When and where? premieres April 18, 11:15 p.m., on Starz
Who should watch this program? comedians, freedom fighters
So how is it? "There's only two white men that black people love: Bill Clinton and Bob Barker!" Truer words were never spoken, at least not by comic Cheryl Underwood on Starz, the underdog movie channel now exploring its options in original programming. Their latest is 1st Amendment Standup, a half hour of comedy by mostly black comedians. The debut starts off strong with genial host Doug Williams but takes a nosedive fast with first performer Donnell Rawlings, who opens with airport jokes. Airport jokes? The old "put your seat back forward" bit died a painful death a decade ago. Thankfully, 1st Amendment producer Martin Lawrence isn't trying to vanilla-ize comedy of color, and the subsequent comics' blacktastic riffs kill. Ian Edwards as a shark: "Shit, there goes my nigga right there, I'm hungry. My bad, I apologize, I'm a Great White, I ain't supposing to be using the N-word. I don't want this to go down as a racial eating." Underwood wins over the mixed crowd with this line: "That's why I live in California. I love to fuck a Mexican." The humor of this show isn't subtle, but the laughs are as infectious as ghetto HIV.
