I expected to laugh more and come away with fewer things to think about and in the end I’m not upset that I didn’t laugh more and that I came away with a lot to think about!

Comedy is not a genre of entertainment I’ve ever associated with Indigenous people and that’s kind of a big deal. Why not? Why instead does society not embrace that Indigenous people offer as much to the comedy world than any other group of people?

Split into then and now this book offers unique insight into a world few of us (White people) care to visit or acknowledge. It is also important to recognize that I am not Indigenous and more is the author so reading Indigenous reviews is highly recommended.


Thank you to the publisher for a copy in exchange of an honest review.

Bridging together history and comedy, Kliph Nesteroff provides insight into how Native Americans were involved in the art of comedy. Starting in the late 1880s, Nesteroff highlights the key figures who helped bring representation to the field. Main comedians are profiled, and various clubs and shows are discussed. The book is filled with first hand accounts and interviews and I really appreciated this fresh take on a topic I have really limited knowledge on.

“You’re not bad guys but you profited because of bad guys.” As someone who is (very humbly) involved in anti-Black activism, this quote popped off the pages of this book—as did many, many others. Through the story of Native American stand-up comedy, the world of anti-Indigenous racism come roaring in. The title of the book is based on a joke part of Charlie Hill’s famous stand-up routine: “My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York. We had a little real estate problem.” While the faces of mainstream comedy currently are, for the most part, still white cis men, and not many people could name Native American comedians, this book highlights their contributions to advancing stand-up comedy as an art form, despite the lack of representation and the entertainment industry’s constant and degrading microaggressions towards Native Americans. The story starts as far back as in the late 1800s; a line is drawn for us from the Native Americans forced into touring in “wild west” shows instead of going to prison, all the way to current day Native American troops (and a big side note on the misconception of the “silent brooding Native American man staring into the distance”), “We Had a Little Real Estate Problem” is not just a tribute to the legacy of Native American stand-up comedy, but also a call to action to all non-Natives to get to critically look at the lack of representation as well as the inappropriateness of most representation of Native Americans in mainstream culture.