Appropriate Blackness: Standards and Practices,Creative Collaboration,and In Living Color

Abstract

Using the Tamara Rawitt In Living Color Collection at the National Comedy Center, this article examines the production culture of In Living Color (Fox, 1990–1994) during its first year to explore the varied role of the network censor in shaping the show’s content. While the Fox network embraced Black creative talent to brand itself as edgy and innovative, it actively limited creator Keenen Ivory Wayans’ comedic sensibility to manage In Living Color’s reception among advertisers, audiences, and special interest groups. By reviewing memos from network censor Don R. Bay, this article considers how the work of Standards and Practice during this period at Fox was not only restrictive and creative, but also racialized, as it helped to appropriate Blackness for entertainment purposes while also determining what expressions of Blackness were appropriate for mainstream—and primarily white—audiences.