I did an interview with The Scotsman's Chitra Ramaswamy. It is one of the most fun interviews I've had in a long time. And it features one of my favorite quotes I've ever said.
I think I like this interview so much because she took everything I said and then re-calibrated it make it more British-y, which makes me sound more intelligent to me... because I'm a self-hating American.
So you wanted my critically acclaimed CD, Face Full of Flour, for a while now but the current economy has made it such that you couldn't scrape together the ten bucks. Well, I understand so I have partnered with the awesome racial justice organization Colorlines to come up with a way for you to get my CD FOR FREE and do some good.
Just click here (or the image above) and you can be whisked to fill out a short survey. In the process you will be helping them figure out ways make the world a better place. You know you wanna.
It's a win, win! I want you to have my CD. You want to have my CD. And we both want the world to be a mo' better place. Enjoy!
So my UK debut is fast approaching and I'm still kind of confused why my first set EVER in the UK will be an hour long stand-up set in London, but here we go. I could really use the help of YOU, my United States peoples, who have peoples in London who might be interested in some Kamau and my Kamauhour! (Say it put loud. It's fun.)
The details are below and you can download this flier if you wanna ship it to your peoples across the pond. Here is a Facebook invite too if you go that way.
Also, there's a clip below of my stand-up so they can check me out. Thanks.
I've even included a sample letter to help get you started.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Hey Friend (or other synonym here... maybe even their name),
I think you should go see my friend W. Kamau Bell when he comes to London and plays Hen & Chickens Theatre on Tuesday, 5 April. Kamau is hilarious (or other synonym here). He's been named San Francisco's best comedian three times. America's Punchline Magazine declared, “One of our country’s most adept racial commentators with a blistering wit and a willingness to say what you quickly realize you’ve always thought." And Robin Williams called him "ferociously funny." This is his first time in the UK, so treat him well. He's a delicate flower. See a clip of him here.
You can also follow him on Twitter and here is the Facebook invite.
Thanks.
(Insert your name here.)
It's my birthday this week and once again the universe wants to let me know EXACTLY what I am worth.
$2.27??? COME ON! It was named one of 2010 top ten CD's on BOTH iTunes and Punchline Magazine!!!
So if you bid on it and win it, I'll flood* you with some sort of currently undecided WKB Prize Package.
Last time one of my CD's ended up on eBay, it was won by Marco Lamas, and now we are the best of friends.**
So give me an early b-day present, click the pic above, and rescue my CD from the Internetic cut out bin.
1 Cent CD INDEED!
* The concept of "flood" is subjective.
** The term "best of friends" is in the eye of the beholder, but we did recently hang out in NYC at a Vernon Reid gig.
Here are my Top 5 picks for pretending like you planned ahead while still giving a thoughtful gift that comedy fans will completely love. Also, these downloads are a therapeutic way to get through holiday travel and long family gatherings.
FACE FULL OF FLOUR, W. KAMAU BELL
Kamau's gem of an album mixes race, politics, and pop culture into 44 minutes of straight-up funny. Face Full of Flour is also in iTunes' and Punchline Magazine's Top 10 for 2010. I think he's 5 better, but still ... those lists are pretty damn impressive. DOWNLOAD
Go to Christine's Blog to see the rest of the Top 5! It includes Marc Maron, Paul F. Tompkins, Comedy Death Ray, & Jimmy Pardo.
In the tradition of epic filmmaking & epic story telling, Kamau has one doozy of story to tell about his last three weeks. And in classic FNGTAC fashion, Vernon takes the conversation waaaaaaaaay off road in a beautiful way. This episode features several epic battles of Good vs. Evil: Kamau vs. Sacramento, Kevin Avery vs. Hollywood, Vernon vs. Hip Hop, Vernon vs. Quentin Tarantino, and even Vernon vs. Apollo Creed(?). And during this epic tale Vernon & Kamau finally have the N Word conversation, and we're not talking about Zen meditation. It took seven episodes for these two black guys to have that conversation. WOW! Maybe instead, they are actually "Far Afield Negroes". This one also features a surprise ending which portends good things to come, and also we finally get to find out exactly what percentage of Vernon that Kamau is. May the force be with them!
Connect with Vernon on Facebook, Twitter @vurnt22, and www.livingcolour.com
Connect with Kamau on Facebook, Twitter @wkamaubell, and www.wkamaubell.com
And you can connect with the Podcast on Twitter @ThatFNGuide
GET US ON iTUNES NOW!!!
I just checked over at iTunes to see... Well, I pretty much look over there several times a day to see if anybody has rated my CD's or podcast or to see if anything like this has happened. It's a fool's errand 99.9% of the time, but today, YAHTZEE!
