The Best ‘Dear White People’ Sketches…so far

Earlier this week we shared our favorite ‘Dear White People’ sketches with you. You could easily start at the beginning of the playlist and have your self a nice long laugh as sketch after sketch rolls. We recommend it.

Still, all sketches aren’t created equal and admittedly there are some that stand out from the bunch. My personal favorites list looks a lot different than this one, which is saying a lot because I don’t disagree with any of the final top 5.

What we have here is a definitive list of the 5 best sketches from the “Dear White People” team, which has proven to really just be a collective of colored unicorns with infinite talent. It’s disturbing, really. More on that tomorrow!

In the meantime have some laughs and hear from our staff members why these 5 sketches made the cut!

Carlyn: All of the promos were great, but my fave is definitely “Not to be Racist, but…” In less than a minute it gives the perfect solution to the raging mess we hear when “Well & The Actually’s” try to run a sound check on social media. Instead of questioning or speculating on our lived experiences with those five little words, just sit back and listen. It’s that simple.

KAMMs: I laugh the hardest and the loudest. Period. The juxtaposition of Nia Jervier’s demeanor and overall presence to what actually comes out of her mouth is hysterical and hits me like a freight train every time. (The first time I was in a restaurant, mouth full of Mimosa – my bestie was not happy.) And I always replay it. I’m talking about multiple times in one sitting. It’s nuts, really. I might be obsessed but that writing is brilliant. Execution flawless. You gotta admit that. It’s not my fault.

B.Alexandra: “How To Fake that You Watched Scandal!” It highlights both the prominence of the show and the redundancy of the plot. With a few key phrases and name drops you can ultimately join a conversation about “Scandal” without having watched a minute of The Oliva Pope Chronicles. Also, Nia Jervier and Ashley Blaine Featherson were hilarious in this skit and I love me some good black girl comedy acting.

BassMonsterTiff: The people were so sincere and excited about the “diversity” they got from Winchester. I was amused at their ignorance talking about “weird backgrounds like Harlem and ATL.” The line about Winchester preparing the students for the amount of diversity they’ll likely experience in their fields is brilliant. My feelings were hurt at the accuracy. A few of the other promos did that, but none with the complexity of this one. Satire at its best!

Abigail: It’s hard to choose…but if I had to, it would probably be “Laqueesha Ain’t That Weird a Name.” It is satire, so the idea of ‘Satan’ as a name keeps me laughing. But it also asks why ‘black’ names are considered to be any worse than other unique names. This is a legitimate question. I like that these videos tackle real topics and hopefully, they lead to real thought and not just laughs.

Because we’d been curious for sometime now, Bri asked actress Nia Jervier about the promos and how each actor was chosen for the sketches. “They were chosen for us. Lena [Waithe] and Justin [Simien], I think, wrote most of them. I think there may be one other guy who wrote one or two,” said Jervier. “Then we were just invited to do [them] based upon what was suited for us as individuals or what characters they needed.”

The only question left is which one do you think is the best? Oh! And have you already purchased your tickets?