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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Afros and Bellbottoms

Sinbad

HBO · 1993 · 60 min

A completely clean, high-energy hour of 1970s nostalgia.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

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.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Modern kids having entertainment technologies like Sega Genesis, VCRs, and CD players

    Observes how kids in the 1990s do not play outside anymore because of new electronic devices compared to previous generations.

  2. How to make a faulty 8-track tape play

    Reflects nostalgically on the quirks and hassles of 1970s audio technology.

  3. Rodney King verdict

    Touches on current events at the start of the performance.

  4. Being on a diet

    Humorous observations about attempting to diet.

How it plays

Tone
Nostalgic, pleasant, and family-friendly.
On stage
Observational, clean, and family-friendly; begins the show in a lush wig and full-body fur coat before ditching it for a bold, oversized blue and black track suit with dangly earrings.
About
1970s nostalgia, Black culture and family life in the 1970s versus the 1990s, Blaxploitation films, Childhood and parenting differences across generations, Technology and modern conveniences, Dieting

What the critics said

Received positively by audiences and reviewers as an amusing, nostalgic time capsule and performative tribute to the 1970s that relied on clean, family-friendly observational humor rather than gross or hateful material.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, themoviedb.org, letterboxd.com, allmovie.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Conceived as a nostalgic tribute to 1970s Black culture, Blaxploitation films, soundtracks, and Black family life, contrasting the 1970s with 1990s culture and opening with jokes referencing the Rodney King verdict.

Details

Released
Taped
Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City
Runtime
60 min
Where
HBO
Director
Debbie Allen
Honors
1995 Image Award
Topics
Before
Brain Damaged (1990)
After
Son of a Preacher Man (1996)

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