April 7, 2025 • 7 mins
Stand-Up comedy didn't start with a dude in a bowtie telling jokes - it started with Black storytellers, survival humor, and raw, unfiltered truth. From African Griots to Def Comedy Jam, find out how Black culture shaped the game while Frank Fay got the credit.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I bus Hadden didn't know it alls. Welcome to another episode.
If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. I'm your host,
b Dot And if you caught last episode, you saw
that I was looking for a name the supporters of
the podcast, and I figured a name for us to
be the know it alls. If I'm just working it
out because I don't feel like we know it all,
(00:20):
but we want to know it all that while we
listen to a podcast of this magnitude where I give
you all types of facts that I didn't know and maybe.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
You didn't either.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
As promised this episode, I will kick it off with
three useless facts. Now, these are three of the most
useless facts that you'll never need a day in life.
Number one, the first ever meme was created in nineteen
twenty one. Yeah see, folks thinks memes started with the Internet,
but nah, it was somebody out here trolling in nineteen
(00:50):
twenty one, and the first recorded meme was a newspaper
comic called how You Think You Look Versus how You
Really Look? And if you want to see the very
first meme ever created, you could check it out on
our Instagram. I DK myde with an underscore in the
front and the back. Go there and you can see it.
The very first meme, how you think you look versus
(01:12):
how you really look? And I ain't gonna care. It's
spot on. We still use some of them jokes today.
The second useless fact, did you know a woman once
sued herself for three hundred thousand dollars? Yeah, a lady
in Utah got into a car accident where she hit herself.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hear me out.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
She was driving one car after she had parked another
and crashed into her own parked car.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So she sued herself.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And guess what the insurance company they had to pay
her three hundred bands.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And that there is chess, ladies and gentlemen, not checkers.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And your third and final useless fact, did you know
there's a species of jellyfish that's basically a mortal.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Have you ever wish you could hit the reset button
on life to go back to the beginning and start
all the way over?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Would you do things different where there's a jellyfish.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It's the terretopsis during the jellyfish, and it can when
it gets injured or stressed out, it just reverts back
to his baby form and starts life all over again.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And look at you.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You eat one bad meal, and everything you did in
the gym for the past month is for not. Those
have been your three useless facts. Do with them as
you will in your spare time. In my spare time,
my life to support my partners, and recently my partners
came through. On the comedy show in Charlotte, I got
to see Bubba Dubb who was hilarious. Mojo Brooks unhanded
(02:34):
me now he was hilarious. Country Wayne was on the ticket.
Corey Holcomb was on the ticket. The comedic rock star
for real, Little Duval was on the ticket. If you
ever been to his show, you know he do jokes
and a concert because he got hits you dig it them.
And of course the sense ay from the eighty five
South show, Carlos Miller always kills it. And you know something,
I was thinking about two things as I was watching
(02:56):
Carlos said. The first thing was I know he's not
gonna do his baby bird joke because to him, his
baby bird joke is super super old, but it's so funny,
and every.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Time I see Los, I be wanting him to do
that joke.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But see comics don't feel like they can do old
material the same way that singers and rappers came. Like,
if you go to a single or rapper concert, you
want them to do all their old stuff that you
know all the words too, so you can rap along
or sing along with them. At a comedy show, not
so much, but you do have a fan base that
be like, damn, I wish you would do that joke,
because some comics have staple jokes or staple taglines, like
(03:31):
hearing Bubbadub say you want to see that? To see
Mojo Brooks say, unhanded me, now you want to see that?
And baby Bird is one of Los's characters that I
always want to see. But as I was sitting there
thinking about that and in helling the aroma that was
filling the Spectrum Center, it had me thinking, where does
stand up comedy even come from.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
As much as I try to say this is an
expanded series. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
I find it interesting how so many things always go
back to the genesis of this podcast, finding out black
history facts, and long before deaf comedy jam, long before
the Apollo, we had grios, and the Grios were the
og storytellers in West Africa, spitting bars, roasting folks in
(04:26):
the village, keeping history alive through comedy and rhythm. They
weren't just funny, they were walking history books with punchlines.
