{"id":24371,"date":"2024-12-17T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-comedian-using-short-film-to-connect-people-to-a-contemporary-native-story\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:53:11","slug":"colorado-comedian-using-short-film-to-connect-people-to-a-contemporary-native-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-comedian-using-short-film-to-connect-people-to-a-contemporary-native-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado comedian using short film to connect people to a contemporary Native story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Denver
Denver comic Joshua Emerson of DeadRoom production company will perform with others at Colorado Native: A Native American Comedy Showcase on April 15 at Stillwater Music. (Courtesy of Jeff Stonic)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When Joshua Emerson isn\u2019t working his day job as Moco the Clown at Casa Bonita, he\u2019s on the road doing comedy shows, focusing many of his bits on his Native American heritage, while giving other Indigenous comedians a bigger platform.<\/p>\n

Realizing that comedy clubs would be a great venue for a short film, the 33-year-old member of the Din\u00e9 Nation decided to star in his own: \u201cBad Indian\u201d takes a comedic look at some of the tropes surrounding Native Americans.<\/p>\n

Walking around in different settings, he offers witty commentary; in the opening, he describes how the frequent regularity of a train would make the task of planning a suicide easier \u2013 an example of a way to use comedy to lessen the blow about high rates of suicide for Native Americans.<\/p>\n

Throughout the 28-minute film, he makes no mention of himself rocking elaborate cornrows, which show both the significance and reverence Native Americans place on braided hair, and a link between braids worn by Black people and by Native American people \u2013 different in meaning, but, through his demonstration, transferable inter-culturally.<\/p>\n

Bringing to light those connections is what he said he hopes the film will accomplish. In an interview last week, he said: \u201cI want it to be a way that non-Natives can see a Native story and not just see trauma or not just see the same story that\u2019s been told over and over again, but to see something new, a contemporary Native story, that they\u2019re able to engage with the community and maybe spark interest and start to build relationships that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emerson, who has roots as a stand-up comic during his student days at Fort Lewis College<\/a>, said his fundraising efforts to complete production are about halfway done. He needs $4,250 more \u2013 about half of the $8,500 he planned to raise to complete the production, which includes getting the sound and light to professional levels. So last Saturday, planned screening it at Glass Grove, while making himself available for donations through online crowdfunding efforts.<\/p>\n

\"Denver
Denver comic Joshua Emerson credits his mother as his biggest inspiration for learning how to be funny. He dove headlong into stand-up after getting dumped while a student at Fort Lewis College. (Courtesy of Carleen)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Emerson, a comedian who lives in the Berkeley neighborhood of Denver, relates his strategy of engaging audiences to the crescendos and descendos in music: \u201cYou sort of want to play the audience like an instrument where you are controlling the energy and you\u2019re able to make \u2019em laugh really loud, or you can sort of make \u2019em listen and make \u2019em very quiet while you\u2019re telling the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience for his comedy shows and the audience for the film are likely interconnected, and so he said a possible venue for the film would be in the same clubs he plays. He produced \u201cNetflix is a Joke\u201d for Netflix, and does other Native-comedy performances and lineups around the country.<\/p>\n

He said his goal in raising funds is to get the film before a wider audience \u2013 the final cut might be longer than what he has in the can so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe 50-ish minutes,\u201d he said of the possible full-length. \u201cBut that would be further down the line, I think. The plan right now is to sort of perfect this and submit it into some festivals, talk to some people, and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he keeps his comedy skills strong working at the reopened Casa Bonita in Lakewood. He wears a costume of the 3-year-old gorilla named Moco, who he said can have \u201cbratty\u201d behavior.<\/p>\n

He tries to make people laugh there, although his face and voice are obscured by his gorilla suit. Of his day job that pays the bills when he\u2019s not on the road, he said doing it keeps his skills sharp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comedic bits are all nonverbal, which is a fun challenge, I will say, because it\u2019s like, how can you be funny without speaking?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like a dance, like a comedic dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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