Comedic role models

James and Ernie:  Native Comedy with a Positive MessageThat was the start of James and Ernie, Native America’s clean fun and clean living comedy team. In the nearly six years since that first meeting, the Navajo duo have entertained audiences throughout the Four Corners region to the Kennedy Center in Washington with their unique style of sketch-prop comedy mixed with musical parodies. What makes their humor stand apart is their innately personal perspective as contemporary Natives, even when those details include their own battles with alcohol addiction.

“I want to tell the audience what happened to us. For me, I’ve been substance free for five years,” Ernie says. “I stopped drinking, finally, because I had one too many DUIs and my wife almost divorced me. I nearly lost my family and basically lost all my dignity and respect because of alcohol. I even lost two jobs.”