W. Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell is a stand-up comedian, director, producer, and dad. For seven seasons, he was the host and executive producer of the five-time Emmy Award-winning CNN docuseries United Shades of America. Kamau won a Peabody Award for his Showtime docuseries We Need To Talk About Cosby. He is also the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Do The Work: An Antiracist Activity Book. His first book was his memoir with the easy-to-remember title: The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6′ 4″, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. Recently Kamau directed and produced the HBO documentary 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed. As a stand-up comic, Kamau has recorded two comedy specials. The second one, Private School Negro, is available on Netflix. Kamau is on the board of directors of DonorsChoose – a non-profit that helps teachers raise money for class projects, and Live Free – a non-profit dedicated to ending gun violence, mass incarceration, and mass criminalization. Kamau also is the ACLU’s Celebrity Ambassador for Racial Justice. He lives in Oakland, California. He cares a lot… maybe too much.
Guest Appearances
April 7, 2024
Comedian, director and producer W. Kamau Bell feels insistent about being Conan O’Brien’s friend.
August 2, 2020
Comedian and writer W. Kamau Bell feels cautiously optimistic, but still not great about being Conan O’Brien’s friend.
Kamau sits down with Conan to talk about meeting Anthony Bourdain, doing bits with his kids, and tolerating discomfort. Later, Conan’s assistant Sona recounts losing her wallet.
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July 13, 2020
Stand-up comic W. Kamau Bell talks with Andy Richter about gaining new perspective on his past material, bringing humor to the racial dialogue with United Shades of America, and why he works extra hard imparting humility to his kids.
May 24, 2018
Negin takes a breather from political bedlam with an episode that’ll get you in the gut! A cast of all-stars assemble to chat about grief in the digital age, how to be good at being jealous, and the pitfalls of porn. Negin is joined by W. Kamau Bell (United Shades of America), Leah Bonnema (Comedy Drop), Kendra Cunningham (Last Comic Standing), Ophira Eisenberg (Ask Me Another), Akilah Hughes (Crooked Media), and Baratunde Thurston (How To Be Black).
This episode is sponsored by ModCloth (www.modcloth.com code: FAKE).
March 15, 2018
Comedians W. Kamau Bell (United Shades of America) and Leah Bonnema (Comedy Drop) join Negin to chat about Rex Tillerson’s ousting and Trump’s new picks for Secretary of State and CIA director. Plus, they discuss the potential U.S.-North Korea talks and the House GOP’s break with the intelligence community on Russia. Lastly, the panelists talk about their relationships to money and class. This episode was recorded on Tuesday afternoon EST, before the results of Pennsylvania’s special House election were available.
This episode is sponsored by Modcloth (code: FAKE).
March 15, 2018
This week, Hari & Ashok Kondabolu discuss Batman, scents, pleasantries & weed.