Tracy Oliver and the cast of ‘Harlem’ on comedies, the under-represented side of Harlem, and more

A still from ‘Harlem’.
| Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video

Harlem, an Amazon Prime Video original, explores friendship in the Upper Manhattan neighbourhood through the lives of four women in their 30s. The show’s creator and producer Tracy Oliver shot to fame after her 2017 hit Girls Trip made her the first Black woman to pen a movie that grossed over $100 million. Riding on the success, she signed an eight-figure development deal with Apple and is making her mark in the industry with shows like Harlem; “I am not interested in championing stuff that is already on screen,” the Stanford graduate quips over a Zoom call.

Tracy Oliver.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Harlem follows the lives of Camille (Meagan Good), Tye (Jerrie Johnson), Quinn (Grace Byers) and Angela (Shoniqua Shandai) — their romantic escapades and professional fall-outs as Black women in their 30s and goes against the grain of stereotypes imposed on the community.

Tracy says she chose the Upper Manhattan neighbourhood because she never saw the Harlem she grew up in represented on-screen, “Whenever I saw Harlem [on-screen], it was the Godfather Harlem or the Malcolm X Harlem and it would always be heavy. There’s a softer side of Harlem that has not been captured. If there was one neighbourhood in Manhattan that needs love on-screen, it has to be Harlem,” she adds while noting that, historically, people of colour have been gentrified out of shows set in New York City like The Sex and the City, Girls, and F.R.I.E.N.D.S, and she felt the need to show the New York that she was familiar with on the screen.

Tracy likes her work to focus on what entertains her and makes her laugh. “I aggressively lean towards feel-good stuff. There is a lot of trauma when it comes to Black content and you do not see that in my work because that is not something that interests me. I want people to feel good about themselves and laugh and have a good time,” she wants her work to work as an escape, a departure from the harsh realities of life.

While Tracy is famous for her comedies, she asserts that she is genre-agnostic and believes that no single genre can narrate the full truth of a person and their experiences; the writer reveals that she is working on a crime drama. She is keen on pushing the envelope of inclusivity in all her projects and wishes she had something like Harlem when she started out.

A still from ‘Harlem’
| Photo Credit:
Amazon Prime Video

Speaking about the role of comedy as a genre in relaying the African-American experience, Meagan Good, who plays Camille in the show, an anthropology professor seeking tenure at Columbia University, relates to her character’s sense of humour and says that the treatment of Black characters in the genre has undergone a change for good. “Initially we had jokes that played into stereotypes but now it is becoming more intricate and layered.” There is a universality about the genre, “It belongs to us all.”

“We have to laugh to keep from crying and we have to laugh to keep from dying”, Jerrie adds. Jerrie Johnson plays Tye in the show, a determined queer Black woman in Tech. Jerrie says that Black people got into the industry through comedy and notes that laughter and enjoyment in themselves are radical acts for Black people. Agreeing with Meagan, she says that it is great to have comedy evolve to a point where laughter is not devised out of caricatures. “Comedy is a great way for us to take a breath”, she adds as she signs off.