By Elle Skvarna, The Seattle Medium
You may have seen him in Seattle-based Cut’s videos on YouTube, or heard him tell a joke or two at Jules Maes Saloon or 23rd Ave Brewery.
But Duante Barnett isn’t just a figure passing onstage during a 15-minute set. He’s a passionate activist carving out a space for people of color and people with disabilities in the comedy world. When Barnett’s mother passed away in 2018, he vowed to start doing the things that he was passionate about. One of those things was comedy.
A Seattle native who attended Highline High School, Barnett is a Black comic who is partially deaf and has Asperger’s. Those identities and life experiences inform his comedy.
His production company, SuitMan Productions, has hosted a number of shows uplifting diversity in its many forms. “WAP: Women are Phunny,” supported Women’s Aid through female and nonbinary comedians; “Mixed N’ Misidentified” shed light on the experience of multiracial people; and “Social Security Influencers” explores comedy from another era and no comic on the lineup is under the age of 65.
The name SuitMan originates with a deeper story–from years of others mispronouncing his name and from better resume responses when he switched to his middle name, “Edward.”
“Being a person of color, I learned at a very young age that if I wore a suit and tie, people treated me different,” Barnett said. “That’s when I decided to be SuitMan.”
Historically, the comedy scene in Seattle has been white, straight, young and male. Barnett’s mission is to shake up those antiquated standards.
“The hardest part about doing comedy in Seattle is not punching racists in the face,” Barnett said. “You don’t get mad about people responding to injustice, you get mad about the injustice.”
Barnett grew up watching programs such as “An Evening at the Improv,” and always believed he had a knack for making people laugh. Growing up in a “bad housing situation” and facing adversities such as homelessness throughout his life, Barnett has relayed his experiences through comedy.
Barnett also co-hosts two podcasts, “The Autastic Artist” and “Dating with Disabilities.” The shows are centered around the experiences of people with disabilities and artists on the autism spectrum.
Barnett and Janejira Damron, a graphic designer and comedian, began working together five years ago when they met performing at a comedy open mic. Through conversations, Barnett and Damron saw a need for more accurate representation of people with autism. Their podcast, “The Autastic Artist,” was inspired by issues that Barnett found with the autism characterizations on Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum.” Both Barnett and Damron hope their podcast will provide a more relatable representation of people with autism. “We gotta end the stigma that autism is a bad thing,” Damron said. “It’s so annoying.”
“Dating with Disabilities,” co-hosted by fellow comedians with disabilities Damron, Variety D and Silvi Santoso, explores the romantic experiences of the hosts and guests.
“It’s not just entertainment, it’s representation. These are real people. Their story needs to be heard,” Barnett said. “Other people who are disabled want to hear how somebody else is dealing with their dating life.”
In 2019, inspired by his own hearing loss, Barnett founded Deaf Comedy Jam, a show aimed at accessible comedy. Barnett has hosted Deaf Comedy Jam twice, and is exploring the possibility of a third show.
“The idea of the show isn’t putting deaf comics to hearing comics. It’s about letting deaf comics hear hearing comics and vice versa,” Barnett said. “Yes, I would love for this to be an all deaf lineup, but we’ve got to start somewhere.”
Jacqui Pirl, a comic on the bill for SuitMan Production’s Deaf Comedy Jam in April, met Duante over Zoom during the pandemic. Pirl, a hearing comedian, described her experience on the show as completely unique to anything she’d done. The show involved sign interpreters, which gave Pirl insight into the world of the deaf and hard of hearing.
Barnett hired two sign language people, “which I thought was brilliant. There was one female, one male; one was Black, one was white. You never know when the n-word is gonna come up. You don’t want a white girl signing that,” Pirl said.
Both Pirl and Barnett spoke about the necessity of creating comfortable spaces for people of color and people with disabilities. Pirl is often the only woman in a comedy lineup, while Barnett is often the only Black person.
“Suitman Productions is about creating space, giving people chances, and doing things differently,” Barnett said.
Pirl described an unfamiliarity with the audience’s delayed response to her jokes, as interpreters filled the theater’s silence with rapid signing. Barnett’s Deaf Comedy Jam flips the script on unbalanced and typical societal interactions, centering inclusion for everyone.
“Hearing people forget that deaf people are ready to deal with them. It’s hearing people that aren’t ready to deal with deaf people,” Barnett said. “If you’re willing to treat these people different because they’re disabled, you’re the asshole.”
Barnett’s podcasts are streamable on Facebook, Youtube and Spotify @SuitMan Productions. The calendar on his website details his upcoming events.