Comedian. Writer. Twitter sensation. Baratunde Thurston may be the most media-savvy provocateur around today. His latest bestselling book is How To Be Black, half tongue-in-cheek guidebook on such topics as "How to be the Black Friend" or "How to be the Next Black President," and half memoir about his life experiences with identity and race.

Thurston joins Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg to explain how a little Twitter hashtag — #howblackareyou — sparked the conversation that would result in his writing of How To Be Black, and the potent connection he's discovered between freedom, politics and comedy. Plus, one lucky winner receives both the "albino" edition of Thurston's book and The Black Card, a most exclusive and coveted prize presented by Thurston himself.

About Baratunde Thurston

Baratunde Thurston is a politically-active, technology-loving comedian from the future. He co-founded the black political blog, Jack and Jill Politics and serves as Director of Digital for The Onion. He has written for Vanity Fair, hosted Popular Science's Future Of on Discovery Science and appears on cable news regularly to say smart things in funny ways. Then-candidate Barack Obama called him "someone I need to know."

Baratunde travels the world speaking and advising and performs standup regularly in NYC. He resides in Brooklyn, lives on Twitter and has over 30 years experience being black. His first book, How To Be Black, is a New York Times best-seller.

Watch a video below featuring Baratunde Thurston on "Being The Black Friend."

This segment originally aired on July 27, 2012.

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