2013 was the year the comebacks came good and the box office stopped being polite about it. A long-absent legend returned to the stage, a late-night pioneer got his desk back (or rather, his couch), and Kevin Hart proved twice over that he could fill seats. Here is how the year looked.
Comebacks
Dave Chappelle ended eight years largely away from stand-up by headlining the 13-city Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival. In September, Arsenio Hall returned to late night with big opening-week ratings, though the revival lasted only one season.
Box office
Kevin Hart’s concert film Let Me Explain took on the July 4th blockbusters from just 876 screens and finished with more than $32 million. In November, The Best Man Holiday opened to about $30 million, far above forecasts, and came close to beating Thor: The Dark World.
Television
Hart also sent up reality TV with Real Husbands of Hollywood, which gave BET the biggest cable sitcom debut of the year. And Saturday Night Live‘s diversity reckoning put a spotlight on Black women comedians, with a self-mocking Kerry Washington cold open and special auditions that included a young Tiffany Haddish.
UK and Africa
In London, Lenny Henry won over the West End as Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences. In South Africa, Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola earned an International Emmy nomination, putting African political satire on a global stage.
Our take
If 2012 showed the new generation had arrived, 2013 showed it had leverage. The numbers from Hart and The Best Man Holiday made it harder for Hollywood to call Black comedy audiences a niche, and the debate around SNL made it harder to say the talent wasn’t out there. Not every comeback stuck, but the doors that opened this year stayed open.
Next up in our Year in Review series: 2014.
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