Native Comedy

It was one of the most reliable jokes in Charlie Hill’s stand-up routine: “My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York. We had a little real estate problem.” In We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, acclaimed comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff focuses on one of comedy’s most significant and little-known stories: how, despite having been denied representation in the entertainment industry, Native Americans have influenced and advanced the art form.

Ex-reporter Joe Winder had been working in the public relations department of a sleazy family entertainment park, The Amazing Kingdom of Thrills, when he chanced upon a news-breaking story inspired by the disappearance of two blue-tongued voles and the bizarre death of Orky, the killer whale.

In 1964, Little Big Man gave us the reminiscences of Jack Crabb - a white orphan raised among the Cheyenne - who returns to "civilized" society, where (among other things) he tangles with Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok, and ends up as the only white survivor of Custer's Last Stand. At the end of Little Big Man, Jack's supposed death at age 111 cut short his tale.

Fantastic possibilities and terrible consequences. When her job interview goes down in flames, archaeologist Dr. Arienne Cerasola makes a desperate decision to get her life back on track. Returning to the thing that wrecked her life in the first place isn’t rational, but magic is the only option she has. To find a legendary healing tree and save her friends, Ari must outsmart magic practitioners way more talented and prepared than she is. Can she beat the competition to the prize, or is another magical disaster inevitable? Elementary Magic is the first book in R. Leonia Shea’s urban ...

Otter Lake is a sleepy Anishnawbe community where little happens. Until the day a handsome stranger pulls up astride a 1953 Indian Chief motorcycle - and turns Otter Lake completely upside down. Maggie, the Reserve’s chief, is swept off her feet, but Virgil, her teenage son, is less than enchanted. Suspicious of the stranger’s intentions, he teams up with his uncle, Wayne - a master of aboriginal martial arts - to drive the stranger from the Reserve. And it turns out that the raccoons are willing to lend a hand.

When Will returns to Medicine River, he thinks he is simply attending his mother’s funeral. He doesn’t count on Harlen Bigbear and his unique brand of community planning. Harlen tries to sell Will on the idea of returning to Medicine River to open shop as the town’s only Native photographer. Somehow, that’s exactly what happens. Through Will’s gentle and humorous narrative, we come to know Medicine River, a small Albertan town bordering a Blackfoot reserve. And we meet its people: the basketball team; Louise Heavyman and her daughter, South Wing, and many more.

None-of-your-beeswax-year-old Kandi needs to get to Florida for the First Annual Hairstravaganza in Juno Beach. She’s sooo close to achieving her dream of opening the hottest hair salon in LA, all she needs is a cash infusion — and to keep the landlord from selling it out from under her. Fear of flying isn’t going to stand in the way of Kandi’s dreams. Between her pizza-scented business cards and show-stopping hairstyle, she’s guaranteed to land an angel investor. So what if stress made her book a flight to Juneau, Alaska instead of Juno Beach, Florida with no return flights for a...

Inspired by a handful of old postcards sent by Uncle Leroy nearly a hundred years earlier, Bird and Mimi attempt to trace Mimi’s long-lost uncle and the family medicine bundle he took with him to Europe. “I’m sweaty and sticky. My ears are still popping from the descent into Vaclav Havel. My sinuses ache. My stomach is upset. My mouth is a sewer. I roll over and bury my face in a pillow. Mimi snuggles down beside me with no regard for my distress. ‘My god,’ she whispers, ‘can it get any better?’”

Born and raised in the heart of old Dixie, D'aron Davenport finds himself in unfamiliar territory his freshman year at UC Berkeley. Two thousand miles and a world away from his childhood, he is a small-town fish floundering in the depths of a large, hyperliberal pond. Caught between the prosaic values of his rural hometown and the intellectualized, multicultural cosmopolitanism of Berzerkeley, the 19-year-old white kid is uncertain about his place until one disastrous party brings him three idiosyncratic best friends.

