When a bunch of people are sitting around telling and laughing at jokes that turn on clearly racist notions, yes, I call those racist jokes. I understand that teller and audience may not be committed bigots (like, say, Ariovistus and friends)–but I do find it a little suspicious when they go to some lengths to deny that there’s any racism involved, that we’re all engaged in a big meta game making fun of the real racists. Especially when it emerges that, in fact, committed bigots are laughing too. There are some approving mentions of Tosh on the “chimpout” site, including a link to the same “Is it racist?” routine linked here, and the endorsement,
How much does that “irony” really matter when, in some cases, exactly the same material works for genuine, self-identified nigger-haters?
I don’t see how a routine for which a shared knowledge of racist stereotypes is a prerequisite for the humor can be construed as anything but racist. “Ironic” or not, if the joke is based on perceived differences between “races,” it’s a racist joke, just as a joke which relies on an understanding that men are stupid or women are crazy is, by definition, a sexist joke.
Let me be clear: I’m not nagging anyone about the acceptability of their humor. I’ve laughed at Tosh, and Chris Rock, a time or two myself.
But I think repeating notions about ingrained differences between groups of different skin color range–humorously or not–is maintenance of separations between “races,” not bridging. Yes, black people and white people and Asians may be laughing in the same nightclub (although I notice there are few truly mixed audiences; IME most of these comedians address crowds primarily the same color as themselves, with a sprinkling of others)–but they leave with a reinforced consciousness of themselves and each other as defined in those terms.