1491s

Last updated
The 1491s
1491s banter with the audience.jpg
Members of the 1491s banter with the audience in 2013 at Simon Fraser University.
From left to right: Bobby Wilson, Sterlin Harjo, unidentified, Migizi Pensoneau (not pictured: Dallas Goldtooth, Ryan RedCorn).
Medium
  • Television
  • stage
  • video
Nationality Indigenous
Years active2009–present
Genres Sketch comedy, Narrative comedy
Subject(s)
Notable works and roles New Moon Wolf Pack Auditions
To The Indigenous Woman - The Violence Against Women Act
Members
Website www.1491s.com

The 1491s are a Native American sketch comedy group, with members based in Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Montana. While the members' sketch comedy has had a growing cult following since the mid-2000s, and their videos since 2009, they are perhaps best known for their work in more widely-known shows such as Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs . [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Their comedy sketches, spoken word, and longer narrative works depict contemporary Native American life in the United States, using humor and satire to explore issues such as stereotypes and racism (internal and external), tribal politics, and the conflict between tradition and modernity. Their over 150 YouTube videos have frequently gone viral, including their first video, the Twilight parody "New Moon Wolf Pack Auditions!!!!" [4] [5] [6]

A Los Angeles Times reporter described the group's output as "dozens of videos, some crass, some cryptic, some laugh-out-loud hilarious." [4] Group member Dallas Goldtooth has cited British comedy legends Monty Python's Flying Circus as an influence. The group creates all of its pieces collectively. [4] [7]

The group's name is a reference to the year 1491, the year before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and widespread European colonization of the Americas began. [8]

Performances, film and television

The 1491s have been featured on The Daily Show , where they made featured content on the Native American mascot controversy. [9] [10] [11] [6] [12] They have made videos for social and legislatives issues such as full inclusion of Indigenous women in the Violence Against Women Act. [5] [13] As member Bobby Wilson explains, "There's so much expectation put on Indigenous people in the arts, especially in the media. It comes from a longstanding tradition of non-Native people, most often white men, writing stories for Hollywood and the stage. We're fighting those tropes. If they show up in our work, it's just to lampoon them." [7]

In 2018 the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, along with New Native Theatre, co-commissioned the 1491s to write a play for their American Revolutions series of new plays about US history. The play, which ran from April 7, 2019, to October 27, 2019, consists of linked comedy sketches covering events between the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 and the Wounded Knee Occupation of the 1970s – hence the title, Between Two Knees. [14] [7] Portland Observer critic Darleen Ortega called it "a feat of theater magic so satisfying that, after seeing it three times, I am determined to savor it at least twice more before it closes", [15] while Lee Juillerat of the Herald and News wrote, "With gobs of humor, it politely lays a guilt trip on white people for the history of injustices against Native Americans." [16] Between Two Knees was performed at Yale University from May 13 to June 4, 2022. [17]

Members of the troupe have appeared in films and television shows directed by member Sterlin Harjo, and in 2021 four out of the five troupe members worked on the shows Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs , as actors, writers, directors and producers. [1] [2] [3] As of season 2 of Reservation Dogs, with the addition of Ryan RedCorn to the writers' room, the entire troupe are working on the well-received show. [18] [19]

Members

The individual members of the 1491s are:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pryor Creek, Oklahoma</span> City in Oklahoma, United States

Pryor Creek or Pryor is a city in and county seat of Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 8,659 at the 2000 census and 9,539 in the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beggs, Oklahoma</span> City in Oklahoma, United States

Beggs is a city in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,179 as of the 2020 census. Beggs was named for Charles Hoffman Beggs (1865–1942), vice president of the St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terlton, Oklahoma</span> Town in Oklahoma, United States

Terlton is a town in Pawnee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located one-half mile south of US 412/US 64 on Terlton Road and County Road E0570. The population was 77 at the time of the 2020 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frybread</span> Variety of flatbread

Frybread is a dish of the indigenous people of North America that is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joy Harjo</span> American Poet Laureate

Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Harjo is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program.

