Emmy-winning comedian W. Kamau Bell brings awareness with an edge to his stand-up routine.

The award-winning comedian W. Kamau Bell is best known for the CNN docuseries United Shades of America, for which he won multiple Emmys. Now Bell is back to stand-up comedy with his brand new tour, Who’s With Me?, which kicked off early this year at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and now stops in Carmel.

“Everything is political,” Bell says, comparing his performances to United Shades. “I talk about the news of the day, and about being a dad of three daughters and a son, and about being a member of Gen X. But yes, the core of my audience are people who care about the state of the world.”

Bell says he feels he earned a “bachelor’s degree in America” from doing the CNN show for seven years.

“I learned a lot about America that I didn’t know before,” he says. “The people who run this country often think we run better as Divided States of America than the United States of America.

“Every episode you think you’re dealing with a different issue, but you’re often dealing with just two issues, racism and capitalism. Racism is a thing that this country, from the very beginning, used to divide us, to say this person is more human or more of a citizen than the other. And capitalism was a way to enforce that.”

Contrary to many who say making comedy in Trump’s America is – due to the level of absurdity – difficult, Bell says people recording acts on their cell phones without permission is the one annoyance.

“American stand-up comedy came to the forefront during the Civil Rights era,” he argues. If it’s hard now, it’s not harder than back then, when Dick Gregory, who was the first Black performer, performed in a white club, when Lenny Bruce got arrested for swearing on stage. I don’t see comics being arrested now.”

Bell has quietly visited the area a lot over the years. His wife is from Monterey and just last month he was here for a family event (a stroll on the Wharf, breakfast at First Awakenings).

Is California doing better than other “united shades”? There’s a lot that California does right, Bell says. “It doesn’t mean it’s not doing a lot of things wrong. A lot of Californians are excited about seeing our governor stand up to Trump,” he says, “but that doesn’t free him from criticism.”

W. KAMAU BELL: WHO’S WITH ME? 7:30pm Saturday, Sept. 20. Sunset Center, San Carlos Street at 9th Avenue, Carmel. $45-$75. 620-2048, sunsetcenter.org.