growing up, losing both of her parents when she was still very young. At the turn of the Century, when she was just 14 years old, she started pursuing her show business career. She changed her name after a friend of hers called Jack Mabley, and afterward, she acquired the nickname “Moms”, due to her mentoring work for younger comedians.

She was the first female comedian to ever be featured at the Apollo Theater. Mabley also performed in movies like The Big Timers from 1945. But some of her most memorable work, as said before, would be her albums: The Funniest Woman Alive, Moms Mabley at the Playboy Club, Moms Mabley at the UN and Young Men, Si - Old Men, No.

Danitra Vance

Smart and outgoing since the moment she was a child, Danitra Vance was a highly educated writer of the last century. She studied acting and playwriting in Chicago and afterward got her MFA in London.

She did not perform comedy at first. Vance started out looking to become a professional actress, but she had a very hard time finding meaningful roles written for black women at that time, in spite of her talent and classical training. So at one point, after Ruby Dee advised her to write, she created a stand-up routine and a one-woman play, which had an immediate reaction that pointed her into the comedy direction. After these, she joined the Troupe at Second City and later moved on to New York City, where she found success.

In New York, she said, “Ah – people who understand what I'm doing.” Later she found success at the late night show Saturday Night Live, becoming the first black female in their lineup. She left after one season and then worked on plays like The Colored Museum and Spunk, both by George C. Wolfe. These performances rewarded her with both an NAACP Image Award and an Obie Award for her performance. Later in her life, she performed in films like Limit Up and Little Man Tate. She sadly died of breast cancer at 40 years of age - but not without a bang. Her last work was an autobiographical one-woman play about her struggles: The Radical Girl's Guide to Mastectomy.

Whoopi Goldberg

Few people have achieved the ‘EGOT’ status. This status stands for people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, and Whoopi Goldberg is one of them.

Born in the 50’s, Goldberg has achieved a very successful and prosperous career. Early on, she performed in a one-woman show as Moms Mabley, for what she was awarded the Bay Area Theater Award. After living a few years in California, she moved to New York in 1983, where she starred at the Spook Show. It was during these shows where she showcased her comedic talent - writing her own material that addressed the issue of race in America.

Goldberg’s successful career was foreshadowed during her early years, achieving one excellent performance after the other. Today she has a wide variety of material to showcase, such as her performance in Ghost or Spielberg's’ The Color Purple.

Wanda Sykes

The Virginia actress Wanda Sykes is distinguished for being the first African American, open lesbian to perform at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

Sykes got a bachelor's’ degree in marketing and lived for a while in the D.C. area, working a government job. She had a job at the NSA as a procurement officer. But fate had another vision for her. When she was in her early 20’s, she performed at Coors Light Super Talent Showcase, and although she did not win, she was very well received by the audience. So later on she started, at her 28 years of age, Wanda Sykes started pursuing her career as a comedian. She had been performing for five years on D.C., so when she moved to New York, she already had developed her own style, and this was tangible at her shows in the Big Apple. This paved a way for her big break when she met Chris Rock, who hired her to be a writer in The Chris Rock Show. Wanda, along with the writing staff, was awarded an Emmy in 1998.

Since then, Wanda Sykes has been a renowned activist, writer, performer, and comedian.

Mo'Nique

You probably know Mo’Nique for her performances at Def Comedy Jam and It's Showtime at the Apollo. Being hilarious, her career as a comedian had a rather surprising start, adding up to the legendary status level she has come to achieve.

One day, when she was in college, her brother Steve, dared her to take the stage during an open mic session in The Comedy Factory Outlet in Baltimore. It turned out to be a life changing moment. The audience absolutely loved her and she was offered to host her own show at a local beauty parlor for $25 USD.

The dare that she took head-on proved to be a smart move. Only two years later, she was on her way to Atlanta to further pursue her comedic career and refine her material. She saw her her first big break in New York at Def Comedy Jam in 1989, eventually leading her into a other big gigs like The Bernie Mac Show in 1999.

Ever since then, she has had a prosperous career as a comedian. She also became a writer after she penned Skinny Women Are Evil: Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World.