The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell

If you don't already love Kamau, you probably won't enjoy this book. It's rambling and generally all over the place--like an oral history of how Kamau got progressively more woke. But honestly, that's why the book makes sense. The essays interspersed throughout are just so fabulously on point such as this wonderful take on the importance of Apollo Creed:

In the 1970s, he was the rare Black character in the movie who was clearly way smarter than the lead white character in the movie.

I wonder honestly if this is the sort of book that probably doesn't make sense to someone who hasn't had the same experiences as Kamau--a bit like how white and racialized people are watching two different movies in respect to the film "Get Out" for example. show more Nonetheless, it's a very entertaining read and you get the sense that Kamau is trying to convey the feeling of being both stigmatized and even doing the stigmatizing as genuinely as one could ask for. show less

I have grown to love The United Shades of America, and it is because of that that I picked up this book. I didn't know if W. Kamau Bell could write, because not every comedian can, but I love this book. Its a lot like United Shades, in that it can be funny, but it's also brutally honest and probing. It doesn't let anyone off the hook for doing or saying the wrong thing, i.e. something that belittles another person or makes someone feel less than. And Bell is brave enough to not let himself off the hook either.

A collection of experiences, thoughts, and lessons from the author's life and career. I love reading about how actors, comedians, and other pop culture figures got their start and I think Mr. Bell has a very unique story and journey. It's always encouraging to read the memoir of famous/successful people and realize that it didn't come easily to them and many times they didn't know what they were doing.

Although the stories about racism and sexism, especially in the vaulted circles of Hollywood, fill me with a sense of helplessness, I was also encouraged by the author's own upbeat take on things. The stories he tells about the people who are out their making TV, the people responsible for essentially building our culture, it is totally show more unsurprising that racism is such a problem in this country. This book gave me lots of food for thought and had me questioning my own unconsciously racist behavior.

It all seems so impossible to fix, but the important thing is to not give up and not abnegate my own personal responsibility for it. This was a funny book full of funny stories, but in many ways, it is one of the most serious books I've read in awhile. show less

I like Bell. He is smart, and funny, and takes an approach to political and social humor I like a great deal. His style feels to me similar to John Oliver's in its attempt to educate while embracing the absurdity and pathos (and sometimes true tragedy) inherent in this sort of subject matter. In other words, it doesn't stop with making you feel things and laugh, but wants you to learn things and laugh. I didn't learn a whole lot from Bell's book, far less than I learn on an average episode of his excellent CNN show, but I still appreciated the approach, and the vulnerability he brings to his work. I don't agree with much of his politics and I especially don't agree with his vision for the Democratic party (and if he really voted for show more Jill Stein I might have overestimated how smart he is) but his points are wise and well-considered and he seems like a pretty amazing guy. I loved the little bits we learned about his mother, whom I absolutely want to hang out with, and the rest of his family. Honestly this is probably more of a 3.5 for me, but I would heartily recommend it to my friends who struggle to understand the reality and costs of inherent bias and especially to my freinds who have a sense of humor and do not have the great gift of a diverse set of freinds and colleagues willing to have uncomfortable and honest conversations about race. Let that serve as a thank you to the people in my life who challenge me to listen to their truth. You know who you are. show less

W. Kamau Bell is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, and television host. I'm aware of him through his terrific Politically Re-Active podcast with Hari Kondabolu (currently on hiatus). I liked him enough from that to want to read his book. Much of The Awkward Thoughts is straight memoir. Bell's parents divorced when he was young and he grew up in Boston attending predominately white private schools. He describes himself as a "blerd" or Black nerd and distanced from the identifiers of Black culture. Since Bell and I were born in the same year, I found I could relate to a lot of the pop culture events he recounts.

As a teenager he moved to Chicago at a time when Harold Washington was mayor and Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey were beginning show more their reign as world changing Black super-celebrities. Bell attended University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out, and then moved to San Francisco in the 1990s to attempt to break into the stand-up comedy scene right as the big stand-up boom of the 70s and 80s went bust. He finds his niche in a one-man show in which he made comedic observations on the state of racism in America. This lead to work on television, hosting Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on FX and then United Shades of America on CNN, as well as many, many podcasts.

Among the memoir bits, Bell reflects on many topics including sports (and why he doesn't enjoy them), Denzel Washington as the greatest actor of all time, the significance of Doc McStuffins, and the Rocky movies. He also worries about racism in America and the very real threat of a Black man like himself being killed by police or a vigilante. He details a significant incident when he was harassed by the staff of a coffee shop in his hometown of Berkeley, CA when he stopped to talk to his wife (who is white) and her friends at the sidewalk cafe. As a white reader, I was grateful that Bell takes the time to address what white people can do to confront racism (and give us a pep talk in the process) while relating his own experiences of what definitely does not help with racism.

