That's what I call it, anyhow.
Most people look at February as a month to highlight the history of black people in America. But everything I look at these days is through the lens of Comedy, so I am now calling it "Black Comedy Month".
It has been a side-splitting adventure. This last month I have been digging through books, watching classic bits on YouTube, finding all kinds of things about Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx and Cris Rock.
Then I discovered Timmie Rogers, one of the very first black comedians to perform regularly in front of an all-white audience.
Each time I watched him perform (there are some old recordings on YouTube) I fell off my chair and landed in my laundry pile on the floor. His timing is exquisite, and he has an uncanny sense of how to make fun of the human condition.
He has a catch phrase, "Oh yeah!", that he used to great effect, fine-tuning the delivery to serve any occasion. Simple, yet effective. Happy, sad, excited or reserved, his delivery fits the material. The guy is genius.