User reviews

Awesome film! I've been waiting for the DVD release after seeing this wonderful documentary at the Sundance Film Festival! This is a highly informative and entertaining documentary! Why We Laugh offers great insights on the evolution of Black comedy from the like of Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Cornell West, Franklyn Ajaye, Paul Mooney, and more! The performance clips they edit it are hilarious. Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, all the great! This is a really great watch and it was about time someone address the way Black comedy has affected the Black experience. From the names i already dropped you know you are getting insights and opinions from highly credible folks!

The film is based on the book Black Comedians on Black Comedy: "How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh", by Darryl J. Littleton. Quincy Newell, Executive Vice-President of Codeblack Entertainment, was the producer and co-writer (with John Long) on the project. An official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

It is a very important film, showing us the lives and minds of black comedians and how the see and interpret the world.

Man, this documentary impressed me, no other way to put it! As a fan of music, I've always paid close attention to how music and the artists that make our music,affect our changing culture but I have never really paid attention to the cultural influence of black comedy. This documentary does a magnificent job of this. Enlisting highly credible voices including Chris Rock, Steve Harvey, Bill Cosby, Sherri Sheperd, Katt Williams and more! The documentary also shed light on unheralded greats that the younger generation may not know such as Nipsey Russel, Dick Gregory, Robin Harris and a plethora of others. What's really great about it is that although it's educational and highly informative, it remains funny and entertaining the entire way through! I can't wait for the DVD release!

I caught this documentary on Showtime a couple months ago and I have already preordered my copy of the DVD (comes out 4/27/10). I absolutely loved this documentary, it forces you to look at Comedy in a different light, especially related to the Black experience in America. The film is full of hilarious clips, great insight, and a strong overarching theme that every commentator really brought home. One thing is for sure - this documentary really makes you wish Richard Pryor was still around and that Eddie Murphy was still doing stand-up. Luckily, we can youtube these moments on demand, but we are at a point where there is a curious lull in Black Comedy. Really makes you wonder who will be the next to step in to usher the cause into its next phase...