How black comedians make jokes about Obama's win

Tommy Davidson's centerpiece joke about President-elect Barack Obama at a Los Angeles comedy club over the weekend "killed" -- in more ways than one.

Davidson, who was a regular on Fox's hip sketch comedy show "In Living Color," bounded on stage Friday at the Comedy Union on Pico Boulevard and said he would like to perform a bit from Obama's upcoming inaugural speech. He stood at an imaginary podium -- then, a "shot" rang out and he collapsed in a heap.

The audience was momentarily shocked, then erupted in laughter. But for some, the laughs stuck in their throats.

"People were crying out, 'Oh, no, don't do that,' " said Lanita Jacobs-Huey, a USC professor of anthropology who was in the audience. "Tommy then sprung up and said with this smile, 'OK, I just wanted to try that out.' It was pretty amazing."

Welcome to Def Obama Comedy Jam.

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--Greg Braxton

Photo of Mario Joyner Lawrence K. Ho / LAT