W. Kamau Bell


Walter Kamau Bell, known professionally as W. Kamau Bell, is an American stand-up comic and television host. He has hosted the CNN series United Shades of America since 2016, and hosted FXX television series Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell from 2012 to 2013. He is the host of the live radio show and podcast Kamau Right Now on KALW, and also co-hosts the podcasts Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor Of All Time Period with Kevin Avery and Politically Re-Active with Hari Kondabolu.

Early life and education

Bell was born in Palo Alto, California, and grew up in Alabama, Boston and Chicago, the son of Walter Bell, who served as Alabama's Insurance Commissioner and Chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation, and author Janet Cheatham Bell, who founded a self-publishing firm. Between ages five and 12, Bell lived in Boston, Massachusetts in the Mattapan neighborhood of the city. Bell graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and attended the University of Pennsylvania before dropping out. Later he began to pursue a career in comedy.
He is a first cousin once removed of speculative fiction writer N. K. Jemisin.

Career

After establishing himself as a sociopolitical comedian and community activist based in San Francisco, Bell became a founding member of the comedy collective Laughter Against the Machine and has been featured in a number of prominent podcasts and publications, such as WTF with Marc Maron, Citizen Radio, and Current TV's The War Room with Jennifer Granholm, on which Bell was a regular correspondent.
His first comedy album, One Night Only, was released in 2007. Also in 2007, he developed a one-man show entitled The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About An Hour, "a comedic exploration of the current state of America's racism", which he periodically performs in updated versions.
His follow-up album, Face Full of Flour, was released in 2010, and was named one of the Top 10 Best Comedy Albums of the year by iTunes and Punchline Magazine. From 2011 to 2012, he wrote the blog "Kamau's Komedy Korner" for the San Francisco Weekly. In 2012, Bell was voted San Francisco's best comedian by the SF Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and 7×7 Magazine.
His first stand-up comedy TV special, Semi-Prominent Negro, premiered on Showtime on April 29, 2016, and on September 30, 2016, his third full-length album with the same title, was released on Kill Rock Stars.
On November 7, 2017, Bell became the Frank Sinatra Artist-in-Residence of Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

Television host

From 2012 to 2013, Bell hosted a weekly stand up comedy television series, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, first on FX and later on FXX. The show, produced by Chris Rock, provided observational comedy and commentary on social and political issues in addition to celebrity interviews. After the show was cancelled in November 2013, Bell moved back to California from New York.
He is currently the host of the CNN documentary series United Shades of America, which premiered on April 24, 2016 and was renewed for a third season in 2017. The show, of which Bell is an Executive Producer, was awarded the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program in 2017.
The show United Shades of America was renewed for season 3 in 2018. The first episode of the show was aired on the 29th of April 2018. The show lasted for 8 episodes in total. The last episode titled "Native Hawaii" aired on July 1, 2018. Later in July 2018, Bell was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality Program for his hosting in United Shades of America.

Podcast host

From 2010 to 2014, Bell co-hosted the podcast The Field Negro Guide to Arts & Culture with Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid.
Since November 2014, Bell has co-hosted the Earwolf-produced podcast Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor Of All Time Period with comedian and writer Kevin Avery. In addition to reviewing the films of Denzel Washington one by one, the podcast has also featured interviews with prominent actors, filmmakers, musicians, and comedians including Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Jesse Williams, Issa Rae, and Ryan Coogler.
Since January 2016, he has hosted Kamau Right Now, a live radio show and podcast produced by KALW.
Since June 2016, he has also co-hosted the Panoply/First Look Media-produced podcast Politically Re-Active with comedian Hari Kondabolu. The podcast explores American politics and elections with a comedic approach, and includes interviews with activists, journalists, and scholars such as Ian Haney López, Robert Reich, and Pramila Jayapal.

Author

Bell has authored a number of essays and blog posts about race and racism in American politics and media. In May 2017, Bell published his first book,The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6'4, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. The book is a humorous autobiography interspersed with essays about politics and popular culture.

Activism

Bell sits on the advisory boards of Race Forward, a racial justice think tank, and Hollaback!, an anti-harassment organization. In October 2013, he was named the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador on racial justice.

Implicit bias incident in 2015

On January 26, 2015, Bell and his wife Melissa were involved in an incident at the Elmwood Cafe in Berkeley, California, which Bell alleged was racially motivated. Bell reported online that an employee of the cafe told him to "scram", or words to that effect, while he was talking to his white wife and her friends at one of its outdoor tables. The cafe owner and Bell held a community forum to discuss implicit bias and how to improve. Bell's account was eventually featured in an episode of the radio series This American Life entitled "Birds & Bees". After a similar incident resulted in the arrests of two black men at a Starbucks. In April 2018, Bell renewed his criticism of the Elmwood Cafe. It closed soon after. The cafe reopened a month later with former manager and current co-owner Kara Hammond changing the name to Baker & Commons.

Discography