Afros and Bellbottoms

Sinbad anchors his 1993 HBO hour in 1970s nostalgia. Trading standard jokes for sweeping, high-energy storytelling, he treats the decade as a shared fever dream. He targets the physical realities of wearing platform shoes, the plot holes of Blaxploitation movies, and the strict discipline of old-school parents. He works without a drop of profanity, relying entirely on his movement and the accuracy of his memories.

Filmed at the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the set captures a comic at the exact peak of his television run. That same year, he launched his own Fox sitcom and continued his stint as a defining host of It’s Showtime at the Apollo.

Directed by Debbie Allen, the release later won an NAACP Image Award.