According to member Alem Sapp, a guiding principle of Slow Children Crossing is exposing "what some people just think — or are afraid to say. Comedy is finding truth through humor."
Story Published:
Apr 22, 2009 at 9:49 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Apr 22, 2009 at 10:23 PM PDT
Alem Sapp harbors no illusions about the work of Slow Children Crossing, the Los Angeles-based sketch comedy troupe of which he is a member. It is, he is fond of saying, “inappropriate humor for everyone.”
Formed two years ago, the troupe is currently staging a new show entitled “It’s uuuuh…mazing.” A producer of the show, as well as a performer with the mostly African-American company, Sapp believes he and his fellow Slow Children are at the forefront of a new sketch comedy revolution. It’s not just about entertainment anymore, he says — it’s about “making people think.” Among the topics they are currently satirizing are the hazards of Internet dating, and America’s obsession with reality television.
“This is about tearing down the walls and boundaries that tend to separate people,” Sapp says. “Whether we’re talking about race, color, creed, political party affiliation, religions, all of those things, our comedy is meant to sort of bring all of those people together.”
Finding honest moments in their often outrageous humor is what drives the troupe’s work, says Sapp, who points to comic icons Richard Pryor and Benny Hill as inspiration. More to the point, he says, they attempt to generate most of their laughs by exposing “what some people just think — or are afraid to say. Comedy is finding the truth through humor.”
To wit: a new sketch, called “It’s Magic” pokes fun at the notion that, as far as many African-Americans are concerned, President Obama can do no wrong.
“Everyone seems to be in love with the president,” Sapp says. In the sketch, Obama is a magician. “He can do no wrong, even the bad things the president does seem good. … So we sort of parody him as a magician/politician, and he’s in a press conference, and he can actually do magic tricks, from making an apple levitate to making terrorists love America all of the sudden. … The funny part of it is that people can laugh, but truth is that it is very possible.”
Some of the sketches that take on race-sensitive issues push their subject matter pretty far — a faux newscast pokes fun at topics ranging from gang violence to paternity claims — but Sapp is convinced that such comic aggressiveness is sorely needed on L.A. stages.
“Most of the entertainment in this city is made in a vacuum,” Sapp says. “… Our style of comedy is an art form that has air to it, it’s alive and it’s in the now. Regardless of a script, with sketch art, you never know what is going to happen. There are a lot of great artists behind this revolution of being raw, and honest, and who want to make you laugh, but think at the same time — so there isn’t just room for it, we need it.”
Slow Children Crossing’s “It’s uuuh…mazing” runs through May 6 at The Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 960-7745
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