W. Kamau Bell: Netflix Special & Private School Negro & # 39; talk about talking



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The comedian behind the recently published "Private School Negro" also shares the episode "United Shades of America" ​​that he thinks the most.

With a weekly dose of new Netflix promotions coming to the platform, each comedian looks for ways to stand out. Sometimes it is a new place, at other times it is an unconventional structure. One solution for W. Kamau Bell was to make sure that whoever is watching is so lucky to see the people he is talking to.

"Some comics never want to see the public in pictures – I always want to see the audience and like to see people's reaction to different jokes," Bell told IndieWire. "I like people to see who's in my audience, so you can see," Oh, there are people out there! "

A conversational style works well for a lot of comedians, but Bell is perfectly suited for doing a special in the round, as it does in "Private School Negro", its fourth special and first for the streaming platform . A scene surrounded by an audience has occasionally been a part of standup comedy for at least four decades to "George Carlin: Again!" Bell took the producer Michelle Caputo and the idea of ​​director Shannon Hartman and ran with her, despite not having much before.

"I think it's important for me especially to make sure that my special comedy recordings feel more like a performance and less like" it's the show, "" Bell said. "For me, I've never done it before, but it takes time to be a night at work or to be such an important night and turns into" Let's see how it works. "

Read more: All 2018 Netflix Stand-Up Special, ranked

If a career in stand-up had not completely prepared Bell to adapt to unfamiliar situations, the organization of the CNN show "United Shades of America" ​​gave him a intensive course. The series gave Bell an opportunity to draw attention to neglected regions and communities across the country.

"I've always engaged with the public, but it's now at a different level – I'm just used to talking to strangers differently than before," Bell said. "A big part of" United Shades "is to receive information and then process it months later during an edition.Also, be just present for people. 39, single child, it's like, "Yeah, I get to yammer for an hour!" There's a kind of teenage excitement about it. Whatever ideas I find in my head, these people will listen and I like it because the one help the other. "

W Kamau Bell Private School Negro Netflix Special

"W. Kamau Bell: Private School Negro"

KC Bailey

Although Bell only speaks for a good part of the time when "Private School Negro" runs, he explains that the principles of standup and interviewing topics for a documentary series overlap usefully.

"For me, on stage, there is as much listening to stand – up as talking to someone for" United Shades ". It's the same skill level, "Bell said. "There are those moments in the special where I'm going to focus on one person or you will see me high of five.It's because I noticed that their reaction was different from the reaction of those who surrounded them. "

This attention to the audience is something Bell reflects by looking at current events. Like many comics that are also politically engaged, creating a comedy night that responds to the present moment and that also strives to do something that will have longevity is the # 1 39, act of constant balance.

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"Sometimes, we make sure that this joke does not speak of this day, but of the time we live. Maybe this joke started being topical, but really, it's an opening on a more important point of our lives. I said. There are jokes in [“Private School Negro”] that I thought was relevant to the first day I told them. There's a joke about Sean Spicer that I thought OK, although he's not the press secretary, no one will be able to tell this joke. " But it would not die. This joke continued to live. "

As long as some of these common themes are not really gone, Bell provides a compelling argument for why it's so hard to make a comedy that lasts.

"At the end of the day as an actor, everything dies on the vine, and any stand-up comedy ends up dying, and even things that are not happening now do not work," Bell said. "The only joke of a long time ago that I think is still working is" Who is the first? "Other than that, the rest of them, you put them in and you're like," Oh, I get Why it's funny. And sometimes, it's like, "I do not even know get why it's funny. & # 39; "

"W. Kamau Bell: Private School Negro"

KC Bailey

Trying to see the world in a different way, to counter the changing circumstances that may affect the present, has become the cornerstone of Bell's work. From his work as a podcast host to his standup to "United Shades of America," each of these pursuits takes a new context with extreme changes. One of the most obvious ways is in an episode of the CNN series that he keeps coming back.

"The episode I think most about – and there are a number of episodes I could talk about – I do not even know that our episode in Puerto Rico was particularly good, but what I do know, it's been here before the hurricane, so this episode means something different now, "Bell said. "I think there are a lot of good things in this episode, but I'm also the hardest critic of all the work I do." I'm sure there are places in this episode where we went, like Loíza, who are not alike and may never be alike again, but the fact that we were fortunate and fortunate enough to get there before the hurricane means that it becomes the only way to get there. one of the things that people can look at about what was Puerto Rico before the hurricane. "

For the moment, it is important to stay true to what makes Bell a distinct voice. He launches "Private School Negro" with a glimpse of his recently expanding family. With the recent birth of her third daughter, Bell has yet another opportunity to see what is happening in the world through a new series of eyes. Without using them as pawns whenever the discussion turns to the misbehavior of men, Bell's comedy is proof that artists and public figures can learn from their daughters in different ways.

"Do you want a really short bio for me?" I'll say "he's a dad and a comedian," said Bell. "So I think I'm talking about it all the time. Uh, then and I learned that too, you know, do not use your daughters as a shield. I use my daughters as a place to learn and collect material. I will not use them as a shield to protect myself from horrible things. No, it's like, "I'm glad you're here. Help me & # 39; "

For Bell, much like there was this common sense of the skills to speak with strangers, no matter where (and in front of whom) that happens, treating the world as a whole brings all these ideas together.

"The more children there are, the more it seems that I get angry about the fact that I have all these girls and that the world is crazy. For me, it's a very natural link, "Bell said." In the special, there are jokes about my family and jokes about politics. And for me, all this is brought back by jokes about my kids talking about politics. For me, these things are not separate. They are all connected. "

"W. Kamau Bell: Private School Negro" is now available for streaming on Netflix.

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