When Tilly receives an invitation to help drive eight elders on their ultimate bucket list road trip to New Mexico for the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow, she impulsively says yes. Before she knows it, Tilly is on an adventure that will transform her in ways she could not predict, just as it will for each and every one of the seniors on the trip, who soon dub themselves “the Crazy Eights.” Tilly and the Crazy Eights each choose a stop to make along the way - and each stop becomes the inspiration for secrets and stories to be revealed.

In 1954, after the government implements the Indian Termination Act, three Klamath brothers are forced to contemplate their futures amidst the growing turmoil of life on the reservation.

Meet the residents of Gammage, New York, a town on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, when inspiration strikes. Why not go native, and open a casino? With Not Enough Indians, actor, writer, producer, and former Saturday Night Live cast member Harry Shearer joins the ranks of such comedian/authors as Steve Martin and Michael Palin with a brilliantly funny, whip-smart satire of greed, collusion, distrust, and betrayal in the halls of Washington and the casinos of Native America.

Jeremiah Camp, a.k.a. the Forecaster, can look into the heart of humanity and see the patterns that create opportunities and profits for the rich and powerful. Problem is, Camp has looked one too many times, has seen what he hadn’t expected to see and has come away from the abyss with no hope for himself or for the future.

Darrell Dennis is a stereotype-busting, politically incorrect Native American/Aboriginal/Shuswap. With a large dose of humour and irreverence, he untangles some of the truths and myths about First Nations: Why do people think Natives get free trucks, and why didn’t he ever get one? Why does the length of your hair determine whether you’re good or bad? By what ratio does the amount of rain in a year depend on the amount of cactus liquor you consume? In addition to answering these burning questions, Dennis tackles some tougher subjects.

After seven years on the semi-pro wrestling circuit, Ricky Twohatchet, a.k.a. Richard Powell, needs one last match before he gets called up to the big leagues. Unlike some wrestlers who only play the stereotype, Ricky believes he comes by his persona honestly - he’s half White and half Native American - even if he’s never met his father. But the night of the match in Omaha, Nebraska, something askew in their intricate choreography sets him on a course for disaster.

Ali Eteraz’s much-anticipated debut novel is the story of M., a supportive husband, adventureless dandy, lapsed believer, and second-generation immigrant who wants nothing more than to host parties and bring children into the world as full-fledged Americans. As M.’s life gradually fragments around him - a wife with a chronic illness; a best friend stricken with grief; a boss jeopardizing a respectable career - M. spins out into the pulsating underbelly of Philadelphia, where he encounters others grappling with fallout from the War on Terror.

A deliciously airily irresponsible comedy. Such is the The Importance of Being Earnest, the most personally characteristic expression of Wilde's art, and the last of the dramatic productions written under his own name. The dialogue has all the sparkle of bubbles from a gushing spring, and is brim-full of quaint conceits and diverting paradoxes.

David is a blue-collar man, spending his days managing the Albuquerque Wastewater Utility plant, and nights ruminating over his painful past. Not much of import happens in his world, and that's just fine by him. That is, until a severed hand is found among the filtered debris of one of the waste filtration tanks. Thinking a few hours of paperwork will be all it takes to clear the episode from David's life, fate sends a beautiful Sheriff's Deputy named Gina, along with a series of events that drag him deep into something more sinister than he ever could have imagined.

This is the tale of an average modern American man riding the freeways and living high in the peaks of the American southwest. Frank is seeking the love of a beautiful American woman, the dream of wealth, the thrill of adventure, the misfortune of murder, and the longing to be a part of this life everyone else seems to be so comfortable with. Aren't we all?

Bender is a young insurance adjuster thrown into a lifestyle he knows nothing about. He has a lot to learn, and Charlie, an aging rock shop owner, and her quirky Indian sidekick, Tree, are just the two who can teach him if they can get his mind clear of lusting for Silko, a beautiful, seductive Indian maiden. Then there is the multimillion-dollar land and minerals that Bender is also lusting after.