Dick Gregory, Moms Mabley, and Redd Foxx

This chapter links the development of comic rage in African American literature to similar and perpendicular changes in stand-up comedy. While Dick Gregory embodies the convergence of the civil rights movement and the emergence of stand-up as a critical form of expression, this chapter also traces influential figures like Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx to identify the elements from which Gregory pulls in his deployment of comic rage. Mabley’s embrace of community allowed her to challenge patriarchal assumptions about sexual and gender relations while Foxx’s performance of, what I call, the Comic Bad Nigger produces a tone of fearlessness that Gregory imbeds in his act. Gregory’s ability to maintain the balance of both elements creates a space where he and his audience constructively explored race in a way that mirrored the push for integration and equality.