Bobby Wilson may refer to:

<i>Four Sheets to the Wind</i> 2007 American drama film

Four Sheets to the Wind is a 2007 independent drama film written and directed by Sterlin Harjo. It was Harjo's first feature film, and won several awards at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and American Indian Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaniehtiio Horn</span> Canadian actress (b. 1986)

Kaniehtiio Alexandra Jessie Horn, sometimes credited as Tiio Horn, is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role in the television film Moccasin Flats: Redemption and she has appeared in the films The Trotsky, Leslie, My Name Is Evil, and The Wild Hunt, as well as the streaming television horror series Hemlock Grove and the sitcoms 18 to Life, Letterkenny and Reservation Dogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devery Jacobs</span> First Nations actress (born 1993)

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a Mohawk actress. For her performance in Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), she garnered a Canadian Screen Awards nomination for Best Actress. In 2023 and 2024, for her role on Reservation Dogs, she was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

Arigon Starr is a Kickapoo singer, actor, playwright and comic book writer, who is known for her one-woman shows. She has won numerous awards for her music, art, and plays, including the Native American Music Awards for Best Independent Recording in 1999 and Songwriter of the Year in 2007. In 2016, Starr edited the graphic novel Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, which was named one of the American Library Associations 2018 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. She won a Tulsa Artist Fellowship in 2017 and her play Round House was produced by the New Native Play Festival in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterlin Harjo</span> Native American filmmaker (born 1979)

Sterlin Harjo is an American Seminole filmmaker. He has directed three feature films, a documentary, and the FX comedy drama series Reservation Dogs, all of them set in his home state of Oklahoma and concerned primarily with Native American people and content.

Tom B.K. Goldtooth is a Native American environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader. He is active at local, national, and international levels as an advocate for building healthy and sustainable Indigenous communities based upon the foundation of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Goldtooth has served as executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) since 1996 after serving as a member of the IEN National Council since 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Goldtooth</span> American actor and activist

Dallas Goldtooth is a Native American (Sioux) environmental activist and performing artist. He is a co-founding member of the 1491s, a Native American sketch comedy group and a member of the cast of the television series Reservation Dogs. He is a Dakota language-instructor, writer, artist, and actor.

Rod Rondeaux is a Native American actor and stuntman. As an actor, his work includes the 2005 miniseries Into the West, Comanche Moon in 2008, the Cayuse character in the 2010 Kelly Reichardt film Meek's Cutoff, and the lead role in the 2015 film, Mekko. His stunt work includes Reel Injun and Comanche Moon.

Sierra Nizhoni Teller Ornelas is a Native American showrunner, screenwriter, filmmaker and sixth-generation tapestry weaver from Tucson, Arizona. She is one of three co-creators of the scripted NBC (Peacock) comedy series Rutherford Falls, alongside Ed Helms and Mike Schur.

<i>Rutherford Falls</i> American television sitcom

Rutherford Falls is an American sitcom television series that premiered on the streaming service Peacock on April 22, 2021. It was created by Ed Helms, Michael Schur, and Sierra Teller Ornelas. In July 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on June 16, 2022.

Jana Schmieding is a Native American comedian, actor, podcaster, and writer. She is best known for her roles hosting the podcast Woman of Size, and as a writer and actor on the sitcom Rutherford Falls, and an actor on Reservation Dogs.

<i>Reservation Dogs</i> American comedy-drama television series

Reservation Dogs is an American comedy-drama television series created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for FX Productions. It follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days hanging out and committing crimes to earn enough money to leave their reservation community.

D'Pharaoh Miskwaatez Loescher McKay Woon-A-Tai is a Canadian actor of Oji-Cree descent. He is best known for his role as Bear Smallhill in the FX on Hulu comedy-drama series Reservation Dogs (2021), for which he received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Critics' Choice Television Awards.

