The Black Pack: Comedy, Race, and Resistance (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781978838147)

In the middle of the conservative Reagan era, five comedic pioneers--Eddie Murphy, Paul Mooney, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Robert Townsend, and Arsenio Hall--joined forces to revolutionize American popular culture. Known as Hollywood's "Black Pack," they were more than just funny--they were fearless. With iconic projects like In Living Color, Coming to America, and The Arsenio Hall Show, the Black Pack shattered Hollywood norms, using sharp social satire to boldly critique America's persistent racial inequalities.

Artel Great delivers the first comprehensive look at this groundbreaking collective, uncovering how their politically charged comedy attacked underlying assumptions of race in the United States. He reveals how their work confronted dehumanizing narratives of Black identity, unapologetically empowered Black voices, and expanded creative possibilities for Black artists in a white-dominated industry. Rather than compete with one other, these Black comedians together built a comedy ecosystem that nurtured young Black talent. Their alliance transformed anger into art, wielding comedy as a form of resistance while crafting some of the most provocative and enduring cultural productions of the twentieth century.

The Black Pack illuminates the group's unprecedented commercial success and the systemic barriers they defied, revealing how they inspired new generations of Black artists and changed the face of American comedy along the way.

Author: Artel Great
ISBN-10: 197883814X
ISBN-13: 9781978838147
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/17/2025
Pages: 218
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs