My BIG new thingy! June 20 & 22 in SF! COME OUT!

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

The Bell Curve Project: Apologies @ Stage Werx
June 20 & 22
446 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Welcome to The Bell Curve Project! Much like nobody saw his solo show coming, nobody will see this coming (unless you’re reading this). And this time instead of just taking on Race, Kamau is taking on everything… one show at a time. “When I initially began doing The Bell Curve, I immediately realized that I enjoyed the idea behind it of taking one subject and attacking it from different angles and trying to find unique approaches to something that we all as a society had spend lots of time thinking about. I knew it didn’t always have to be about race. I even did a few shows at Stage Werx where I focused on things like Black History Month and frustration. That is where I really feel like my comedic itch gets scratched.”

The major difference with The Bell Curve Project is that this time Kamau is not doing it alone. He has recruited a gang of his favorite comedians, writers, producers, and even a rockstar rapper to help him out. It’s like a murders’ row of talent from The Bay Area and yes, even from LA and New York. They include Alex Koll (Just For Laughs Festival, Bay Area Air Guitar Champion), Kevin Camia (iTunes Top Ten Comedy CD of 2010), Kevin Kataoka (Lopez Tonight, MadTV), Chuck Sklar (Lopez Tonight & HBO’s Chris Rock Show) and regular Kamau cohorts, Janine Brito (laughter Against The Machine), Nato Green (Laughter Against The Machine), and Kevin Avery (Siskel & Negro), and the original director of The W. Kamau Bell Curve, Martha Rynberg. And the rockstar rapper / activist / Bay Area legend himself, founder of The Coup and co-founder of Street Sweeper Social Club, Boots Riley. The Bell Curve Project will be a hybrid of a diatribe, video clips and segments, talk show elements, sketch comedy, and a good old-fashioned Kamau show. Special guests TBA. Read More…

FNGTAC Episode 14 – An Afro in Asgard- Thor, Tyler the Creator…

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

This episode features a looong overdue review of the movie Thor. What? You don’t care what Vernon and Kamau think about the movie Thor? Well, don’t worry your nappy little head, as always, they veer waaaaay off topic (or on topic depending on your perspective) and tackle the subjects that you know them for. Vernon also finally recommends some music, as he exposes Kamau to some Tyler, The Creator. This is our most EXPLICIT episode ever! Thanks, Tyler.

- Has Samuel L. Jackson had the Super Soldier Serum?
- How come Vernon doesn’t want a black Spider-man?
- Is Tyler, The Creator and his crew the NEW Wu-Tang or the anti-Wu-Tang?
- How is it that in killing Osama Bin Laden that the US finds a way to be racist to Native Americans?
- Kamau’s big (soon to be bigger) news!

Connect with Vernon on Facebook, Twitter @vurnt22, and www.livingcolour.com

Connect with Kamau on Facebook, Twitter @wkamaubell, and www.wkamaubell.com

Connect with Producer Extraordinaire Alex on Twitter @AGThornton

And you can connect with the Podcast on Twitter @ThatFNGuide

GET US ON iTUNES NOW!!! http://ow.ly/22Uia

Wyatt Cenac says I’m funny. At least that’s what I’m assuming.

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

@MissJaiSays over at The Twitter sent me a message letting me know that a writer named Jozen Cummings said…

And then I told tweeted to Mr. Cummings*, “Thank you.” And then I powered up the Googler and found the interview. Here’s an excerpt…

“Well, there’s also the alternative [comedy] world, and I very quickly got put into that world. There aren’t a lot of minorities who get put in that world. Me, Craig Robinson, W. Kamau Bell — there are comedians who got placed on that track…”

Pretty cool, huh? Especially since I’ve never met Mr. Cenac.* And while he didn’t say I was funny per se, he is including me with himself and Craig “Can I have some booty?” Robinson. And since he doesn’t seem to have Twitter or a personal Facebook page or an email address on his Spartan website, I’ll just have to throw my thanks out into the Internet. If he Googles himself as much as I do myself, he’ll get this in about 32 seconds.

Mr. Cenac just released a Comedy Central hour long special entitled Comedy Person. Check out some here.

Jokes.com
Uncensored – Wyatt Cenac – Tea Party Rally
comedians.comedycentral.com
Jokes Joke of the Day Funny Jokes

*I’m being all formal since Hiya Swanhuyser recently crushed me by telling me that let me know that I am a journalist.

FNGTAC Podcast Episode 14 minus 1 – Obama vs. Osama vs. Trump vs. Jesse Thorn (VERNON IS BACK!)

Friday, May 13th, 2011

Vernon is back from his tour in Berlin and therefore the dynamical duo is BACK! For all of you who missed Vernon on the last episode this episode is back to regular. This episode features…

- Vernon’s beef with America’s radio sweetheart Jesse Thorn.

