page_title: Oui Be Negroes
section_title: Birth of Oui Be Negroes 1994-2000
hierarchical_section_title: Oui Be Negroes / Birth of Oui Be Negroes 1994-2000
caption_attribution_description: English: From Left to Right:Oui Be Negroes Marcus Sams, Hans Summers and Shaun Landry performing at The San Francisco Improv Festival 2008
context_page_description: Oui Be Negroes is an African-American improvisational sketch comedy ensemble, founded by Artistic Director Shaun Landry and Director Hans Summers. They worked together for years in Chicago with the Underground Theatre Conspiracy, and had thrown around the idea of an African-American-driven sketch and improvisational comedy troupe, which would be geared specifically toward social and political humor.
context_section_description: “Basically, the ‘Oui’ part comes from African Americans who went over to France in the '20s and ‘30s and did very well for themselves, folks like Fats Waller and Josephine Baker. It's homage to that,” Landry says, pausing. “And it's just damn funny.” Landry explains that most people giggle when they hear the name, but every now and then, it makes “very nice liberal white folks” just a little nervous." (Patti Hartigan) Boston Globe “For example, “Landry says, “during the O. J.(Simpson) trial we did a game show format called ‘Who do you Blame?’ and the guilty party was always a black man in a stocking cap. African-American audiences are the most responsive. Backstage
  In 1993, Landry actively went seeking actors of color and ran upon them at The Second City Outreach Program. There she assembled the original ensemble along with Summers as the lone Caucasian member, they mounted Oui Be Negroes’ first show at Cafe Voltaire in Chicago.
  "The big thing was: Be who you are," Landry says. "Don't hold back on anything." In part (with OBN) she hoped to provide an alternative to white-majority teams where black actors could avoid roles that might come off as stereotypical: big mamas, pimps, dice-rolling hustlers and the like. (Darel Jevens) Chicago Sun-Times
  Oui Be Negroes presented original satirical show with names like "Can We Dance with Yo Dates", "One Drop is All It Takes", "Once You Go Black", "All Coons Look Alike to Me" (inspired by the popular Coon Song of 1896) "The Artists Formerly Known as Oui Be Negroes" and "Absolute Negritude" in Chicago from 1994 through 1999 that explored black culture and history before relocating the troupe to San Francisco.
  Intelligent alacrity has always characterized the work of Shaun Landry and Hans Summers, founding members of the comedy troupe Oui Be Negroes. And in their most recent revue, these two plus Merle Dandridge and Marvin Howard probe the corners of our culture for satirical humor often overlooked by...or flat-out forbidden to other comedians.(Mary Shen Barnidge) Chicago Reader
  OBN has toured all over the United States from New York to Los Angeles to Austin to Boston, in addition to performances outside of the U.S. in Canada and the Netherlands.
caption: Marcus Sams, Hans Summers and Shaun Landry at the San Francisco Improv Festival 2008
exif: {}