How Not to Get Shot

Summary: A standup around the idea of thinking about the advice that White people will give to Black people about how to not get shot. 

How Not to Get Shot is probably best as an audiobook. Hughley knows how to present it for laughs and when to pull back and be sober. The book is mostly satire, but he does pull back relatively often from straight satire to comment on how ridiculous some of the advice is. Quite a bit of the nearly 4-hour audiobook is advice that you have either heard, thought (said), or can imagine someone you know saying.

Hughley has helpful section such as: comply with the police, don't talk back, remember that the cops are scared, don't match the description, what type of music to listen to, how to name your children, don't rush to judgment if you do get shot, etc.

The main point is that the best way to not get shot is to not be Black. But since that isn't really an option, his use of satire to help White people understand the ridiculousness of the common rhetoric around police and other shootings is thought-provoking, while being funny.

I think there is value in standup comics talking about racial issues. Humor is one way to lower defenses and get people to actually think about something that is rhetorically difficult.