Upgrade Comedy

5:57 pm EST November 18th, 2008 | News | 11 Comments

Comedian Tim Reid:

Obama’s election represents a challenge to comedians who deal in racial humor. With a confident, eloquent black man in the White House, along with a beautiful, accomplished wife and two impossibly adorable children, can any young black comic possibly still do jokes about bitches and ‘hos?

Won’t the very audiences they’re trying to reach rebel and say, ‘Wait a minute — we’re past that now. It’s not how we are going to be represented any more’?

The same is true about exaggerated black speech that is a staple of so many acts, the kind of ‘yo mama’ shtick that has its roots in Amos and Andy. If the rappers want to continue dealing in it, that’s one thing, but as a way to get automatic laughs? How long will it continue to work?

We’re entering an era in which racial comedy will have to deal with creative thought rather than relying on the casual repeated use of the F word, the N word and the rest of the slackers’ alphabet. In this changing frontier, how will we construct the new bases for racial humor?

I’m hoping that David Alan Grier’s “Chocolate News”, which is the latest incarnation of “black people do this, but white people do THIS” is a lagging indicator of this kind of lazy comedy on its last legs.

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11 Responses to “Upgrade Comedy”

  1. Quaker in a Basement says:
    November 18, 2008 at 6:59 pm

    Nice find, OW. Reid is awesome.

  2. WriteBlack says:
    November 18, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Reid is indeed awesome. I still argue that ‘Frank’s Place’ wasn’t given enough of a chance.

    And with any luck, D.L. Hughley’s terrible show also will be swept away by the wave against black-people-do-this-white-people-do-that comedy.

  3. Quaker in a Basement says:
    November 18, 2008 at 8:08 pm

    “Frank’s Place!”

    I remember that show, but until you mentioned it I had forgotten the name. I liked that show. And you’re right, it wasn’t given enough of a chance. But then again, it didn’t have any jivetalking characters spouting catch phrases and it didn’t end every episode with a morality lesson about how black people ought to behave themselves. It was doomed from the start.

  4. Duros62 says:
    November 18, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    “black people do this, but white people do THIS”

    Always hated that style of comedy. It just perpetuates stereotyping on both sides.

  5. TroyJMorris says:
    November 18, 2008 at 9:12 pm

    I think that Chris Rock’s brother has the latest “we-do-they-do” comedy show– which also sucks a turd.

    Isn’t this what Pryor was suggesting should happen after his ‘pilgrimage’ to Africa?

  6. Erik says:
    November 19, 2008 at 1:55 am

    So it doesn’t make me racist to believe that Chocolate News is profoundly unfunny? That’s good to know.

  7. KXB says:
    November 19, 2008 at 11:05 am

    Even The Simpsons ragged on the routine, where Homer is watching Def Jam, and the comic says, “Check it out. Black guys drive a car like this, but white guys drive a car like this.” Homer’s response? “It’s true, we’re so lame.”

  8. WriteBlack says:
    November 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    Erik, it doesn’t make you racist. It means you’re a sentient being.

  9. IMUnaware says:
    November 19, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    Good to know that I wasn’t the only person that thinks “Chocolate News” is awful.

    As far as comedy commentary… I disagree with the “F word [and] the N word” the “slacker’s alphabet” um, no. Look sure there are some BAD comedians that use F and N, but there are also GREAT comedians that use those words too. Good comedy has always been about creative thought, and complaining about bad words has always been the idiot’s way to critique art (these rapper people say bad words, oh noes this can’t be art!).

    Richard Pryor said F and N all over his sets. George Carlin made a routine about swear words. And it was great comedy. Because, like all good comedy, it was smart.

    I hope that people continue to use the F and the N word, and the C word and the other F word and the S word and the MF word and any other words they want, as long as their funny.

  10. IMUnaware says:
    November 19, 2008 at 11:35 pm

    They’re not their. gah I hate that… no edit feature.

  11. Earthquake Comedian | Shabooty.com says:
    December 23, 2008 at 12:50 pm

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