- President Barack Obama squashing his beef with Osama Bin Laden… literally.

- Vernon pitches his new religion, POI, to Producer Alex’s bemusement.

- Vernon has insider knowledge to the reign of NYC drug kingpin Nicky Barnes.

- Vernon makes it clear he’s not voting for Newt Gingrich. Surprised?

- Kamau sends Vernon a surprising E-mail. You’ll just have to guess what it is.

- And finally Urban Dance Squad gets some much overdue love from FNGTAC!

Connect with Vernon on Facebook, Twitter @vurnt22, and www.livingcolour.com

Connect with Kamau on Facebook, Twitter @wkamaubell, and www.wkamaubell.com

Connect with Producer Extraordinaire Alex on Twitter @AGThornton

And you can connect with the Podcast on Twitter @ThatFNGuide

KKK Blog – Pandora Launches Comedy Stations. I Find Out Who I’m Like

Friday, May 13th, 2011
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Pandora is doing comedy now!!! With Pandora doing comedy, we have almost created a Utopia on earth. We’ve got iPad 2s, electric cars being made by American car companies, and Cee-lo is on TV every week. No wonder the world is coming to an end on May 21. Humanity has got nothing left to do.

Full disclosure: I briefly worked at Pandora on this project, and I can’t legally tell you exactly what I did there, but it was somewhere between the areas of “Hey, guys! Pandora should do comedy!” and “Ooooh, shiny!”

But I can tell you that I had very little to do with the space magic that makes this awesome. Comedy on Pandora works just like music on Pandora. You type in the name of your favorite comic or comedy track name, and Pandora creates a station based on the qualities it says define that comedian or track.

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Since I have two CDs out (ONE NIGht ONLY and Face Full of Flour), as an experiment, I am going to enter, HORROR OF HORRORS, my own name. I’m going to listen to five tracks, and we’re going to see what happens when I find out who I am like and why I am like them. Can you even create your own Pandora station based on your own name? Will that create a rip in the space-time continuum? Well, I’m doing it anyway. My only rule is no thumbing up or down. I just gotta take what I get.

Okay, apparently W. Kamau Bell is similar comedically to Mr. Paul Mooney, Godfrey, Aries Spears, Eddie Griffin, and Alonzo Bodden. One out of five ain’t bad. Oh, wait. Yes it is. Nothing against the dudes on that list, I guess I was just hoping to find I was similar to Mr. Paul Mooney, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce, young Malcolm X, and the unreleased Bill Cosby CD that he recorded a couple of years ago when he went on that tour chastising single moms.

1. Artist — W. Kamau Bell, Track Name — “Where’s Chicago? & Californ-YO!”

This is a track from my first CD which was really just a bootleg that I recorded and released as a CD. These two jokes were a STAPLE of my act. It’s a bit like looking at baby pictures of myself, except the pictures talk and for some reason I thought the word “titties” was funny.

When I ask Pandora why it played this track, it says, “Based on what you’ve told us so far, we’re playing this track because it features hostile comedy, subject explorations, a sarcastic delivery, location/situation jokes, and satirical observations.” Yeah, that’s me. Except recently I’ve taken out the “location/situation” parts of my jokes so I can focus more on the “hostile comedy” parts.

TO READ THE REST OF MY KKK BLOG POST AT THE SF WEEKLY CLICK HERE.

Latest KKK Blog – Hannibal Buress Is All Anyone in This Town Can Talk About…

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
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OK, look assholes! I have a hot tip for you. This is hotter than a tip on Apple Computer stock in 1990. Hotter than an iPad 2.* Hotter than fresh-out-of-the-oven chicken potpie filling. HOT! Hannibal Buress is headlining for the first time THIS WEEKEND at the Punch Line here in San Francisco!

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Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Kamal, you recommend comics every week. I get it. He’s a friend of yours and you think he’s funny. Enough with the hard sell.”

Okay. First of all, my name is Kamau, not Kamal.

And second of all, this is not the usual KKK endorsement, THIS is a warning of things to come. A warning of the inevitability of how stupid you will feel in a year or two** when Hannibal is one of the biggest comics in the country and you missed your chance because you didn’t heed this warning to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing.***


Hannibal has already been feted by Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, and Variety. He’s working on getting his late night talk show card fully punched, and is one of the few comics who each year who manage to crack the inscrutable code of appearing on David Letterman. He has written for SNL and 30 Rock. His 2010 debut comedy CD, My Name Is Hannibal, was lavished with praise, making multiple 10 ten lists, including ones by iTunes and Punchline Magazine.**** He’s appeared on the podcasts WTF with Marc Maron and The Field Negro Guide to Arts and Culture with guitarist Vernon Reid from the band Living Colour.

