W. Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell had a nearly charmed rise from struggling stand-up comedian to buzzworthy comic to late night talk show host. His politically minded material crossed the high dudgeon and boundary testing of Mort Sahl or Dick Gregory with an up-to-the-minute 21st-century hipster calm, making his series "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell" (FX 2012-13 / FXX 2013) a refreshing alternative to the usual late night suspects. Walter Kamau Bell was born in Palo Alto, California; the only child of a single mother who worked in education and self-published books of quotations by prominent African-Americans, Bell moved around the country quite a bit in his childhood and teens, developing a fondness for stand-up comedy as a shy, introverted child. Settling down in Chicago to attend the arts school Columbia College, Bell began taking classes with the renowned Second City improv troupe, but his first love of stand-up prevailed. Resettling in the stand-up hotbed of San Francisco, Bell did the grinding routine of a struggling young comedian. The city's progressive politics also suited his temperament, and he embraced community activism on a variety of causes. This newfound personal emphasis on politics crept into Bell's stand-up act, so much so that in 2007 he rented a San Francisco theater to put on a nightly show entitled "The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism In About An Hour." The show was successful enough that he took it on tour, including a stint at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Festival. A mixture of topical humor and audience participation, the live show became the template for "Totally Biased" after Chris Rock saw it and invited Bell to turn it into a television series. With Rock as executive producer and their mutual friend Chuck Sklar as showrunner, "Totally Biased" premiered on FX to strong reviews and decent ratings in 2012. Originally a weekly series, it became a five-night-a-week program (running Sunday-Thursday instead of the more common Monday-Friday) in September 2013 when it moved to the comedy-centric start-up station FXX. Unfortunately, poor ratings for the revamped show caused FXX to announce its cancellation on November 13, 2013.
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W. Kamau Bell
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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100% |
|
1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed | Director | - | 2023 |
100% | No Score Yet | The One and Only Dick Gregory | Self | - | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days | Unknown (Character) | - | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The History of Comedy | Unknown (Character) | - | 2017 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | What Would You Do? | Correspondent | 2024 |
No Score Yet | 54% | After Midnight | Guest | 2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | United Shades of America |
Executive Producer, Host |
2016-2022 |
100% | 91% | George Carlin's American Dream | Self | 2022 |
99% | 78% | We Need to Talk About Cosby |
Unknown (Voice), Executive Producer, Director, Self |
2022 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Story of Late Night | Self | 2020-2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inside Pixar | Narrator | 2021 |
No Score Yet | 50% | The Late Show With Stephen Colbert | Guest | 2016 2018 2020 |
No Score Yet | 55% | The Kelly Clarkson Show | Guest | 2020 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen | Guest | 2020 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Conan | Guest | 2012 2020 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cultureshock | Director | 2018 |
No Score Yet | 99% | Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown | Guest | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The History of Comedy | Self | 2017-2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wendy Williams Show | Guest | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter | Guest | 2017 |
No Score Yet | 44% | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Guest | 2017 |
41% | 61% | Chelsea | Guest | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tavis Smiley | Guest | 2016 |
No Score Yet | 12% | The View | Guest | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Last Call With Carson Daly | Guest | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Daily Show | Guest | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Real Time With Bill Maher | Guest | 2014 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell |
Executive Producer, Host |
2012-2013 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show | Guest | 2013 |