''Woke'' is an American comedy television series co-created by Keith Knight and Marshall Todd and starring

Lamorne Morris Lamorne Lionel Morris (born August 14, 1983) is an American actor and comedian. He has played the roles of Winston Bishop in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), Daniel in '' Call Me Kat'', Darrin Morris in the National Geographic docu ...

. The series premiered on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

on September 9, 2020. On November 17, 2020, Hulu renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on April 8, 2022. In June 2022,

cancelled the series after two seasons.

Plot

Keef Knight, creator of ''Toast & Butter'', is a black cartoonist on the verge of mainstream success. He prides himself on 'keeping it light' and shies away from taking controversial stances. After being racially profiled by overly aggressive policemen, the traumatized Keef finds that he's able to see and hear inanimate objects talking to him. Now more sensitive to racism, and the everyday microaggressions he'd tried so hard to avoid acknowledging in every situation, Keef must figure out how to maintain his relationships and a career as a "

woke ''Woke'' is an adjective derived from African-American English used since the 1930s or earlier to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and Racial discrimination, discrimination, often in the construction ''stay woke''. The term acquired p ...

" black man. The show is live action with animated elements.

Cast

as Keef, a cartoonist based on cartoonist and co-creator Keith Knight *

Blake Anderson Blake Raymond Anderson (born March 2, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, producer, screenwriter, and fashion designer. Beginning in 2006, Anderson helped create and join the sketch-comedy troupe Mail Order Comedy, which produced online videos ...

as Gunther, one of Keef's roommates * T. Murph as Clovis, Keef's best friend and roommate *

Rose McIver Frances Rose McIver (born 10 October 1988) is a New Zealand actress. She portrays Samantha Arondekar in the CBS supernatural sitcom ''Ghosts'' (2021–present), Olivia "Liv" Moore in The CW supernatural comedy-drama series '' iZombie'' (2015–2 ...

as Adrienne, an artist and Keef's girlfriend (season 1) *

Sasheer Zamata Sasheer Zamata Moore (; born May 6, 1986) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. She is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2014 to 2017. Since her departure from ''SNL'' ...

as Ayana, a reporter for The Bay Arean who calls Keef out *

Aimee Garcia Aimee Sandimés Garcia López de Ordóñez (born November 28, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Veronica Palmero on the ABC sitcom '' George Lopez'' (2006–2007), Jamie Batista on the Showtime drama '' D ...

as Laura Salgado (season 2) Voice only *

J.B. Smoove Jerry Angelo Brooks (born December 16, 1965), commonly known by his stage name J. B. Smoove, is an American comedian, actor, and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on '' Def Comedy Jam'', he was a writer and performer on NBC's ''Saturday ...

as Marker *

Nicole Byer Nicole Byer (born August 29, 1986) is an American comedian, actress, and television host. She is known as the host of the Netflix comedic reality bake-off series '' Nailed It!'' (2018–present), for which she has received four Primetime Emmy ...

and

Eddie Griffin Edward Rubin Griffin (born July 15, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for portraying Eddie Sherman in the sitcom '' Malcolm & Eddie'', the title character in the 2002 comedy film '' Undercover Brother'', and Tib ...

as 40 oz Bottles *

Cree Summer Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) is an American-Canadian actress and singer. She is best known for her extensive work in animation, voicing characters such as Elmyra Duff in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' and related media, Susie Carmichael ...

as Paper Bag *

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series '' Veep''. For the ...

as Butter * Sam Richardson as Toast *

Jack McBrayer Jack McBrayer (; born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his portrayal of characters on '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and as Kenneth Parcell in ''30 Rock''. For his role in ''30 Rock'', McBraye ...

as Sad face *

Cedric the Entertainer Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian, actor and television host. He hosted BET's '' ComicView'' during the 1993–1994 season and '' Def Comedy Jam'' ...

as Trashcan *

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...

as Bible

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

Keith Knight serves as the inspiration of the show. Jay Dyer served as the showrunner for the first season. Anthony King was the showrunner for Season 2.

Release

''Woke'' was released on

on September 9, 2020. The first trailer was released on August 8, 2020.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an approval rating of 74% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10 for the show's first season. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though ''Woke'' first season doesn't quite know what it wants to say about racism in America, its solid ensemble—led by a well-cast Lamorne Morris—and some surreal silliness make it a messy conversation worth watching."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the series a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* {{Hulu 2020s American comedy television series 2020 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings American television series with live action and animation Hulu original programming Television series by ABC Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios Television shows based on comic strips Television shows set in San Francisco Television shows based on American comics Woke