ABOUT Lil’ Mama
The first humor website centered around irreverent, Black humor and satire.
In 1999, Chris Rock established The Illtop Journal at Howard University in an effort to create a humor publication similar to The Harvard Lampoon, but for Black people. He had hoped that it would create not only the same amount of opportunities for alumni as he had seen the Lampoon create in his time at Saturday Night Live, for example, but generally advance the state of Black Comedy, and Black comedy writing, to a sophistication he had perceived in the world of White Comedy:
“…our comedy-writing skills are far behind that of the white man.”
While we can’t promise our writers any jobs at SNL or Late Night, we hope to continue that original dream of Rock’s, to further advance and progress the state of Black Comedy.
How will we do that? Well, this is a humor website, so we’ll write.
And hopefully, in turn, you’ll read.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
- All submissions should be sent to: lilmamahumor@gmail.com
- We’re interested in any and all irreverent humor and/or cultural satire, in whatever medium/form you find that might lead you. It does not *have* to be about Black shit (though that’s very cool!) As long as it has style, a point-of-view (or humorous lack thereof), and is original, smart, stupid, and funny.
- There aren’t many restrictions on length, other than that, at the most, pieces should run around 800 words. But if you wanna write a funny version of “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”, go wild.
- No pitches. Only completed drafts. Also, if it’s a timely submission, add TIMELY: [your title here], in the subject of the email. Otherwise, just put the title of your piece in the subject. Please paste the submission in the body of email (no pdf’s, or docx’s, or otherwise), and title it with the title of the piece and your name. For example,
Elon Musk Rich But He Not Hoodrich: An Essay
By Saheim Patrick
(body of text)
- No simultaneous submissions. I’m not smart enough to handle all that. Don’t worry, I’ll respond fairly quickly. I’m not doing anything. Also, one piece at a time. Also not smart enough to handle all that.
- You retain rights to your work after publication. We don’t pay. But we’re cool and you’re helping Black people, so.