This is a funny and insightful book, and the audiobook is extra special in that Bell reads it in his warm voice. show less

This is a memoir by W. Kamau Bell, who I know from watching the excellent United Colors of America on CNN. He tells the story of growing up and making a name for himself in the world of comedy while never really feeling he belongs in either the world of popular white culture or popular Black culture. I really like Bell and I can relate to him easily despite having a different background - especially his love for Doc McStuffins and the movie Creed. I loved his honesty about his journey and how even when you have reached a bit of professional success, it might not be the best path for you personally. I also think that this is a great book because Bell feels like a friend, like lots of people I know in my life of all backgrounds, yet his show more is honest about how racism has affected his life. I think it is easy for people to think that racism happens to "the other" not people like you and me even if they have darker skin. Bells story shows how even an affluent African American man that lives in a community like mine and has a family similar to mine has experienced racism. It is not just something that happens in "redneck southern towns" or inner city ghettoes, it is something that happens everyday everywhere. show less

The title of this book is appropriate as it is indeed filled with awkward thoughts especially if you are a straight white male since it tackles such topics as race, sex, and homosexuality. He also focuses on his career and family and his blerd (black nerd) status as well as what it is like to be a towering Black man in the United States. By the way, he capitalizes the word Black because other words of identity such as Chinese, Christianity, and Klansmen are capitalized so he feels as do other Black scholars that it should be capitalized. So I too will capitalize it for this review.

He has an interesting take on superheroes. His favorites are the Hulk and Spiderman because the Hulk is green and Spiderman is red and blue. Under Spidey's show more mask, he could be any color and the Hulk was green so both were appealing to a young Black man growing up in the 1970s and 1980s were those and Batman and Superman were the most popular superheroes. Yes, there were Black superheroes such as Black Panther, Black Vulcan, and Black Lightning, but these superheroes all had the word Black put in front of their name. It gives out a clue to their secret identity. Of course, there is Falcon, Cyborg, and Power Man. Cyborg could never hide his identity and Falcon was pretty lame. His power was talking to falcons. In the movie, they gave him cool wings and left out the talking bit. Power Man looked like a pirate in a ridiculous costume. Now he goes by the name of Luke Cage and is much cooler. He's also not big on the new trend of having people of color playing the iconic superheroes. Why not just have new superheroes of color? It's a valid question and one the major comic industries should be asking themselves.

After many years of doing stand-up and not doing as well as he would have liked, Bell finally found his niche when he created the show The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour. It would be topical and informative while also being funny. After the first night of running it, he asked for feedback from a select group of friends and he got it. One of them, a woman, took him to task about his sexism in the show. And he learned a valuable lesson that it isn't enough to just be the better male comedian on sexism he must think about who he is hurting in his joke. If he is hurting someone else that doesn't need to be hurt. He would deal with others on this issue later in his life who didn't see things his way and he would have to fight them on it because sexism still exists inside writers' rooms on shows and in movies. He wonders why more women don't quit once they get inside these rooms for all the crap they have to put up with. The answer is simple: they want to change things and this is the only way.

Bell also talks about the making of his two TV shows Unbiased and The United Shades of America. Unbiased came about due to Chris Rock taking an interest in him and aired on FX and then FXX. It started out as a weekly show then in its second season it went to a daily format, Monday through Thursday. He came to curse Chris Rock to some degree for that show. It very nearly ended his marriage. He was completely miserable doing it as he didn't have the control over the show he should have had. On Untied Shades of America, the first season was rough as the people he worked with didn't get what he was having to do like the KKK episode where they had gotten the footage they needed but didn't tell him and let him keep talking to the Klan which was dangerous for him.

I somehow missed Unbiased but I've seen every episode of United Shades of America which is what prompted me to pick up this book and read it. While at times it's uncomfortable to read as a white person, I don't have a problem with that as I believe I should feel uncomfortable about the issue of race in America. It is a problem and one that won't be fixed overnight. But the other things he talks about in this book also make it worth reading, such as confronting and conquering his homophobia, his awkwardness over sports, his love of Denzil Washington, the Democratic Party, the Trump presidency, and the trials of being married with children to a white woman. This is a great book that explores a man's life in its many facets in a very fascinating way. I highly recommend it.

Quotes
In San Francisco, “beach” means a cold, bleak place to take a walk and wonder what went wrong in your life.
-W. Kamau Bell (The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6’4”, African-American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian p 240) show less