Grier Promises to Roast 'Half Black' Obama

Nov. 21, 2008 — -- Watching actor-comedian David Alan Grier go off on Barack Obama, chastising the newly casual president-elect for dressing more G-Unit than GQ since Nov. 4 and bashing him for being only as black as a brown paper bag, one might come away thinking Grier's out to get Obama. That he wants to rake him over the coals. That he's not satisfied with America's first black president.

In some ways he is, and he does and he's not. But in a recent interview with ABCNews.com, the star of Comedy Central's "Chocolate News," who cut his teeth on "In Living Color," put reason behind his rants and talked about how he plans to craft jokes during the upcoming Obama administration. His approach: No holds barred but not all about race.

ABCNews.com: How will race factor into your comedy?

David Alan Grier: One thing that will happen, once the administration gets under way, it's not the blackness, it's just the behavior. That's what fuels political thought, conversation and humor. Every president does something -- whether it's tripping and falling off an airplane or something else that we can make fun of. That's not a racial thing. What's been so intriguing to me is negotiating race in public. We've never seen that. We've never had to do it at this speed.

We always fantasized about the first black president. Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle -- everybody has done their riff on the first black president. Now that time is here. I think the race thing is going to get really old really quick if that's all people concentrate on. If that's all comics are concentrating on, it's going to get old really quick. We just have to dig and go from a different place.

ABCNews.com: What was the inspiration behind your riff on Obama being "half black"?

Grier: When I ranted that he's only half black so I'll only be half happy ... there was a part of me during the primary that thought he could actually win. And another part thought that it would be great if America would be ready for a black black president. There's something about being black black -- like Wesley Snipes "Blade" black -- that's the kind of black president that will intimidate you. That will make foreign leaders want to lock their doors. That's where that rant came from.