Yesterday, I ran into Walter Masterson, the comedian and political provocateur, at a coffee shop in Oakland. We had never met before, but I knew it was him right away. I knew because my Instagram algorithm had shown me a video of him at Saturday’s No Kings rally in Oakland. When I saw the post, I was immediately sad that I had not been at the rally to meet him. I really admire his work. Walter is fearless, hilarious, egoless, and he doesn’t blink in the face of right wing ignorance or even a left wing bomb. Walter is using is comedy skills to indict the elite and the powerful people who are plundering and destroying our country. This is notable because Walter is a white guy. Walter puts his white face into places and situations that I would not dare take my African American face. (I was not about to say “my Black face.” DAMMIT! I SAID IT!")
Walter was at the coffee counter when I saw him. I shouted out, “WALTER MASTERSON!” in the same tenor and tone that Doc Holliday yells, “JOHNNY TYLER!” in the film Tombstone. As I heard myself, I realized that I was yelling in a way that would have annoyed me if I had been on the receiving end of it. Walter looked at me like he was prepared for anything in that moment. I quickly said, “I’m Kamau Bell,” hoping it would mean something to him. Luckily, it did. I told him that IG had alerted me to his presence in Oakland. I also mentioned that I had not gone to No Kings because I had been at a film festival at a prison. Walter immediately got interested—my plan all along—and I explained The San Quentin Film Festival at Central California Women’s Facility (AKA Chowchilla women’s prison).
The first San Quentin Film Festival, which was also the first film festival at a prison, was in 2024 at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, the oldest prison in California. I had been invited to the festival to moderate a panel of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated filmmakers. The invite had come from Rahsaan Thomas, my friend and the co-director of the festival. If you’ve followed my work closely over the years, his name might be familiar. I met Rahsaan while I was filming the first season of United Shades of America. At the time, Rahsaan was incarcerated at San Quentin with little hope of ever leaving. Rahsaan was so funny, charming, and committed to bettering his circumstances that he ended up cohosting the episode with me. Through his work on himself (in therapy and restorative justice) and as a journalist for The San Quentin News (a newspaper you, yourself, can read right here), Rahsaan had become a leader in the prison. After the episode aired, Rahsaan and I stayed in touch as best we could. I went back to San Quentin for a couple events, but COVID stopped that for a time. After the ravages of COVID on the prison population, Governor Gavin Newsom began to look at ways to reform California’s prison system, and specifically San Quentin. There was talk of commutations and clemency. Rahsaan’s case came up for review. I spoke at his Zoom hearing, along with many, many, MANY other people. Because San Quentin is located in Marin County and it regularly invites people to come in from the outside, Rahsaan had come across a dozens of folks during his years there. That day at his hearing it felt like everyone one of those people was on the Zoom and had nice things to say about him. Governor Newsom eventually signed off on Rahsaan’s release (and many other incarcerated folks’ releases). As you know, I have many complaints about Governor Newsom. This is not one.
Thank you, Governor, for understanding that throwing people away in prison forever is not good for our society. Thank you for recognizing that some people are capable of rehabilitating themselves. Now, I’ll return to being angry about you courting MAGA voters.
Once Rahsaan was out, he and I got to work building community. I was with him the first time he ate ramen. (Ramen was not a common thing in this country back when he was first incarcerated.) Rahsaan got to work building the San Quentin Festival with cofounder Cori Thomas (no relation). I resumed going back to San Quentin for occasional trips. One time when I was there some of the incarcerated men made fun of me for missing a question about Usher on Celebrity Jeopardy!
Long story short, this past Saturday morning at 6:30am, Rahsaan picked me up at my home and drove me the two and a half hours to Chowchilla. Truthfully, when Rahsaan initially asked me to be a part of the festival it was before there was a No Kings rally planned for that day. (We had no idea how many of these No Kings things we would need.) But also truthfully, I probably would have picked the film festival over No Kings anyway.
I am not against No Kings rallies. I do have friends, like activist Rosa Clemente who are against them and who have very well thought out reasons. All great reasons. But I’ve been to No Kings rallies before. I will probably be at the next one… and the next one after that… and all of them until we defeat fascism. And I like the ones in Oakland, because like Walter discovered this past weekend, they are like job fairs for activism.
I say that I will probably go because No Kings is not a cure-all. There is more than one way to skin this fascist orange cat. You can skin it at a No Kings rally. But you can also skin it in 85-degree Central California weather in an old gym with no air conditioner that has been converted into to movie theater for one day. I feel so fortunate that I was in that gym, watching films about justice-impacted folks, sitting beside incarcerated women who felt those films deeply. They laughed, cried, mmmhmmm’ed, and talked back to the screen. Some incarcerated women won awards for their own film ideas. During the meal breaks, the incarcerated women mingled with us outsiders, asked us questions, and made small talk about the heat. One woman who was incarcerated and working the festival said to me, “For a moment I forgot I was in prison.”
WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
And all I had to do in order to get the benefit of that beautiful observation was to get up early on a Saturday.
Everybody in that prison gym who was advocating for justice, creativity, liberation, and women’s voices was, by definition, working to defeat Trump’s brand of fascism, just like the attendees of No Kings were. Heck, you can even knit against fascism. As always, just do something. Every little bit helps, as long as you are doing at least a little bit… regularly. I was honored to do my bit alongside Rahsaan. I might have to take him out for ramen again. Or I wonder if he’s had a rice triangle yet…
Speaking of doing whatever we can do to fight fascism, I have a new episode of I SPENT 3 DAYS IN MINNEAPOLIS for you. This one is a conversation with Tonya Allen, the president of the McKnight Foundation. We talk about the things we can learn from the people of Minnesota as they stood up to ICE and the federal government.
WHO’S WITH ME?
Thanks again to the McKnight Foundation for partnering with me on I SPENT 3 DAYS IN MINNEAPOLIS.
Check out the trailer for So, Boom
One of the projects screened at the film festival was a short film entitled So, Boom. I wish I could share the whole film with you. It was incredibly funny, edgy, and heartfelt. It came off like an excerpt of a new bingeworthy series. It is making the festival rounds, but I’m sure you will hear more about this film and from the filmmakers, writer and star Tiffany “Tiny” Cruz and director Abby Pierce. It was first conceived while the two were in prison together.
2026 WHO’S WITH ME? Stand-up Comedy Tour
SOON! April 17 North Bethesda, MD at The Music Center at Strathmore
April 30 San Francisco, CA at 10th Annual Comedy Night for Immigrant Rights
May 22-24 San Diego at The Mic Drop Comedy Club.
BIG NEWS! NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT!
Would you like another book from me? Well if so, it was just announced that I am working on a new book with the HOPEFULLY EASY TO UNDERSTAND TITLE OF…
HOW TO HAVE A CONVERSATION
A ten step guide to talking gooder… but for real tho’.
If I had to name one skill that I know I have and that I know I have a lot of information about, it would be how to talk to people. How to talk to strangers. How to interview people. How to draw people out so they feel more comfortable.
Remember last week when I talked about DIY’ing my DEI?
Welp, here’s a hint of what I am up to. I’m leaning into entertainment industry independence. More details soon… very soon.
