Semi-Prominent Negro

W. Kamau Bell kicks off his first hourlong special by explaining his self-appointed title: he is a “semi-prominent Negro.” By his definition, that means he is the guy cable news producers call to talk about race only when Al Sharpton, Van Jones, and Ta-Nehisi Coates do not answer their phones. It is a sharp, self-deprecating entry point into a set that treats the absurdities of modern American racism with the weary amusement of a guy who has to explain white privilege to his own in-laws.\n\nThe special was filmed at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn and released on Showtime in April 2016, directed by documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. The release capped off a major breakout week for Bell, whose Emmy-winning CNN docu-series United Shades of America premiered just five days earlier. After the cancellation of his FXX late-night show Totally Biased a few years prior, this hour marked his transition from a niche alt-comedy favorite into a mainstream sociopolitical commentator.\n\nBell spends much of the hour talking about his family, specifically his experience as a Black man in an interracial marriage raising mixed-race daughters. Other standout bits focus on the gentrification of the Bay Area and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. He also recounts a real-life interview with a white journalist who kicked off their conversation by asking Bell to define exactly when it is acceptable for white people to use the N-word, proving that his “semi-prominent” status comes with some very weird professional hazards.