1987
1994
A01=Artel Great
anti-Black depictions
Arsenio Hall
Author_Artel Great
Black American humorists
Black cultural productions
Black images
Black perspectives
Black stories
Category=ATX
Category=ATXD
Category=JBCC1
Category=JBCT
Category=JBSL
Category=NHTB
comedy
Coming to America
daring voices
Eddie Murphy
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
film
hidden history
Hollywood
Hollywood establishment
humor
ideologies
In Living Color
Keenen Ivory Wayans
late twentieth century.
media productions
network censors
Paul Mooney
politically Black
race
racist corporate structures
rebellious voices
resistance
resistant philosophy
Robert Townsend
satire
social comics
television
The Arsenio Hall Show
The Black Pack
transgressive
Product details
- ISBN 9781978838130
- Weight: 367g
- Dimensions: 156 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 17 Jun 2025
- Publisher: Rutgers University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The Black Pack: Comedy, Race & Resistance is the first book to chronicle the untold history behind the iconic collaborations between a legendary group of comedians-Eddie Murphy, Paul Mooney, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Robert Townsend, and Arsenio Hall-who joined forces as the “Black Pack” in the late 1980s to create a series of socially-charged comedies that revolutionized popular culture and transformed American comedy.
Working together as writers, directors, producers, actors, and consultants, the Black Pack created some of the most provocative and enduring Black films and television shows of the twentieth century, including classic productions like In Living Color, Coming to America, Hollywood Shuffle, and The Arsenio Hall Show. The Black Pack collective was armed with a signature comedic style which combined politically-Black satire with edgy social humor that entertained millions, shattered box-office records, and slyly critiqued America’s racial condition. Amid escalating social tensions in the 1980s, the Black Pack’s comedic output transformed anger into art, wielding the cloak of humor as a rebellious tool to confront unjust business practices in Hollywood and challenge racial narratives embedded in American culture. Their work empowered unapologetically Black voices and expanded creative possibilities for Black artists in the entertainment industry.
In The Black Pack, Artel Great delivers the most comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking comedy collective, uncovering how the group’s socially and politically-charged humor defied systemic barriers to achieve unprecedented commercial success and establish a cultural legacy that continues to inspire media creators today and across new generations.
Working together as writers, directors, producers, actors, and consultants, the Black Pack created some of the most provocative and enduring Black films and television shows of the twentieth century, including classic productions like In Living Color, Coming to America, Hollywood Shuffle, and The Arsenio Hall Show. The Black Pack collective was armed with a signature comedic style which combined politically-Black satire with edgy social humor that entertained millions, shattered box-office records, and slyly critiqued America’s racial condition. Amid escalating social tensions in the 1980s, the Black Pack’s comedic output transformed anger into art, wielding the cloak of humor as a rebellious tool to confront unjust business practices in Hollywood and challenge racial narratives embedded in American culture. Their work empowered unapologetically Black voices and expanded creative possibilities for Black artists in the entertainment industry.
In The Black Pack, Artel Great delivers the most comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking comedy collective, uncovering how the group’s socially and politically-charged humor defied systemic barriers to achieve unprecedented commercial success and establish a cultural legacy that continues to inspire media creators today and across new generations.
ARTEL GREAT is the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African American Cinema Studies and assistant professor of cinema and media at San Francisco State University. He is an Independent Spirit Award–nominated filmmaker and the coeditor of Black Cinema & Visual Culture: Art and Politics in the 21st Century.
