Starving Artists

Starving Artists (2018)

Created by: Dewayne Perkins and Aasia Bullock

In sketch comedy series Starving Artists Dewayne Perkins and Aasia Bullock prank white people to get ahead. 

The series queers Black sketch comedy to poke fun at the norms of whiteness and straightness. 

In the climatic episode, the pair cosplay as straight people interested in a luxury apartment to gain access to the building’s gym for free. To pull off the scam, they use a fake baby to distract the real estate agent, playing up their proximity to whiteness through anti-Black stereotypes – like their fears that Master P is kidnapping their children – and then subverting them – yelling at the agent not to call the cops.

Beneath the zany subtext is a subtle critique of the ways media portrays Black people, making Dewayne and Aasia the “starving artists” whose empowerment would change the ways stories are told. The opening episode features the two interviewing for a “token white friend,” a critique of the token Black or of color friend in Hollywood series and films. They challenge the auditioners to dance to a choreographed version of the opening song to Living Single, the Black female-led sitcom that paved the wave for Friends. In the second episode, their script writing is interrupted when they realize they are outnumbered by white people, so they start a “race riot” by starting to sing the Isley Brothers’ “Contagious,” which draws more Black folks. When the coffee shop owner intervenes, they tell “Black Lives Scatter!” – years before BLM trended for the second time on social media – and meet up later for Popeyes where they actually introduce themselves. 

The series is a light, breezy send up of race and gender stereotypes, held up by Dewayne and Aasia’s shimmering charisma and chemistry!

Watch Starving Artists on OTV!