3/21/2024 0 Comments Movers and helpers![]() ![]() "So, instead I went to school for what to me was the next best thing, which was to be a small market TV weather guy." "Because I didn't necessarily see any Native American comedians on TV growing up, I didn't think I was allowed to work in comedy," he says. He spent hours in front of it, soaking up "The Simpsons," "Family Guy" and "Late Night with Conan O’Brien." He saw his future in those shows, but how to make it happen - that was the problem. "I've had grown adults who went to college, live in Los Angeles, work in comedy-ask me if I was born in a teepee, if my reservation had electricity growing up," says Clift.Ĭlift is quick to point out that he was born in a hospital, and he grew up with not only electricity, but with a television set. He says the misconceptions about Native Americans aren’t confined to simply determining who’s funny or not. Some of us are also real funny."Ĭlift is a member of the Cowlitz Tribe and was raised on the Tulalip reservation just north of Seattle. "There's definitely a stereotype of the stoic Indian who's best friends with an eagle, and flute music plays whenever they're pontificating about whatever," says Clift. One of those people is comedian and writer Joey Clift. ![]() What I really tried to do was to let people speak for themselves." Author Kliph Nesteroff, whose new book, "We Had a Little Real Estate Problem," examines the history of Native Americans in comedy. "There's a long history and a huge stigma of racist anthropology, of racist historians studying Native Americans like they’re an amoeba under a microscope. "It's a very delicate situation being a non-Native author, diving into the realm of Indigenous studies of any kind," he says. Nesteroff’s past work is meticulous and deeply researched, but this book came with a particular challenge. And if somebody doesn't have feelings, it doesn't matter what you do to them." "It helped to justify federal policy that subjugated Native Americans," he says. ![]() Nesteroff says the stereotype of the stoic Native American was a dehumanizing tactic. Though Nesteroff’s book is named for Hill’s signature joke, the subtitle is no punchline: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy. To this day, he’s still the only Native American comic to have made it to "The Tonight Show." But his unique stature in the comedy world of four decades ago shows young Native comics and writers that taking their skills to Hollywood is not impossible. Hill died in 2013, without ever reaching stardom and still doing his real estate joke. We never thought you were too funny either." "Like, for so long you probably thought Indians never had a sense of humor. "You know, a lot of you white people never seen an Indian do stand-up comedy before," said Hill in a 1977 appearance on the Richard Pryor Show. Hill's act tackled the absurd stereotype that Native Americans aren’t funny. He also appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," the ultimate anointment for a comic during that period. He worked clubs on the Sunset Strip along with Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jimmy Walker. In the mid-1970s, Hill was hot on the Los Angeles stand-up circuit. We used to be from New York, but we had a little real estate problem.'" "That was the crux of his joke," says Nesteroff. The book's title is the punchline of a famous joke from pioneering Native American stand-up comedian, Charlie Hill, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. ![]() His new book, "We Had a Little Real Estate Problem," takes a look at Native American comedians - a community that's been misunderstood, stereotyped and often erased in Hollywood. Author Kliph Nesteroff has written about comedy for years. ![]()
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