Then when black folks got to America, we had to
use humor just to survive. Enslave people cracked jokes in secret,
using coded language to clown their oppressors without getting caught,
which takes you back to an episode of laughing Barrel
(04:46):
literal barrels where black folk had to stick their face
in to absorb their laugh because you weren't allowed to
have fun on a plantation.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You've had a laugh in that barrel.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Then we fast forward to the Chiplin Circuit of nineteen
Of course, black comedians weren't allowed in mainstream clubs, so
we built our own, the Chitland Circuit. Small club created
legends like Moms, Madly Red Fox, Richard Pryor. Because if
you could kill it, the Chitplan Circuit club you was
built for anything. It's almost like surviving at the HBCU
because them crowds. They don't do polite chuckles. They'll bring
(05:19):
the Sandman on in the middle of your set by
get up out of here. But Russell Simmons changed the
game in the nineties deaf comedy Jam oh Man. Comedians
weren't watering down no jokes. You had Bernie Mack, I
ain't scared you. That might have sounded more Martin Luther
King than Bernie matt But you know what I'm talking about,
No sugar coating, just raw, unfiltered black ass comedy. And
(05:42):
now let's keep it real. Black comedians run stand up.
Kevin Hart got stadiums packed out like the NBA Finals
or the Super Bowl out there. Dave Chappelle turned comedy,
and the Ted talks with punchlines. And now comedians don't
even need TV. You ain't got to sleep in your
car in LA to make it. You just drop a
clip on Instagram and boom vioral. Now to keep it
(06:03):
a hundred. If we're talking about who gets credit for
being the first ever stand up comic, well that title
goes to.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Frank Fay in the nineteen twenties. He was a white dude.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
He was the first dude to step on stage, no props,
no skits, just straight up jokes. And while he gets
the credit, let's be real, he was standing on the
shoulders of black storytelling giants, grio's and comedians who had
already been making folks laugh for centuries. I like saying,
the person who created the microwave created hot food.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Nah, bro, we've been cooking.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
So next time you get into a conversation about stand
up or somebody say where's stand up come from? Probably
won't ever happen, but if it does, you let him know.
It didn't start in some fancy theater with a dude
in a bow tie.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Nah.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It started with black folks turning pain in the power
and making the whole world laugh while doing it. And
then somebody else took credit. It's the American white baby,
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I didn't know, Yo Woo,
I bus Hadden didn't know it alls. Welcome to another episode.
If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. I'm your host,
b Dot And if you caught last episode, you saw
that I was looking for a name the supporters of
the podcast, and I figured a name for us to
be the know it alls. If I'm just working it
out because I don't feel like we know it all,
(00:20):
but we want to know it all that while we
listen to a podcast of this magnitude where I give
you all types of facts that I didn't know and maybe.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
You didn't either.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
As promised this episode, I will kick it off with
three useless facts. Now, these are three of the most
useless facts that you'll never need a day in life.
Number one, the first ever meme was created in nineteen
twenty one. Yeah see, folks thinks memes started with the Internet,
but nah, it was somebody out here trolling in nineteen
(00:50):
twenty one, and the first recorded meme was a newspaper
comic called how You Think You Look Versus how You
Really Look? And if you want to see the very
first meme ever created, you could check it out on
our Instagram. I DK myde with an underscore in the
front and the back. Go there and you can see it.
The very first meme, how you think you look versus
(01:12):
how you really look? And I ain't gonna care. It's
spot on. We still use some of them jokes today.
The second useless fact, did you know a woman once
sued herself for three hundred thousand dollars? Yeah, a lady
in Utah got into a car accident where she hit herself.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hear me out.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
She was driving one car after she had parked another
and crashed into her own parked car.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So she sued herself.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And guess what the insurance company they had to pay
her three hundred bands.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And that there is chess, ladies and gentlemen, not checkers.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And your third and final useless fact, did you know
there's a species of jellyfish that's basically a mortal.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Have you ever wish you could hit the reset button
on life to go back to the beginning and start
all the way over?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Would you do things different where there's a jellyfish.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It's the terretopsis during the jellyfish, and it can when
it gets injured or stressed out, it just reverts back
to his baby form and starts life all over again.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And look at you.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You eat one bad meal, and everything you did in
the gym for the past month is for not. Those
have been your three useless facts. Do with them as
you will in your spare time. In my spare time,
my life to support my partners, and recently my partners
came through. On the comedy show in Charlotte, I got
to see Bubba Dubb who was hilarious. Mojo Brooks unhanded
(02:34):
me now he was hilarious. Country Wayne was on the ticket.
