# Daniel Tosh and racist jokes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-tosh-and-racist-jokes/552463 "2010-09-03T03:53:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 43
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-tosh-and-racist-jokes/552463/43 "2010-09-04T14:58:39Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Thing is, _is_ it racist? I think most of the time, when someone is “getting away with it,” they aren’t racist and neither is their audience; it’s less that people are laughing because it’s true, and more that they’re laughing because it’s simply offensive and silly. “Holy crap, did you just _say_ that?” kind of thing. 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, > [@Justin Igger](#): > > Daniel tosh is about the most openly racist TV personality on these days. How much does that “irony” really matter when, in some cases, _exactly the same material_ works for genuine, self-identified nigger-haters? > [@Munch](#): > > That hits a TON of racial stereotypes - but is it racist? No. It makes fun of the absurdity of someone posting a YouTube video of themselves with a ton of cash and bling on. The tipping thing is a racial jab, but it’s a joke so old and tired that bringing it up can’t be anything other than ironic. 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. > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > If you go to a comedy club in any major city, you will see black guys making fun of white guys, white guys making fun of black guys, and Asians making fun of whoever they feel like. The atmosphere is generally festive, and no one takes it seriously. I think it does more to bring races together than the oversensitive nagging about what constitutes appropriate humor. 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. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-tosh-and-racist-jokes/552463)._