All Jokes Aside: Black Women in Comedy
A Webby Award-Winning VH1 Digital Original Documentary
From ideation to narrative direction, this documentary was a labor of love and learning.
This was an original piece of content for the VH1 audience, separate from the brand’s linear content.
I’m a fan of standup comedy, so this concept was close to my heart. I sought new comedians like Tiffany Haddish (it was 2017) and Insecure’s Amanda Seales. Luenell and Martin’s Tichina Arnold were vital to the project as established entertainers. Additionally, I knew commentary from experts was important so I enlisted the help of Debra Wilson, Michelle Buteau, Yvonne Orji, and more.
I scouted and booked talent, scripted prompts and questions for on-site producers, and provided creative narrative direction in the post-production phase.
To launch, we had a roundtable discussion at the YouTube space in NYC.
Michelle Buteau (MTV, VH1, Comedy Central), Ellen Cleghorne, Ph.D. (Saturday Night Live), Azie Dungey (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Naomi Ekpergin (Broad City) joined us to discuss diversity in comedy and Black women in the larger entertainment industry. The live panel was hosted by Franchesca Ramsey (MTV, Comedy Central) after the premiere of All Jokes Aside: Black Women in Comedy.