Oneida Nation comedian Charlie Hill first started getting national attention in 1974.
You might not think that the dislocation and abuse of Native Americans would leave any room for jokes, but the existence of indigenous comedians would indicate otherwise. I guess there is no topic that can’t be turned to humor. And, goodness knows, people always have a need to laugh.
Jason Zinoman writes at the New York Times, “To the extent Will Rogers is known today, it’s as the folksy founding father of topical political comedy. … What’s often overlooked about the early-20th-century superstar is that he was Native American, a fact centered and explored in Kliph Nesteroff’s new book, ‘We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy.’
“Nesteroff doesn’t just map a direct line from Rogers’s Cherokee roots to his political perspective; the author reintroduces Rogers as an altogether modern comic: moody, depressive, with uglier prejudices than his aw-shucks image would indicate. …
Cherokee comedian Will Rogers.
“In recent years, Nesteroff, 40 and often seen wearing a fedora, has carved out a niche as the premier popular historian of comedy. … A meticulous collector of showbiz lore, Nesteroff filled his 2015 book ‘The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy’ with fascinating detours about obscure figures like Jean Carroll and Shecky Greene. One of his early articles that got attention was a 2010 blog post about Cary Grant’s enthusiasm for LSD. … ‘Now I wouldn’t write about it,’ Nesteroff said, saying he gets annoyed by histories that keep going over common knowledge: ‘I want to write about the details people don’t know.’
“His new book, which darts back and forth in time, is a sprawling look at Indigenous comedians, an overlooked branch of comedy. The book’s title [is] the punchline to a joke by the unsung hero of this narrative, the Oneida Nation comic Charlie Hill. (The setup: ‘My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York.’)
“A contemporary of David Letterman and Jay Leno in the Los Angeles comedy scene of the 1970s, Hill was a handsome performer with superbly crafted jokes who became one of the few famous Indigenous stand-ups. Nesteroff writes that Hill was the first and only such comic on ‘The Tonight Show.’
“On his network television debut, on ‘The Richard Pryor Show,’ Hill delivered a tight, five-minute set that skewered Hollywood stereotypes of Native Americans and described pilgrims as ‘illegal aliens,’ likening them to house guests who won’t leave. Hill performed for three more decades and was a stalwart at the Comedy Store (although he barely received any airtime in the recent five-part documentary on the club), inspiring many Indigenous comics. …
“And yet, while there are many more Native American comics today, including the members of the sketch troupe 1491 that Nesteroff chronicles in his book, mainstream opportunities remain scarce.
‘When we hear diversity in Hollywood, Native Americans are seldom included under that umbrella,’ Nesteroff said. ‘That needs to change.’ …
“His book provides context for an argument about the importance of representation, detailing an exhaustive history of the racism suffered by Indigenous people in popular culture, tracking stereotypes of the stoic, humorless Native American from pulp fiction and animation (which was particularly egregious) to ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘Dances With Wolves.’ …
“Nesteroff prefers writing about the past over the present, but they often blur in his books. In ‘Real Estate,’ he describes protests against white actors playing Native American roles dating all the way to the 1911 film ‘Curse of the Red Man,’ which led to meetings between Indigenous delegations and President William Howard Taft that sound remarkably similar to current controversies. In another chapter, Nesteroff recounts an argument between Will Rogers and the journalist H.L. Mencken from the 1920s, about how much harm comedy can do, that could be taken from any number of podcasts today. …
“If there is one consistent theme from his intrepid reporting on the roots of comedy, it’s this: there’s less new under the sun than you think.”
More at the New York Times, here.
Fascinating! Thank you for this post!
I liked that the comedy “historian” works to find tidbits that people don’t know and hates the idea of repeating information that’s been passed around already. That takes self-discipline.
It certainly does!
It seems to me that humor is intrinsic to being human and cuts across all cultures.
There’s a fine line between comedy and tragedy, as Shakespeareans like you know. Its a gift to sense how to manage it.
This fantastic to learn about and watch. Thanks for sharing!
It was all new to me.
I didn’t know Will Rogers had Cherokee heritage. Thanks!
I didn’t either. I learn something every day!