Black Jesus (TV series)

Black Jesus
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Aaron McGruder Mike Clattenburg
Starring	Gerald "Slink" Johnson Charlie Murphy John Witherspoon Kali Hawk Corey Holcomb Andra Fuller Andrew Bachelor Angela E. Gibbs Antwon Tanner Valenzia Algarin
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Aaron McGruder Mike Clattenburg Robert Wise Meghann Collins Robertson John Bravakis Norman Aladjem Stu Schreiberg Keith Crofford Walter Newman
Producers	Mark Costa Debbie Hayn Cass
Running time	20 minutes
Production companies	5 Mutts Productions Triage Entertainment Williams Street
Original release
Network	Adult Swim
Release	August 7, 2014 (2014-08-07) – present

Black Jesus is an American comedy television series created by Aaron McGruder and Mike Clattenburg that airs on Adult Swim. The series stars Gerald "Slink" Johnson, Charlie Murphy, Corey Holcomb, Kali Hawk, King Bach, and Andra Fuller. The series premiered on August 7, 2014. On December 10, 2014, the series was renewed for a second season. The second season premiered on September 18, 2015.

Premise

The scripted live-action comedy features an African-American Jesus Christ living in modern-day Compton, California, on a mission to spread love and kindness throughout the neighborhood with his small group of followers.

Cast

• Gerald "Slink" Johnson as Jesus Christ
• Charlie Murphy as Victor "Vic" Hargrove
• Corey Holcomb as Boonie
• Kali Hawk as Maggie
• Andrew Bachelor as Trayvon
• Andra Fuller as Fish
• John Witherspoon as Lloyd Hamilton
• Angela Elayne Gibbs as Ms. Tudi
• Valenzia Algarin as Dianne
• Antwon Tanner as Jason
• Marcelo Olivas as Spider

Series overview

Main article: List of Black Jesus episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	10		August 7, 2014 (2014-08-07)	October 9, 2014 (2014-10-09)
2	11		September 18, 2015 (2015-09-18)	November 27, 2015 (2015-11-27)

Reception

Black Jesus has received generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the first season received an average score of 73, which indicates "generally positive reviews", based on five reviews. Brian Lowry of Variety gave the series a positive review, saying "Black Jesus is funny in part because it ventures so eagerly into areas most producers and networks, worn down by years of calls for sponsor boycotts and bad publicity, have simply decided it’s easier to avoid." Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times gave the series a positive review, saying "I'm not saying it's particularly deep, and it is filled with language that cannot be reproduced in this newspaper, but it's good-natured and, compared with a lot of what's on television, the comedy is gentle and hopeful." Soraya Nadia McDonald of The Washington Post said, "Like his earthly counterparts, Black Jesus doesn’t have a perfect track record, but he gets the big concepts and leads by example. If anything, it seems McGruder is trying to tell his audience that if Jesus is just like us, maybe it’s not so much of a stretch for us to be just like him." James Poniewozik of Time stated, "You might expect McGruder, given his Boondocks history, to be out for pointed religious satire, but Black Jesus is really more of a stoner hangout comedy with a heart."

International broadcast

The series premiered in Australia on June 8, 2015 on The Comedy Channel.

External links

• Black Jesus at IMDb