In new book, SFSU professor revisits African American comedy of the 1980s and 1990s
‘The Black Pack,’ by Artel Great of the School of Cinema, explores legacy of five influential comedians
The most popular African American-helmed comedies of the 1980s and 1990s made millions of people laugh, but San Francisco State University Associate Professor Artel Great has discovered a greater purpose in them. His new book, “The Black Pack: Comedy, Race and Resistance,” offers groundbreaking scholarly analysis on five influential artists of the era: Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Arsenio Hall, Robert Townsend and Paul Mooney.
These five men joined forces as a comedic collective known as “The Black Pack” and became household names as actors, writers, producers, directors and collaborators. In “The Black Pack” (Rutgers University Press), Great cites 24 productions between 1987 and 1994 that defined a generation, both splitting sides and testing boundaries. In a review of “The Black Pack,” the Library Journal praises the book as “an entertaining and essential read.”
“I call it ‘laugh-tivism.’ The book is a tribute to generations of Black American comedians and how they used their voices to challenge corrupt authority, to confront the racial condition in America and to say very serious things,” Great said. “The book speaks to this notion of revolutionary laughter, but it also speaks to the need for a creative space for laughter as catharsis and the need to create space for Black joy — and to do so through brotherhood and solidarity.”
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