Thank you to YOU for helping my CD rocket UP the charts. I'm top 40 now. Time to get some leather pants... and one of those JLO hats... and Lil Wayne will of course have to guest on my next CD. So much to do.
This was the best radio interview I've ever done. Mostly because it was an hour focused all on ME! Dave Iverson, the host, asked probing and intelligent and thoughtful questions... which is certainly not always the case for radio. Afterward, I met all the black people at KQED... three. (Just kidding... I met three but I saw five.) It was a lot of fun... the second half many people called in and they were all cool. Enjoy. And I understand if you don't have enough interest to take the whole hour of KAMAU! It was like Frost/Nixon... but less jowl-ly and confrontational.
Fri, Dec 17, 2010 -- 10:00
San Francisco-based comic W. Kamau Bell is known for telling the very first joke about President Obama on Comedy Central, when he memorably predicted in 2005 that Obama was not going to win the election. Bell joins us in the studio for a conversation on humor, and race.
Bell has been named best San Francisco comedian by 7x7 Magazine, The San Francisco Bay Guardian and SF Weekly. His new comedy album "Face Full of Flour" made the iTunes list of best comedy albums of 2010 -- and he's performing at the Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco on New Year's Eve.
Host: Dave Iverson
Guests:
Don't believe me? Look below...
WOW! That's all I can say is, "WOW!" Two Top Ten Lists in one week! And to think I woulda been happy with zero. Weird.
Thanks to Jordan Davidoff at iTunes. And also thank you to Annie O'Rourke and the gang at RooftopComedy.com.
According to Punchline Magazine, my latest CD, Face Full of Flour is #7 of 2010's 10 Best Comedy Albums!!!! Woooohoooooooooo!
Which begs the question... WHY DON'T YOU HAVE IT YET???
You can get it if you click right next to this blog. Look to the right of where you're reading now.
Don't believe I'm #7? See below OR click here to read the entire list. Many of my friends are on it, like Glenn Wool & Hannibal Buress, and Kyle Kinane.
Enjoy...
#7 – W. KAMAU BELL – FACE FULL OF FLOUR
Though not everyone knows it quite yet, San Francisco-based W. Kamau Bell is one of our country’s most adept racial and political commentators; he’s got a blistering wit and a willingness to say what you quickly realize you’ve always thought. He’s relentlessly intelligent, fusing references to create a rich expression of incredulity in a post-Obama world. Note to working comedians: despite what’s been said time and again, it’s possible make fun of our current president and mean it. Kamau is an Obama supporter but deftly takes the piss out of him when necessary. And all of that is there for us to play – and re-play – on Face Full of Flour, a masterful, thinking man’s album. Buy Face Full of Flour
Enjoy! & Let me know what you think...
And if you like it then pick up a copy of my CD Face Full of Flour for the holidays. They make great Secret Santa presents for that racist at work! Or a great present from Hanukkah Harry. Or for Kujichagulia (That's Kwanzaa!) Or for (next) Ramadan! It's also a prefect to wrap up you early Lohri (Hindu) shopping because it's BLAZING HOT! We got my album in digital OR real-ical.
Umm... It was ME!
The best part is that it was the READER'S CHOICE! Right between BEST BURLESQUE & BEST MAGICIAN! (Which is kinda what a comedian is. We strip naked and try to make magic happen while people laugh.)
So I that means I owe thanks all to YOU! Or people very much like you...if you, yourself didn't vote.
I assume that some of you coming to my page are trying to get acquainted with whoever this "W. Kamau Bell" person is, so here's quick primer...
Margaret Cho said about me...
“W. Kamau Bell is the most important guy doing comedy right now. Do yourself a favor and go see him. He’s got the most astute, hilarious and completely righteous material going and he’s going to be a legend in his own lifetime like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce. Think Bill Hicks but slightly taller.”
I'm on Facebook, Twitter, & Youtube. Look to the right side of this page --->
Here's a link to buy my NEW critically acclaimed comedy CD and a clip of my stand-up, followed by a list of upcoming shows!
And here is a list of upcoming shows...
August 13 - The W. Kamau Bell Curve @ UCB in LOS ANGELES 8pm
August 20 - The W. Kamau Bell Curve @ The Comedy Spot in SACRAMENTO BRING A FRIEND OF A DIFFERENT RACE & GET IN 2for1! (Seriously!) 2 shows 8 & 10pm
August 26 - Laughter Against The Machine @ The New Parish in OAKLAND 2 shows 7:30 & 10pm
August 28 - W. Kamau Bell @ Stage Werx in SAN FRANCISCO 8pm
Hope to see you out there soon!
