Lawyer and Comedian Andrea Coleman is Here to Judge Your Laws

There's a state where it's illegal to mispronounce its name. There's another where eating fried chicken with a knife and fork is banned. Lawyer and comedian Andrea Coleman hosts a stand-up show about these laws, which she may or may not deem as "woke." 

"I usually pick a slightly lighthearted law that isn't typically charged on its face," Coleman told WNYC's cultural critic Rebecca Carroll. "I say, 'Look, this is the woke law courtroom. I'm the Supreme Court justice of this courtroom, and I decide if a law is woke.'" 

But juggling comedy with the very real challenges of being a black woman lawyer in America today can be a lot to process, and sometimes it's hard to find the humor in painful, often racist experiences.

"When I first started practicing law," she said, "I was meeting up with a client to defend her for a deposition and we'd only ever had conversations over the phone....she did not know I was black. When she saw me, she had a very strong reaction to me — she didn't want me to represent her, she gave me a lot of pushback. It was such an intense experience for me. Very painful."

It's a vulnerable position to be in and requires self-care. "Sometimes I feel more generous if I've had more sleep, more water," said Coleman. Ultimately, though, the payoff is in the audience laughter. "I find that when I'm honest about my experiences, the reactions are strong."   

Coleman is performing next month at The Tank.