<i>Rez Ball</i> American sports drama film

Rez Ball is a 2024 American sports drama film directed by Sydney Freeland, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sterlin Harjo, based on the nonfiction sports novel Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation, by The New York Times journalist Michael Powell. LeBron James served as one of the producers. The film features an ensemble cast, including Kauchani Bratt, Jessica Matten, Julia Jones, Amber Midthunder, and Kiowa Gordon.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Boutsalis, Kelly (9 Aug 2021). "'This Is What We Should Have Had All Along'". The New York Times . Retrieved 13 Aug 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Tennant, Zoe (7 Feb 2020). "Rutherford Falls brings Indigenous writers together for new NBC sitcom". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 13 Aug 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Starr, Michael (3 Aug 2021). "Oklahoma teens California dreaming in 'Reservation Dogs'". New York Post . Retrieved 13 Aug 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "An environmental activist who uses comedy to help stop oil pipelines". Los Angeles Times . September 13, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  5. 1 2 3 "Justice denied for Native American women". Al Jazeera America. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 Murg, Wilhelm (2012-09-02). "On the Cutting Edge of Native Comedy With the 1491s". Indian Country Today . Archived from the original on 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  7. 1 2 3 "A Troupe That Turns Tropes Into Takeoffs". AMERICAN THEATRE. 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  8. ↑ Taylor-Corbett, Lynne (1 June 2019). "Who Are The 1491s and What Is 'Between Two Knees'?". Clyde Fitch Report. Retrieved 13 Aug 2021.
  9. ↑ "The 1491s". Al Jazeera America. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Behind the Scenes of Our Tense Segment on The Daily Show". Huffingtonpost.com. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  11. ↑ "The making of the 1491s - The Tulsa Voice - June B 2015". The Tulsa Voice. Archived from the original on 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  12. ↑ "Warning: Native Humor! 5 New Videos by the 1491s - ICTMN.com". Indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com. 2014-03-14. Archived from the original on 2016-05-29. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
  13. ↑ "Video Urges Action on VAWA". Indian Law Resource Center. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "Oregon Shakes' 2019 Season to Feature Translated Shakespeare". AMERICAN THEATRE. 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  15. ↑ "Native Comedy Packs Hard Hitting Truths". The Portland Observer. 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  16. ↑ "'Two Knees' bites, stings — and shares a point of view". Herald and News. 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  17. ↑ "Between Two Knees" . Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  18. 1 2 Patten, Dominic (2021-09-21). "'Reservation Dogs' Star Devery Jacobs Joins Expanded All Indigenous Writers Room For Season 2". Deadline . Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  19. ↑ "Sterlin Harjo Is Not Afraid to Sacrifice a Good Idea - The Reservation Dogs showrunner leads by instinct". vulture.com. 2022-09-28. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  20. ↑ "Dallas Goldtooth". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Hailey's On It! - Splatter of the Band - Exclusive Clip". Disney Television Animation News. 8 Jun 2023. Retrieved 10 Jun 2023. Hailey's Uncles are voiced by Dallas Goldtooth, Amir Talai, John Eric Bentley, and Ken Tatafu.
  22. ↑ "Sterlin Harjo honored by Oklahoma Film Critics: The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle will present its 2011 Tilghman Award to state filmmaker Sterlin Harjo." The Oklahoman , November 4, 2011.
  23. ↑ Joanna Hearne and Zach Schlachter, "An Interview with Sterlin Harjo and Blackhorse Lowe", Native Americans on Film: Conversations, Teaching, and Theory (University Press of Kentucky, 2013), ISBN   978-0813140346, pp. 169ff. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  24. ↑ "Migizi Pensoneau". The Huffington Post . Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  25. ↑ ""The Native characters aren't afterthoughts": "Barkskins" writer on reclaiming Native narratives". Salon.com . 25 May 2020. Retrieved 18 Aug 2021.
  26. ↑ O'Donnell, E. (January 13, 2022). "Avatar Studios Adds Reservation Dogs Writer To Team As Native Consult". Screen Rant . Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  27. ↑ Duty, Shannon Shaw (18 December 2013). "Community comes out to support CASA program". Osage News. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  28. ↑ Simmons, Kali (Aug 2, 2023). "Reservation Dogs Season-Premiere Recap: NDN Storytelling". Vulture . Retrieved Aug 6, 2023.
  29. ↑ "Meet 8 Indigenous Beaders Who Are Modernizing Their Craft". Vogue. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  30. ↑ Joey Clift [@joeytainment] (May 3, 2023). "Spirit Rangers Season 2 comes out May 8th and we just announced a bunch of our voice cast!! It was so fun working with all of these Native and Indigenous superstars and I can't wait for ya'll to hear them in the new episodes! #SpiritRangers" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  31. ↑ "(#104) "What About Your Dad"". The Futon Critic . Retrieved July 26, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.