Copeland, Brian 1964(?)-

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Copeland, Brian 1964(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1964; married; wife's name Susie (a musician and educator); children: Adam, Carolyn, Casey.

ADDRESSES:

Home—San Leandro, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, comedian, actor, talk-show host. Not a Genuine Black Man, one-man stage production, Marsh Theater, San Francisco, 2004-06; Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), San Francisco, CA, Copeland's Corner; KGO radio, San Francisco, Brian Copeland Show, 2002—. Has appeared on MTV, Comedy Central, and Arts and Entertainment (A&E) networks.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Best Regularly Scheduled Feature Segment, Associated Press, 2003, for Copeland's Corner.

WRITINGS:

Not a Genuine Black Man: Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs (memoir), Hyperion Books (New York, NY), 2006.

ADAPTATIONS:

Not a Genuine Black Man: Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs is under production as a Home Box Office (HBO) television series by Rob Reiner.

SIDELIGHTS:

Brian Copeland, a comedian and talkshow host in San Francisco, California, turned an angry listener's call into a stand-up comedy routine and later into a book and a proposed HBO television series. The caller accused Copeland, an African American, of not being a genuine black man. This observation prompted Copeland to ponder what it actually meant to be a black man.

In his 2006 memoir, Not a Genuine Black Man: Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs, Copeland presents an objective view of his youth in the suburb of San Leandro, near Oakland, California. Here he desperately tried to fit into the dominant white society, listening to rock and roll and not being particularly good at basketball. However, he discovered obstacles at every turn, even to finding a barber willing to cut his hair. In Not a Genuine Black Man, Copeland delivers such reminiscences with his trademark humor despite the pain such memories surely cause him. A Publishers Weekly reviewer had high praise for the book, calling it "honest and engaging." Furthermore, the reviewer noted, "anyone who has ever felt out of place" or has tried "to straddle racial lines" would find it useful. Similarly, a reviewer for California Bookwatch felt that Not a Genuine Black Man "should serve as an inspiration for any black reader," and People contributor Josh Emmons found it "affecting."