Hater Hall of Fame: Paul Mooney Edition

Paul Mooney,  Born August 4, 1941

Paul Mooney was born in Louisiana, but spent most of his young life growing up in Oakland, California.  At a young age, Mooney ran away from home and decided to join the Charles Gody Circus; while stories that involve joining the circus usually don’t end too well, Mooney would go on to become the first African-American ringmaster in the history of the Big Top.  It was here that Mooney began writing jokes and observations, which he would incorporate into the circus’s opening act.  This material also helped him land his first job as a professional writer for another up-and-coming comedian - a man by the name of Richard Pryor.  Mooney wrote most of the routines for Pryor when he hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live on December 13, 1975, including a skit that many fans and critics claim is the funniest in the show’s history – “Racist Word Association“.  Mooney would go on to collaborate with Pryor on several different endeavors over the next decade.  Most notably, he was a co-writer on three of Pryor’s albums (Is It Something I Said?, Bicentennial Nigger, and Live on the Sunset Strip), and the head writer on The Richard Pryor Show.  NBC only ran four episodes of this series before it was cancelled, which was likely due to the many critics and viewers at that time who believed it was too controversial for network TV; but during that short time, he also provided several cast members with their first taste of show business – names like as Marsha Warfield, Robin Williams, Sandra Bernhard, and John Witherspoon.

Paul Mooney’s brilliance as a comedic writer continued to show through his work on shows like Sanford and Son and Good Times, but he struggled to gain recognition as a legitimate stand-up act.  He did, however, manage to land a few small parts in films like Which Way is Up?, Bustin’ Loose, Hollywood Shuffle, and played the role of singer/songwriter Sam Cooke in the 1978 biopic The Buddy Holly Story.  In 1990, Mooney was hired by the Wayans’ brothers to be a writer for their new sketch comedy program, In Living Color.  In the first year of the show, Mooney created one of my favorite characters from the series’s run, Homey the Clown, as well as Black Like You featuring the brothers Tom and Tom.  Mooney began to come into his own after the release of his first two comedy albums – “Race” in 1993, and ”Master Piece” in 1994.  Mooney’s comedy continued to be cutting edge and controversial by its very nature; his views on race relations, white culture, and US history have made many people uncomfortable – but the truth is not always a popular thing.  When asked about his comedic style, Mooney said, “I always drop history. It’s knowledge. There’s always a message in my comedy and you may not get it that night – it’s like time bombs. It’ll get you a week later. You’ll understand.”

Mooney’s most recognizable work to date is probably his appearances on Comedy Central’s Chappelle’s Show from 2003-06.  He initially performed in the sketches “Mooney at the Movies” and “Ask a Black Dude”, but later replaced those with a recurring character who was the African-American equivalent to Nostradamus, Negrodamus.  In these sketches, Mooney would ad-lib answers from fake audience members about some of life’s great mysteries – he was once asked, “Why is President Bush so sure Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?”  The wise soothsayer simply replied, “Because he has the receipt.”  While working on the show, he released his first comedy DVD, titled “Analyzing White America” – his second DVD, “Know Your History: Jesus is Black…So Was Cleopatra”, was released in 2006.  Mooney has since appeared in a 2009 documentary produced by Chris Rock Productions titled Good Hair, and he continues to tour across the U.S. doing his stand-up act.  While more than a few critics have used words like “militant” and ”racist” to describe Paul Mooney, I prefer terms like “truthful”, “unapologetic”, “free thinker”, and most importantly, a ”world class hater”. 

Mooney talks about UFO’s, acting, schools, and animals:

Mooney’s first appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman:

More Paul Mooney videos on YouTube