Netflix’s Comedy Sketch Show ‘Astronomy Club’ Soothes the Soul
Humor is a salve and Black women provide the answer
There is a sketch comedy renaissance taking place and I, for one, am definitely here for it. I grew up watching Saturday Night Live, MAD TV, and In Living Color, and I remember how those shows brought laughter into my home while regularly pushing the envelope with their social and political commentary. Even though I was entirely too young to stay up late to catch some of these shows, I looked forward to watching and, later, laughing with my friends about it at school.
In the 2000s, a shift occurred and there were far fewer options for lovers of sketch comedy. Though SNL remained a staple, reality television took over and viewers showed a preference for the comedy of “real” people’s lives instead. Then, low-budget DIY memes seemed to trump high-production comedy segments, and we began to see people taking comedy into their own hands. Today, with shows like Sherman’s Showcase on IFC, A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO, and Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show on Netflix, it’s clear that sketch comedy is making a strong comeback and Black people are leading the charge.
Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show, a six-episode series, features an all-Black cast in an array of comedic bits centered around housemates living…
