The Awkward Kings of Comedy

THE GEEK SHALL INHERIT From left, Victor Varnado, Hannibal Buress, Marina Franklin, Baron Vaughn and Eric André.

Of all the Original Kings of Comedy spin-offs to hit the airwaves—The Queens, The Latin Kings, The Latin Divas, The Kims, etc.—the latest is perhaps the most interesting. On Monday 3 at Comix, Victor Varnado celebrates the DVD release of The Awkward Comedy Show with a live performance starring its cast, “The Awkward Kings”: Baron Vaughn, Eric André, Hannibal Buress, Marina Franklin and Varnado himself.

Varnado, who directed the film, handpicked this group because although each of them is black, none fit in with the Def Jam style. The DVD cover advertises COMEDY, PLUS BLACKNESS, TO THE NERD POWER. “People expect black comics to come out on stage and say, ‘What’s up, la-deeees!’ ” Varnado explains, and then adds sarcastically, “Or, I guess, sometimes they say, ‘What’s up, Brooklyn!’ So people see what we do as a little off, a little awkward.”

In one of the film’s behind-the-scenes interviews, just before Buress takes the stage, Varnado says, “When I first saw Hannibal, I was so surprised; I had never seen someone so sedate with skin that dark.”

By aping the cookie-cutter format of the …of Comedy films, The Awkward Kings aims to subvert it, and to use the word diversity by its correct definition. It achieves this goal by relegating such philosophical theory, interesting though it is, to brief interstitial roundtable discussions; the meat of the concert is the comics’ sets, which have not been altered to fit any agenda.

Vaughn holds forth like a Shakespearean actor, albeit one who sings about “penises and lollipops” and plays the part of a crack-doling pterodactyl in flight. Franklin is the loving and levelheaded big sister who will let you learn from her dating mistakes. André is explosive. He grunts and screams through the products of his terrifying imagination. In stark contrast, Buress files through droll observations with a laid-back confidence, and pays homage to the man who invented his favorite drink, the Flaming Dr Pepper. Headlining the concert is Varnado, who enumerates the benefits of being an albino and investigates the trick tactics of homeless beggars: “William? I said, ‘William!’ Is your name William? [Pause] Oh, that’s right, I’m William. Give me a dollar.”

Although the comedians vary dramatically in style and subject matter, at one point or another each one riffs on either black culture or his or her personal experiences with race. So ultimately, The Awkward Kings is not upending its namesake, but continuing in its tradition of exploring African-American humor, the parameters of which do need updating.

“There can be different gradations of what a black comic can be,” Varnado explains, “wacky like Eric, calm like Hannibal, theatrical like Baron.”

“What about Marina?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Varnado replies. “She is harder to describe. She’s really confident… Um, she gets the audience on board.”

“She’s the most mainstream in the group,” I offer.

“That’s why I wanted her to host,” he explains. “So she could be a normalizing factor between the rest of us.”

“What are you saying? Black comics can be normal?”

“Exactly,” he says. “We don’t all hump chairs.”

The Awkward Comedy Show DVD release happens Mon 3; it’s available for purchase Tue 4 (New Video Group, $20). An edited version airs sporadically on Comedy Central.

See more in Comedy