Corey Holcomb was on the ticket. The comedic rock star
for real, Little Duval was on the ticket. If you
ever been to his show, you know he do jokes
and a concert because he got hits you dig it them.
And of course the sense ay from the eighty five
South show, Carlos Miller always kills it. And you know something,
I was thinking about two things as I was watching
(02:56):
Carlos said. The first thing was I know he's not
gonna do his baby bird joke because to him, his
baby bird joke is super super old, but it's so funny,
and every.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Time I see Los, I be wanting him to do
that joke.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But see comics don't feel like they can do old
material the same way that singers and rappers came. Like,
if you go to a single or rapper concert, you
want them to do all their old stuff that you
know all the words too, so you can rap along
or sing along with them. At a comedy show, not
so much, but you do have a fan base that
be like, damn, I wish you would do that joke,
because some comics have staple jokes or staple taglines, like
(03:31):
hearing Bubbadub say you want to see that? To see
Mojo Brooks say, unhanded me, now you want to see that?
And baby Bird is one of Los's characters that I
always want to see. But as I was sitting there
thinking about that and in helling the aroma that was
filling the Spectrum Center, it had me thinking, where does
stand up comedy even come from.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
As much as I try to say this is an
expanded series. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
I find it interesting how so many things always go
back to the genesis of this podcast, finding out black
history facts, and long before deaf comedy jam, long before
the Apollo, we had grios, and the Grios were the
og storytellers in West Africa, spitting bars, roasting folks in
(04:26):
the village, keeping history alive through comedy and rhythm. They
weren't just funny, they were walking history books with punchlines.
Then when black folks got to America, we had to
use humor just to survive. Enslave people cracked jokes in secret,
using coded language to clown their oppressors without getting caught,
which takes you back to an episode of laughing Barrel
(04:46):
literal barrels where black folk had to stick their face
in to absorb their laugh because you weren't allowed to
have fun on a plantation.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You've had a laugh in that barrel.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Then we fast forward to the Chiplin Circuit of nineteen
Of course, black comedians weren't allowed in mainstream clubs, so
we built our own, the Chitland Circuit. Small club created
legends like Moms, Madly Red Fox, Richard Pryor. Because if
you could kill it, the Chitplan Circuit club you was
built for anything. It's almost like surviving at the HBCU
because them crowds. They don't do polite chuckles. They'll bring
(05:19):
the Sandman on in the middle of your set by
get up out of here. But Russell Simmons changed the
game in the nineties deaf comedy Jam oh Man. Comedians
weren't watering down no jokes. You had Bernie Mack, I
ain't scared you. That might have sounded more Martin Luther
King than Bernie matt But you know what I'm talking about,
No sugar coating, just raw, unfiltered black ass comedy. And
(05:42):
now let's keep it real. Black comedians run stand up.
Kevin Hart got stadiums packed out like the NBA Finals
or the Super Bowl out there. Dave Chappelle turned comedy,
and the Ted talks with punchlines. And now comedians don't
even need TV. You ain't got to sleep in your
car in LA to make it. You just drop a
clip on Instagram and boom vioral. Now to keep it
(06:03):
a hundred. If we're talking about who gets credit for
being the first ever stand up comic, well that title
goes to.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Frank Fay in the nineteen twenties. He was a white dude.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
He was the first dude to step on stage, no props,
no skits, just straight up jokes. And while he gets
the credit, let's be real, he was standing on the
shoulders of black storytelling giants, grio's and comedians who had
already been making folks laugh for centuries. I like saying,
the person who created the microwave created hot food.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Nah, bro, we've been cooking.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
So next time you get into a conversation about stand
up or somebody say where's stand up come from? Probably
won't ever happen, but if it does, you let him know.
It didn't start in some fancy theater with a dude
in a bow tie.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Nah.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It started with black folks turning pain in the power
and making the whole world laugh while doing it. And
then somebody else took credit. It's the American white baby,
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I didn't know, Yo Woo,
Host
Brian "B Daht" McLaughlin
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