Comedian and social critic Dick Gregory will take to the stage Thursday, at 6 PM, at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Oratorium stage.
Gregory will speak with the Smithsonian’s Lonnie G. Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as part of the festival’s program, “Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture.”
Gregory is known for incorporating messages about social justice and equality in his comedic performances. I had the chance to speak with Gregory by telephone about his development as a comedian and how audiences have changed throughout his 40-year career.
From your perspective, how does comedy relate to the Folklife Festival theme of “Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture?”
Comedy don’t. Satire do. It’s broken down into two things. Comedy is when you and I exchange something, talking about our pain. For instance, we’re friends all our life, and you hit your finger with a hammer and break a bone. You go to the hospital and they straighten it up, operate, put a cast on it. Five years later, we’re sitting together, and laughing, and talking about how stupid that was. That’s the comedy between you and me. Now, you decide one day you’re going to do a whole satirical play on all the stupid things people do to hurt themselves. So then, that’s different than just a one-liner.
How did you learn to develop your style of satire?
Probably the most brilliant person at satire was the black minister. Think about it, the black minister does not have Hollywood writers and yet that black minister writes 52 sermons every year and never repeats. He doesn’t write the funny stuff in, but once he gets that rhythm—that humming—and then he starts talking about all the stupid things that have happened this week. I had a lot of people ask me how I learned. I was born before television. When the white comics came on TV, I didn’t id ...More...
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