Def Comedy Jam premiered on HBO on July 1, 1992 and made households of people laugh for 5 seasons and spin-offs to come. Today, Netflix released Def Comedy Jam 25, a reunion special celebrating 25 years of comedy genius.
"Y'all know what Def Comedy Jam did for us." -Tiffany Haddish
The special was filmed on September 10th and the audience was full of Black superstars. Everybody from Diddy, Nia Long, Marlon Wayans, Jesse Williams, Morris Chestnut, and Meagan Good were seated to see the 25 year history of Def Comedy Jam. The most remarkable thing about going down this beautiful comedic rabbit hole is seeing how young everybody was when they first started.
"So many of my peers from 25 years ago look so goddamn good." said Adele Givens and they definitely do. Eddie Griffin even made an appearance saying "You see all them niggas in here that used to be broker than a motherfucker."
"Look how many millionaires you made in this room tonight." Mike Epps to Russell Simmons
They were hungry and it was clear that they all wanted one another to succeed because they all had each other's backs. Tracy Morgan recounts a memory in which Martin Lawrence saw him and told him "Come eat at my table."
Def Comedy Jam not only put the new faces in comedy on, those new faces also kept the community informed as well. Comedians talked about every thing from politics, racial tension, sexual health, and finances. They kept us afloat of current events in a humorous way. "Only white folks were shocked." said Mike Colyar in one of his acts
Everybody who touched the stage thanked Russell Simmons and Stan Lathan for creating a safe space for young Black people to share their art. It was a Black night full of Black people telling Black jokes. The room was full of excitement and it was literally, shinnin'. Mike Epps and Joe Torry even brought it back to the old school Def Jam days and started joking on people in the crowd.
original post - 9.26.17
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