Again, not wrong because it's politically incorrect. Wrong because it just isn't that funny. Contrary to popular opinion, It really isn't that hard to make fun of black people. I think all the whining from comedians really is about their desire to make lame jokes about black people. Put another way, they want the right to joke black people, while having only a surface level insight into black people. Folks just need to work harder. Sarah Silverman pulls it off all the time.
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It is possible that some of these comedians are hostage to the hipster audience who are lacking in a sense of humor about things Obama. Jon Stewart mentioned that his crowd is not always receptive to such material.
I do agree it is a large part about laziness. I don't listen to Stephanie Miller that often, for a lot of reasons, but when I do, it is a constant stream of "Grampy McSame" and Abe Simpson drops. She makes Ray Jay Johnson seem fresh. And Leno repeated the same tired jokes about Bill Clinton long after he left office.
My favorite white comedian jibe at a black guy was at Flavor Flavs roast where someone said "Flav is the reason George Bush hates black people"
transcript for those of us who can't view video at work?
1)Silverman gets away with a lot because she's a pretty girl. It would take a ballsy white dude to do that.
2)Dickipedia is lame. They prohibit editing.
The premise of the joke in this ad is that black people are immature versions of white people.
I've never been able to laugh at that.
I'm reminded of Richard Pryor's shtick about the reaction of a black person getting bit by a snake vs. a white person's.
Black people talk during movies. White people don't -- but white CHILDREN do.
Black people panic after a snake bit. White people don't -- but white CHILDREN do.
Justin,
Silverman gets away with it because she pulls it off. It is a tightrope walk that only really talented people can pull off. I think a big part of it is that she is generaaly the true butt of her jokes not whichever political incorrect target she is using.
The bottom line is most comedians are hacks who shouldn't be trying something so hard.
Eric, I agree. She's talented and plays with fire in her comedy that in recent years only Chapelle probably could (racism, AIDS, abortion, etc.). But I think part of her ability to pull off the stuff she does is tied to who she is and how she looks and our assumption that pretty Jewish girls aren't really racist, homophobic, etc. It's this contrast between how she looks and talks and what she says that makes what she does compelling.
Justin. Click through to that Jeff Ross video. There's nothing pretty about him. He pulls off the same thing. It just takes some talent and some work.
No she doesn't. This topic has officially gone meta: She says outrageous stuff in the hopes that some will overthink things, and assume that she's making herself the butt of the joke for being such a c*nt.
But deep down, I suspect that she really is a c*nt. Joke's on us. Ha.
If Michelle Obama had pulled some of the shit that Cindy McCain or Laura Bush had, like stealing drugs from a charity or killing her ex-boyfriend, Barack would be unelectable. Double standard much?
The Dickipedia thing reads like it was written by a bunch of folks that are angry that The Onion threw their resume away after one glance. They've taken what is essentially a one-note dick joke and have spent more time beating it than, well...
Agreed: Any drunk in a bar can tell a watermelon or tap dance joke. Just as any drunk in a bar can tell Irish are drinkers, Jews are cheap, Poles are stupid, Mexicans are grease balls, and Blond women are dumb jokes.
Talented people who put thought and work into their humor can effectively laugh with their audience and subject on just about anything.
As for attractive, what about Mel Brooks? They have been replaying Blazing Saddles on one of the cable channels lately and I am surprised (and saddened) by how well some of it still plays.
And Mel Brooks ain't pretty.
As an aside: First time this suburban white kid heard about the stereotype of African-Americans talking back to movie screens was from an old Bill Cosby routine about cowboy hero Buck Jones from my parents record collection. Anyone? Anyone? (I feel so old)
"Black" has nothing to do with the lame dickipedia entry. Grow up, thicken up, smarten up, etc.
Ta-Nehisi: great blog by the way. I really like that you engage people in the comments section. Dang. I had sworn off blog commenting!
I do not agree with the other posters that Sarah Silverman "pulls it off." My only knowledge of her work is through the movie "Jesus is Magic." I though it was racist. Not a commentary on racism. Not a lens through which we exam something hidden in society or ourselves or any of those bromides. Flat out racist. It seemed to me when I saw it that Sarah went out her way to visit extinct torments on black people and then think up a few new ones. She claps blacks back in irons 150 years after the end of slavery, fantasizes about extracting the bones from African children and I can't even remember what all else. In her imagination, of course, but through performance she wants to drag our imaginations along with her.
Sarah wants to shock and she succeeds, but the shock is not one of recognition. It's the opposite. Most people truly do not think of black people in the ways Sarah evokes in her show and the shock to the audience is how hard Sarah works to force her mind to work along such racist channels, to seek out forms of evil that could be inflicted on blacks and create a world on stage in which this evil is done. Sarah has a commitment to racism that is unrivaled in popular culture. Maybe the real shock is how far it's taken her.
For what it's worth, I think Sarah tells funny sex jokes.
I do not agree with the other posters that Sarah Silverman "pulls it off." My only knowledge of her work is through the movie "Jesus is Magic." I though it was racist. Not a commentary on racism. Not a lens through which we exam something hidden in society or ourselves or any of those bromides. Flat out racist. It seemed to me when I saw it that Sarah went out her way to visit extinct torments on black people and then think up a few new ones. She claps blacks back in irons 150 years after the end of slavery, fantasizes about extracting the bones from African children and I can't even remember what all else. In her imagination, of course, but through performance she wants to drag our imaginations along with her.
Sarah wants to shock and she succeeds, but the shock is not one of recognition. It's the opposite. Most people truly do not think of black people in the ways Sarah evokes in her show and the shock to the audience is how hard Sarah works to force her mind to work along such racist channels, to seek out forms of evil that could be inflicted on blacks and create a world on stage in which this evil is done. Sarah has a commitment to racism that is unrivaled in popular culture. Maybe the real shock is how far it's taken her.
For what it's worth, I think Sarah tells funny sex jokes.