Year in Review
Looking back at the biggest moments in Black comedy, year by year.
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2011: Steve Harvey Lands a Daytime Talk Show
Already hosting Family Feud and a national radio show, Steve Harvey signed on for an NBCUniversal daytime talk show.
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2011: Basketmouth Revives Laffs n Jamz in Lagos
Nigeria’s biggest comedian brought back the comedy-and-music night he started as a student.
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2011: The Documentary That Introduced Trevor Noah
Years before The Daily Show, a documentary followed a 25-year-old Trevor Noah as he prepared his first one-man show.
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2011: Martin Lawrence Brings Back Big Momma
The third Big Momma film put Martin Lawrence back in the fat suit and back at the box office.
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2011: Tracy Morgan Returns to Nashville to Apologize
After anti-gay remarks at a Nashville show drew national criticism, Tracy Morgan went back to the city to apologize in person.
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2011: Eddie Murphy Walks Away from Hosting the Oscars
Eddie Murphy was set to host the 84th Academy Awards until the ceremony’s producer resigned. Murphy followed him out the door.
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2011: Chris Rock Takes Broadway
Chris Rock swapped the stand-up stage for a straight play, opening in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf**ker with the Hat.
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2011: Remembering Patrice O’Neal, the Comic’s Comic
Patrice O’Neal died at 41, months after the special that finally showed a wider audience what comedians already knew.
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2011: Kevin Hart Hosts the BET Awards
At the peak of his Laugh at My Pain run, Kevin Hart took the stage at the Shrine Auditorium to host BET’s biggest night.
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2011: Kevin Hart’s ‘Laugh at My Pain’ Proves Stand-Up Can Still Sell Tickets
A limited release in fewer than 100 theaters turned into the most successful stand-up film in nearly a decade.