Creative to Know: Stan Lathan, the director/producer who shaped Black television and stand-up comedy
For more than half a century, Stan Lathan has been the steady hand behind some of the most defining moments in Black entertainment — and he’s done it almost entirely out of the spotlight. He was in the room when public television first made space for Black voices, behind the camera when Sesame Street was still finding its format, and the architect of the raw, unfiltered comedy stage that gave us Def Comedy Jam and two decades of Dave Chappelle specials. Networks trusted him to launch their biggest Black sitcoms. Redd Foxx demanded him by name. His daughter, Sanaa Lathan, grew up watching him work and built a career of her own — and in 2022, the two made history together. At 81, he’s still directing.
He directed one of the first Black-made TV shows in the country. In 1968, in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, Lathan co-created and directed Say Brother on WGBH Boston — one of the first nationally broadcast shows made entirely by, for, and about Black Americans. It’s still running today as Basic Black, the longest-running Black public affairs show in the U.S.
He was one of the original directors of Sesame Street. Lathan helmed episodes from 1969–1975 while working alongside acclaimed director William Greaves, helping shape the show’s early educational format at a time when children’s television barely existed as a genre.
He got his start in features with a Marvin Gaye and Jackson 5 concert doc. His directorial debut was Save the Children (1973), chronicling the 1972 PUSH Expo in Chicago. He followed it with Amazing Grace (1974), his first scripted feature, starring Moms Mabley. A decade later he took over Beat Street (1984) — not as the original director, but as a mid-shoot replacement after “creative differences,” reportedly because producers wanted someone who understood hip-hop culture from the inside.
Redd Foxx personally demanded a Black director — and that’s how Lathan got to Hollywood. That demand landed Lathan on Sanford and Son in 1974, launching a decades-long run directing pilots for Martin, Moesha, The Parkers, Amen, South Central, Eve, and Real Husbands of Hollywood — plus directing the majority of Martin‘s episodes, serving as primary director on Roc during its historic live season, and running Real Husbands of Hollywood as EP/director for its full three-season run.
He directed every single episode of The Steve Harvey Show. All 122 episodes across six seasons (1996–2002), as executive producer with total creative control — unheard of on a network sitcom, where directors usually rotate weekly.
He co-created Def Comedy Jam — and reinvented what stand-up on TV could look like. Partnering with Russell Simmons and Bob Sumner in 1989, Lathan staged the show like an actual comedy club, piping the live room’s chaos directly into the broadcast. That decision normalized raw, unfiltered stand-up on mainstream TV and helped launch Martin Lawrence, Chris Tucker, Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, and Dave Chappelle.
He’s directed nearly every Dave Chappelle special since 2000. Including Killin’ Them Softly (widely considered one of the greatest stand-up specials ever), Equanimity, Sticks & Stones, and The Closer — plus specials for Cedric the Entertainer, Mo Amer, and Amanda Seales. 20+ specials over two decades.
He’s one Oscar away from an EGOT. Tony winner (Def Poetry Jam on Broadway), 9 Primetime Emmys, 2 Grammys, and 6 NAACP Image Awards.
He’s Sanaa Lathan’s father — and in 2022, they made Emmy history together. While Stan built television from behind the camera, Sanaa built her career in front of it — Love & Basketball, Brown Sugar, The Best Man, Alien vs. Predator, and a Tony nomination for A Raisin in the Sun. In 2022, both were nominated for Primetime Emmys in the same season — Sanaa for Succession, Stan for Chappelle’s The Closer — a rare father-daughter double nomination. That same year, Sanaa made her own directorial debut with On the Come Up.
He’s still working — five-plus decades in. From Say Brother in 1968 to Dave Chappelle specials in the 2020s, Lathan has been shaping Black entertainment across six decades and counting.