“Look, Europe aint no Continent. You got AFRICA, ASIA, ANTARCTICA, AUSTRAILIA, and the AMERICA’S all starting with “A”. Then “EUROPE”, Dat SHIT aint separated by a body of water. They made that bullshit up!!!
Paul Mooney is keepin’ it real funny
Comedian Paul MooneyBy MARK DE LA VINA, CORRESPONDENT | Mercury NewsPUBLISHED: April 24, 2007 at 2:40 a.m. | UPDATED: August 14, 2016 at 8:35 a.m.
He played Negrodamus on “Chappelle’s Show,” wrote the Homey the Clown bit for “In Living Color” and wrote the racially tempered word-association sketch for Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase on “Saturday Night Live.”
Comedian Paul Mooney, who won’t give his age but is probably in his 60s, according to some online sources, has amassed a staggering body of creative work. But after more than four decades in the business, he’s still relatively unknown because many of his credits are behind the scenes.
He performs Thursday through Sunday at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco.
Fans have come to expect an unapologetically confrontational routine from Mooney, a former writer for Pryor who has never shied away from posing tough questions about race. (His “SNL” piece from 1975 featured Pryor as a job applicant who engages in a racially charged exercise of word association with Chase.) Even the title of his latest DVD, “Know Your History: Jesus Is Black … So Was Cleopatra” (Image Entertainment/$19.99), leaves little doubt about Mooney’s cultural perspective. TOP
But Mooney’s views aren’t static. This “former ambassador of the N-word” disavowed the use of the epithet after comedian Michael Richards repeatedly dropped the racial slur on black audience members at a performance in November.
The Louisiana-born, Oakland-reared performer spoke by phone about his first foray into television on the “KPIX Dance Party” in the late ’50s, his work with such legends as Redd Foxx and Pryor, and his secret to “keeping it real.”
Q I found a photo of you cutting the rug at a 1997 reunion for “KPIX Dance Party,” the Bay Area’s answer to “American Bandstand.” How were you involved in that show?
A Where did you find that? (He laughs.) I was a teenager on that show. I broke all the racial barriers. I danced with the white girls, the Asian girls and the Latina girls. I integrated California, because “American Bandstand” was very racist. All they had were Puerto Ricans who looked white. They were White-a-ricans.
They were stunned by me. They were fascinated by me.
Q You were a part of the San Francisco comedy scene in the late ’50s and early ’60s when comedians like Mort Sahl, Dick Gregory and Woody Allen were performing at places like the Hungry i. What do you remember about that world?
A When I was 16 or 17, I saw Lenny Bruce being taken to jail. They took him off stage because he talked about race. The Negro, the whites, and how racist white people were. They hated him. Plus he was a drug addict and he liked strippers. I knew a girl’s sister who was dating him – she was a dancer – and that’s how I got in to see the show.
The first time I ever went on stage, my friends, Joe and Eddie – they were like the black Smothers Brothers – were real popular. They brought me on to open, and I didn’t have an act. I had seen (comedian) Ronnie Schell. I got up and did his whole act. He could have killed me.
Q You no longer use the “N-word.” When did you have that “Eureka!” moment when you decided to stop saying it?
A It was with Michael Richards’ meltdown. I’ve known Michael for over 20 years.
People called me. Jesse Jackson. Al Sharpton. Everybody called me. I was the ambassador for the “N-word.”
Richard (Pryor) and I wore it out, and when Richard went to Africa, he said, “There are no N-people over there,” so he wasn’t going to say it again. I said I didn’t care. I was married to it. It was like having a relationship with your lover. Now, I’ve divorced the word.
Q What changed your mind?
A Hearing Michael saying it over and over again – it’s an equal opportunity word that young Asian kids, young white kids, young Latino kids and young black kids use. I just chose not to use it anymore. But if I ever start tweaking and get a jones, I can always say “Arnold Schwarzenegger” because he is, after all, my governor.
Q You spoke to Michael Richards after he was caught on video?
A I had a big meeting with him. He held onto me like a drowning man would hold onto a twig. First, he thought I was going to punch him in the eye. Everybody got on his case, I think, because people saw a lot of Michael in themselves.
Q You seem to have worked with everybody, from Redd Foxx to …
A Another one who loved coke. And Flip Wilson, too. Another drug addict. These were the cocaine days. I mean, the real stuff.
Richard loved Redd Foxx. And he was obsessed and fascinated with Bill Cosby, because Bill Cosby did the crossover.
He wanted to be Bill Cosby. I used to tell him all the time that he was better than Bill Cosby.
Q Was he better or just different?
A Better. Let’s keep it real. Bill Cosby – what he did was fine. He never mentioned race. He didn’t love my act. And what’s so funny is he’s turned into me in his old age. He’s Mr. Controversy. Bill says wild stuff.
Q I almost forgot that you wrote the “word association” sketch on “Saturday Night Live.” That might well be the best bit ever done on the show.
A Completely. That came about because Richard took me on as his writer. At the time, Chevy was the darling of the discotheque. Richard actually couldn’t stand him. He kept saying he was going to knock all of his teeth out.
Chevy used to follow me around and beg me to write him something. That’s how it happened.
You would think that Canadian (“SNL” producer Lorne Michaels) would have kept me aboard, don’t you? But he couldn’t stand me. Whatever that thing is that white people like in blacks, I don’t have it. Maybe it’s my arrogance or my self-assurance or the way I carry myself, but whatever it is, I don’t have it. I try to keep this real.
It’s like when black people’s hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed. When it’s nappy, they’re not happy. I think I have a mental nappy attitude.
Paul Mooney