So I'm trying something new at WKB Industries. I'm working hard to get people to come out to my NYC shows, so instead of just asking (ummm... begging) for your help. I thought I'd make it a little more fun for you! A CONTEST!!! If you tweet about my upcoming shows in NYC, you can win a copy of my new cd, Face Full of Flour, autographed by yours truly with some other swag thrown in for fun (stickers and maybe even an inappropriate picture or two). All you have to do is talk about my shows on Twitter (using the hashtag #TheCurve) and a link to my Facebook invite (http://ow.ly/1KjHJ). I’ll choose a winner at random on May 24, once the shows are over!
A few rules:
NYC! @WKamauBell Curve – Ending Racism in About an Hour is in NYC. Bring a friend of a diff race get in 2For1 http://ow.ly/1KjHJ #WKBCurve
If you have any questions, feel free to email me or my other people: info at whitesmithent dot com.
Thank you for all of the support!
April 23, 2010
At first, I was excited, thinking that maybe this was related to The Bell Curve–a book that is essential reading for an Oreo thanks to its assertions about race and intelligence. **
But ’twas not my fortune. Turns out it was a comedy CD by a black guy. Obviously, I proceeded with caution. The last thing I needed anyone in the airport to hear bleeding from my earbuds was a Chris Rock-esque rant. The airport security scanner may not have gone off when my bag went by on the belt, but my Oreo scanner sure did!
Oreo Approved!
I would have kept it in its place in the bag, except that the inflight movies were all things I had seen a million times. Neverwas, Sound of Music, Match Point. I wanted something new to keep me company.
And so I listened.
And laughed. A lot.
Yikes.
Scary moment, my friends. And one that I highly recommend. I mean, how could I stop listening when I heard what he had to say about Tyler Perry, what his wife looks like and his justification for looser gun control??
You can find Face Full of Flour on itunes and Amazon. Get it and listen. Not only because it’s super hilarious funny, but also because if enough non-colors check it out, it definitely won’t be seen as an of color collectable and I can continue to enjoy it unafraid.
**W. gets points actually for having created a show called “The W. Kamau Bell Curve” that you should also check out if you can!
So the hits keep on rolling in. Legendary MC Boots Riley of The Coup ANNNNNNNNNNNNND Street Sweeper Social Club who just Facebooked all about me and my new CD Face Full of Flour. I've pretty much decided that if I can't get my CD to sell, I'm at least gonna get it in the hands of the people who I think would dig it. ANd Boots is DEFINITELY one of those people.
But don't take my word for it. Listen to Boots himself (umm... at least his Facebook page)
Well from the man who wrote "99 Ways to Kill a CEO" and "Fight, Smash, Win!", these are mighty words, so if I were you I'd quickly do what he said.
Although, feel free to get it from iTunes OR Amazon... That is unless you hate black people.
I just received one of the coolest things ever and it's not even my birthday.
And it is all thanks to mofunkin' Twitter.
"W. Kamau Bell is in the vanguard of a new era of American comedy for an unsettling, troubling, and strangely hopeful time. Firmly in the fearless tradition of Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, & Chris Rock. Comedy as common sense purged of the absurd hypocrisy that is Our America." --- Vernon Reid, founder & songwriter & guitarist of Living Colour.
If music is influential then I'm more than 50% Living Colour, cuz I've listened to them more than half my life. And I have certainly listened to them more than any other band. (Fishbone is a close second. Then 24-7 Spyz... Then Urban Dance Squad.. Oops! I forgot Hendrix... Dang!) Anyway, It may sound like an exaggeration but without Vernon and Living Colour, I wouldn't be anything close to the who I am today. If you like those things, thank them. If you don't, then blame me.
You probably remember Living Colour for THIS...
But make no mistake. They are still out there making the myths...
Check it out below...
Once you watch the clip, you can pick up my NEW CD Face Full of Flour on iTunes or at Amazon.com.
Check it out. You can order it from Rooftop Comedy if you click on the picture below. Pick up a copy of the CD, pop it in your Discman, strap on your rollerblades, throw on a flannel and laugh your cares away.
William Morris Endeavor Entertainment
TV & Film
Ben Simone
BSimone@wmeagency.com
212.903.1100
Stand-Up & Speaking
Stacy Mark
SM@wmeagency.com
310.859.4108
Brillstein Entertainment Partners
Tim Sarkes
t.sarkes@bep-la.com
310.205.5123
Alex Murray
a.murray@bep-la.com
310.205.5111