READ THE REST of my SF Weekly blog HERE!

FNGTAC Podcast 12 – His Name is Hannibal!

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Vernon is away this week and he’s sure gonna be mad he missed this one. Kamau is in Portland, OR and sits down with scorching hot comedian, Hannibal Buress. Hannibal has been feted in all the hip-making mags like Rolling Stone, Esquire, Variety, and Entertainment Weekly. And he has been called, “The funniest young comic I’ve seen in years.” by none other than Chris Rock. Kamau and Hannibal have some comedian shoptalk, talk about Hannibal’s brief writing career on Saturday Night Live and his hopefully soon to be longer writing career on 30 Rock. And in the grand tradition ofg FNGTAC they of course have a meta discussion about Hannibal’s self-esteem and whether or not he’s being type cast. Hannibal also breaks a brand new genre or YouTube vdeos. Watch out MMA!

Enjoy it! Even though we don’t know if you deserve it!

See Hannibal The Punch Line in San Francisco May 4-7.

Connect with Vernon on Facebook, Twitter @vurnt22, and www.livingcolour.com

Connect with Kamau on Facebook, Twitter @wkamaubell, and www.wkamaubell.com

Connect with Producer Extraordinaire Alex on Twitter @AGThornton

And you can connect with the Podcast on Twitter @ThatFNGuide

GET US ON iTUNES NOW!!! http://ow.ly/22Uia

Win Tickets to my show this Sat. 4/30 in Berkeley!

Monday, April 25th, 2011

It’s a Kamau Mau Uprising at The Marsh – Win tickets!

Oakland Local edi… Mon, 25 Apr at 6:42pm

The Marsh is delighted to announce a special performance of COMEDY BRAINS, the new weekly comedy romp at the Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley, featuring W. Kamau Bell in The Kamau Mau Uprising. And Oakland Local is pleased to announce that we have tickets to giveaway to our faithful readers only.  It’s time for another fabulous ticket giveaway!! Send your name, phone number and email to wintickets2@gmail.com WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY THURSDAY, APRIL 28.

And if you can’t win them then please just use the password wkbfan to get $15 tickets. Get tix HERE!

THIS Saturday, April 30 in the East Bay! Only $15! (password wkbfan)

Monday, April 25th, 2011

W. Kamau BellW. Kamau Bell – The KaMau Mau Uprising!

Kamau has been praised by Punchline Magazine as “one of America’s most adept racial commentators,” and by Robin Williams as “Ferociously Funny!” His recent stand up album was named one of the Top 10 Best Comedy Albums of 2010 by iTunes. He’s been named the Best Comedian in SF by three different publications.

FOUR STARS: Bell finds comic gold…provocative insights into an ugly reality.

- Time Out NY

buy tix

Tickets: $20-$35 sliding scale, but use the password wkbfan to get $15 tickets!

SF Weekly: Brent Weinbach Writes Waaay Better Jokes than Charlie Sheen Doesn’t

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
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Nobody knows exactly what was going through Charlie Sheen’s mind Saturday night after he bombed horribly and ugly-ly in Detroit. Nobody knows exactly how that felt to him … except for every stand-up comic on the planet.

We stand-ups have all been through that experience of bombing horribly and then having to wait impatiently for the next show. You can’t get the taste of bombing out of your mouth until you kill again, but a little bit you may feel like you’ll never kill again. And maybe you’ve never killed before.Yup, stand-up comics have been through that more times than we care to remember.* You get booked for a show. You get excited for that show. You feel strong and good. And then you step out onstage and everything goes tits up.** The next day you walk around in a daze. Not really taking anything in. Many thousands of dollars have been wasted on movies “watched” by comics the day after bombing. The lights flicker and the sounds play but nothing goes into your brain. All you can think is, “How did that happen?” and “What could I have done differently?” And my personal favorite, “Whose idea was this???” The “this” being whatever is pissing you off most at the time, but for me the “this” is usually the idea of getting into show business in the first place.

Those hours between the shows unquestionably prove that Einstein was correct in his theory that time is relative. That time between shows is slower than the time it takes to wait for your Mac to stop going all spinning beach ball on you. It is slower than that person in front of you at the BART*** station who is seemingly trying to use the ticket machine to buy a pack of gum. It is slower than the time that you were starved and saw that the bar had a happy hour special on mozzarella sticks during the middle of the Final Four AND EVERYBODY ELSE SEEMED TO BE GETTING THEIR MOZZARELLA STICKS BEFORE YOU. EVEN THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAME IN WAAAAAAAY AFTER YOU.

That time between shows is a beast! It is probably still a beast even if you are Charlie Sheen and have the salve of goddesses and a private plane filled with sycophants.****

But I don’t actually blame Charlie Sheen for bombing. He is not a live performer. READ THE REST HERE…


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