Stand up comics can seem out of place at a noise-filled environment like the Pitchfork music festival. But this year marked the first time comedy made it to the festival. Fortunately, break-through comedians like Wyatt Cenac and Hannibal Burress managed to draw a decent turn out at this year’s Balance stage.
Known for his quirky, racially charged humor, Wyatt Cenac has become a crowd favorite as one of the younger correspondents on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.
After his set, A&E caught up with Wyatt to talk about Pitchfork, the movie industry and “Daily Show” sexism.
How do you like performing at festivals as opposed to the club setting or being on the Daily Show?
They’re fun. It seems like at a festival the crowds are always into– whether its comedy or music– they seem to be really engaged and… if they’re coming out to see you it seems that they really are invested and interested. This is the first time there was open air. It’s is weird doing it out in the open just because you can hear the other music. I kind wanted to see Robyn’s show so it’s weird because I’m hearing it and then I remember ‘oh I need to be telling jokes’.
What’s it like telling racially charged jokes to a predominately white audience here at Pitchfork?
I feel like the thing I always hear whether it’s at a place like this or Bonnaroo or Bumbershoot, I always hear minorities who are like ‘oh yeah I go to that’ and they’re like ‘I love hearing people talk about those things.’ I still feel like it’s something that people should still talk about. Whether you’re in a club or in a festival, you’re called a minority for a reason and so if you just kind of stopped and gave the most homogenous stand up that you could it would be probably a little unfair to yourself as a minority. And here’s your chance to at least expose a mostly white audience to a perspective they don’t know about. And to the minorities that are here, it makes them feel like ‘yeah I do belong here as much as anybody else, I’m not alone’.
You were in a movie a couple years ago, Medicine for Melancholy, what made want to get involved in that?
Initially because I was dead broke. They offered me some money to do this movie and I had no money and needed to pay my rent and they were going to put me up in this place for like a month. I also liked the story and I liked the script and when I got to sit down with Barry Jenkins the director he was a really cool guy and I could see what he wanted the movie to be and it felt like that was a movie I’d want to see. So if I had the opportunity to get involved in it I’d be an idiot not to.
Do plan on doing more film?
I’d love to. It’s ultimately one of those things of how those opportunities present themselves. I think, unfortunately, I’m not the guy where people are like banging my door down to do “Hangover 2” or “Beverly Hills Cop 8” but I’d love to do more films. I’ve often been told I don’t necessarily fit one box and unfortunately I think as far as casting is concerned it’s very much about what box you fit into. So I’d love to do more things but I’d probably have to make those things happen myself rather than wait for whatever Hollywood tastemaker to call.
How do you feel being apart of the new generation of black comedians? Do you feel pressure?
I think you just feel pressure as a comedian. Whether you’re black or white or Asian or anything, I think you feel pressure to just be as funny as you can. You go out to every show with the intention of killing. So to me that’s the pressure I feel. I don’t necessarily feel it because of my race it’s more like ‘no I just want to be the funniest person I can be.’ Chris Rock is considered one of the funniest stand ups and I would guess the thing he’s always chasing is trying to top himself, not necessarily being the standard bearer for his race. Because I think at the end of the day people just say ‘wow he’s one of the funniest stand ups’ and don’t necessarily qualify it and I think that’s probably what every comedian hopes.
Do you think black comedians become pigeonholed when they start?
Yeah to a certain degree. I think it depends on where you start out as a comic. There are the theme nights. Like in LA it was “Chocolate Sunday” and “Refried Friday” and there are things like that. Sometimes if you start out there that’s the track you get put on and because comedy can be a little bit of a segregated world in that way the comedians who do the “Chocolate Sunday” shows aren’t always doing shows that are like “Comedy Death Parade” which is considered more of an alternative show. It’s very rare that those audiences and those comedians, that their world overlap. I think that often is the problem. There aren’t enough shows where they’re like ‘lets put funny people, regardless of where they came up, lets put them on one show together and let the audience appreciate them as funny people.’
What’s it been like to be working on “The Daily Show?
It’s been really cool; it’s been a lot of fun. I like making a show from the ground up every day. There’s something that is kind of stressful about it and our work environment is such a good one in that we don’t get too stressed out about it and we just focus on the task at hand. Like at 6 o’clock we have to make a show and there’s something nice about that and that’s a lot fun. Working with everybody on that show is really talented from the field producers to the writers to the other correspondents to Jon. There are so many talented people I get to work with on a daily basis… I really enjoy it.
So how sexist do you have to be to work on the “Daily Show?”
That whole thing was a very weird article. I understood the point the writer wanted to make. I feel like the point she was trying to make goes beyond our show and is one of an institutionalized… whether or you want to call it sexism or an institutionalized lack of diversity. I think she wanted to use our show as the model of that but I feel like she unfortunately overlooked that there are a lot more women that have contributed to that show, both through its inception– the two women, Madeline and Liz who created it– to the many women who have worked there over the years, not just as writers or correspondents. She overlooked our field producers who are just as much writers on the show, our segment producers who are just as much writers and even discounted people like Samantha Bee. I thought that was probably the most unfair thing. It seemed that she totally discounted Samantha’s contribution as like ‘you know what there are five correspondents on the show and one of them is a woman but I don’t want to talk about how amazingly talented and funny Sam is and the fact that she’s had two children and is now about to have a third and still comes to work everyday’. She gives her all to the show and I thought that was really unfair. I don’t know. That was maybe a little sexist as the writer of that article. So maybe in that way, maybe that qualifies her to work on the show. So I don’t know if that’s what she was going for at the end of it all and was just like ‘hey now you know my name here’s my writing packet!’