Jacob Russell says he’s been part of metro Detroit’s mostly white improv scene for almost 13 years and noticed his peers didn’t know much about contributions Black people made to American history.
The comedian, who grew up on Detroit’s west side, said that disconnect inspired “Birth of a Ho’ Ass Nation,” a satirical one-man show to “give them a perspective of how I grew up and what I was taught.”
“Black people think about race all the time and how things affect us and they (white people) don’t,” Russell told BridgeDetroit. “They have a privileged bubble they live in and they’re oblivious to a lot of things in history that they weren’t taught, that were whitewashed. So, I really made it for them.”
Russell said he was inspired to write the first play, which he first performed in 2017 and has since become a series, because he wanted to offer his audience something deeper than just jokes.
The Southfield resident premiered “Birth of a Ho’ Ass Nation 2” last November at Ant Hall in Hamtramck. He brought it back to the performing arts venue this month and will perform it again at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
In a snippet of the performance, Jake, feeling thirsty, takes a sip of water from a fountain. He doesn’t realize however that he drank from the wrong one.
Out of nowhere, a man in a wide, straw hat approaches.
“I’m Jim Crow!,” the man says. “You’re drinking from the ‘Whites Only’ fountain.”
“You look like Farmer Jack,” Jake retorts in reference to the mascot of the defunct grocery store chain.
The scene is part of the performance that takes its audience on a comical journey of Black history moments after the Civil War, from President Abraham Lincoln’s approval of reparations for former slaves and its demise after his assassination, the enactment of Jim Crow laws in the south and the Rosewood massacre, where hundreds of white people descended on the Black town in Florida and burned it to the ground in 1923.
Along with writing the play, Russell, 38, plays all the characters like Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B Du Bois and Ida B. Wells. He also throws in some non-historical figures–a human version of Jim Crow, a talking lion simply named Lion and a heightened version of himself.
When it came time to do research for the initial play, Russell said he worked with Mike McGettigan, director of improv training at Planet Ant Theatre. He said McGettigan was one of Rusell’s favorite teachers when he was studying improv and encouraged him to become better at his craft.
“Birth of a Ho’ Ass Nation 1” explored the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and what it was like for Black people living on plantations, Russell said. The play also introduced his persona Jake and Lion.
“I’d never written a show before, so (McGettigan) helped me with the writing as well as structure and everything,” Russell said. “Me and him researched a lot of different articles and watched YouTube videos, stuff like that.”
Russell deployed many of those same techniques for the second play. He said there’s so much history that he wants to talk about, but limits it to certain moments that make sense for the story and the development of his character.
“In the first show, I’m in slavery,” he said. “I’m learning how (expletive) up all this stuff was, but for some reason, I’m still trying to be positive throughout it. And then in the second one, I still have optimism, but now the optimism has kinda been beaten out of me.”
Russell said he hopes Black audiences feel heard when they see the play. Meanwhile, he wants white audiences to listen and learn about the history being presented to them.
“Most people want something that’s digestible,” Russell said. “They want the sweets, but they don’t want the veggies. I feel like most people act like kids when it comes to entertainment. They don’t want the real stuff.”
Ashlyn Saria Taylor was in the audience during a June 22 performance and described it as “powerful and real.”
As a former teacher who grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Ferndale resident said it’s important for people to learn about the uncensored version of American history.
“It’s one of the most important things I’ve experienced,” Taylor said. “This is a pretty big deal.”
Russell’s friend and fellow performer Jenny Haddo also enjoyed the play, as she saw it for the second time. She was impressed by Russell’s ability to play every role himself.
“It was very eye-opening,” she said. “He mixes the funny with the serious really well and he’s very charismatic.”
In addition to “Birth of a Ho’ Ass Nation,” Russell will be performing with comedian Blain Hill at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak July 5 and 6.
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