There’s spoilers in this recap of episode four of Woke, “Black People for Rent,” so you know, you’ve been warned.
Last time on the comedy inspired by co-creator Keith Knight‘s comix, cartoonist Keef (Lamorne Morris) realized that being woke doesn’t pay the bills and joined the gig economy.
This episode’s TL;DR: “You let this out, so you have to deal with it: the good, the bad and the ugly.”
So, we open on Keef and Adrienne (Rose McIver) in the morning afterglow. Their banter has added a much-needed component to this show—levity. She warmly calls him on his BS in a way his bros can’t. Not that Keef is letting her into all the wonders going on inside his head. He insists that crying in his sleep is the peak of his weirdness. But especially when she balks at meeting his talking Marker (JB Smoove).
So, as it turns out, the Black People for Rent poster Keef drew last episode is instillation art. Imagine old school flyers complete with pull off phone number tabs papered all over the city.
At a bar a few nights later, Clovis (T. Murph) and Gunther (Blake Anderson) are concerned about Adrienne’s existence. Well, Clovis is mostly angry that she stole his toast. Gunther, however, is more preoccupied by the possible ramifications of the Black People for Rent posters—“You do know how we [white people] get, right?” Keef’s not having any of this.
Then, the song that’s playing changes and abruptly shuts the conversation down in favor of a game called “which white frat boy grad is gonna sing the n word first?” A power cut-off keeps them from finding out. Later, at their local Chinese restaurant, Clovis spies a cutie from the bar, and in an effort to prove Ayana (Sasheer Zamata) wrong, he uses every tactic she told him not to. Shockingly, telling someone you want to respectfully tap that ass doesn’t go over well. Gunther and Keef play the Greek chorus to this s***show.
Next, we see the varied reactions to Black People for Rent. This includes social media outrage, laughter, confusion and a spoiled kid asking his mom to rent one for his birthday, much the way he’d ask for a pony. Keef pops by The Bay Arean to share his voice mail responses with Ayana. She’s unimpressed until he reaches someone looking to hire a diversity prop piece. Look, I just don’t buy that Ayana would be surprised by this. Woke works best when the other characters are a step ahead of Keef. If Ayana’s interest in the story had been tweaked just a little bit, if she had acted like, “Keef, you should have known this, but The Bay Arean‘s non-Black audience needs to know about this,” then it would have rung truer for me.
Later, Clovis takes Ayana’s advice to expand Keef’s project. By making Black People for Rent t-shirts. Cool cool cool. This scene is pretty quippy, and it’s safe to say Woke has found its comedic stride. “Black folks don’t like cotton?” is a pitch-perfect joke for this show.
Next, Keef runs into a guy wearing a BPFR shirt. Thing is, he’s a guy looking for work through the company. Our artist had not been expecting that reaction. Meanwhile, Gunther is clearly uncomfortable listening to the racist crap people say while he stands in front of one of the BPFR posters. If you think you’re tired, bud. He rips the sign off the phone pole.
Back at the apartment, Keef plays Clovis messages from all the Black people looking for work. (Side note: Do we think Darnell is the Darnell whose store was taken over by hipsters?) Anyway, turns out half the callers were Black people seeking employment. So, Keef’s really not interested in Clovis’s ever-growing supply of merch.
Just then, Gunther comes in and breaks up the heated discussion about the commoditization of Black people. He’s mad that Keef’s project has subjected him to listening to racism all day. If you’re thinking Gunther seems too woke to make a comment like that, that’s the point. Whatever valid points Clovis or Gunther might have had about the benefits or negatives about the BPFR project are lost because of their over-the-top reactions. Keef is right to be angry that Gunther is telling him to stay in his lane; he’s right to be angry that Clovis is making unauthorized merchandise. It’s unfortunate that his best friends are man-children incapable of not making everything about themselves.
Adrienne is sort of the voice of reason in all this—telling Keef that art is supposed to make people uncomfortable and that the artist cannot control the audience’s reaction to it. Of course, she gets her point across with a story about her 12-year-old self putting hypodermic needles in a starfish, but you know. Keef has this episode’s come to Jesus moment when Adrienne absentmindedly puts on a BPFR t-shirt after getting out of bed. To her credit, she immediately apologizes and takes the shirt off when Keef tells her it’s uncomfortable seeing her in the shirt.
The next morning, Clovis is still pissed that that “random white woman” is walking around their house. To be fair to him, she does keep stealing his food. And also white women have, historically, been quite dangerous for Black people. After she leaves, Gunther wants to have some real talk about this whole BPFR stuff. Truth is, Clovis doesn’t really love it either, but he thinks they both need to support Keef because he’s their friend.
So, Gunther staples the poster back up. Quick pan and we see that Clovis is next to the sign, selling his merch. Clovis encourages a white couple to buy a t-shirt to support a local Black artist. In between every line, Gunther tells them that under no circumstance should they wear the t-shirt, though.
Meanwhile, Keef’s back at The Bay Arean. He tells Ayana to forget the story he’s writing. She gives him pushback. She even calls him Mr. Say Something Important And Then Walk It Back. Yikes. Keef is like, yeah, but t-shirts. And she immediately guesses that he got squicked out because a white girl he’s sleeping with wore it. How does she know? Well, she’s been there. Flashback: Ayana wakes up to a white chick wearing a “Black Wives Matter” shirt. This show is set in San Francisco. About time we had a queer character pop up.
So, Ayana will not pull the story. And Keef effectively gets canceled once it’s published (Kancel Keef Knight). People are mostly annoyed with him for two reasons: promising work that didn’t come through and raising awareness to a problem, but not providing a solution. On the second point, I find that wholly unfair to ask of an artist.
RELATED: Read all Woke recaps here!
So friends, that this show takes place pre-George Floyd, pre-Corona is glaringly obvious. I wonder what Woke written and filmed in fall 2020 would have looked like. Would the inciting incident have even happened now? Or, would it have happened that way? Would a man like Keef be able to stay slept in 2020? Not for nothing, but Woke keeps me thinking. And chuckling.
Join me next time as I recap Woke here on Geek Girl Authority!
Season One of Woke is streaming on Hulu now.
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