On my local NBC affiliate, after the cast of Saturday Night Live bids farewell for another week, two different African American-oriented variety shows air. They both follow a “Showtime at the Apollo” format: amateur acts, a few booed or yanked off the stage, with a heavy emphasis on comedy.
There will almost always be a comedian who will rant about how white people walk funny. It’s usually the same thing … black people walk smooth, while white people walk stiff and awkward. Often a comedian’s mandatory demonstration of white-style walking is accompanied by talking in an exaggerated Midwestern accent. Cut to a scene of black women in the audience flailing their arms in the air, in hysterics over what is apparently the funniest thing they’ve ever heard.
So, to the African American dopers … is the sight of a strolling Cacasian really that funny? If not … well, why not come up with jokes about something else, like about how white people sit still in church.
Are you serious?! I can’t believe you’d watch some stupid late-run “comedy” thing and try to extrapolate some meaninful generaliztion from it! Do you even-
Watching white people walking isn’t nearly as funny as watching young white males getting injured doing something stupid skateboarding. If we’re going to equate body movements, humor and race, that’s the top one right there.
I’d like to see a white comedian do a joke where, if stopped by the police, a white guy will cooperate but a young black male – no matter how mild-mannered – will always pick THAT moment to prove he can’t be pushed around.
I grant you anyone of any race will look funny falling down. I respectfully submit that pretty much only young white males videotape themselves attempting stupid stunts on skateboards so that their friends can upload them on the internet and immortalize their lack of good judgement for posterity. That’s waaaAAay funnier than walking.
I cite the relevant video clips from The Stile Project archives, which I cannot link to here.
The little-known band Unsane made a video for their song “Scrape” that was pretty much just a bunch of skateboarding accidents (with a few clips of the band playing thrown in as a change of pace).
When you realy start to look, lots of people walk funny. It is common to see occidentals walk stiff kneed bending just at the hip with long strides, whilst asians often have very short strides bending at the knee as much as the hip. I havn’t really looked at the way many people of African origin walk to give any general impression.
You know who’s bugging me these days? Dave Chappel. I thought he did some funny bits on his show at first, but now it just seems to be entirely making fun of white people. Don’t get me wrong, making fun of white people can be comedic gold, but Chappel doesn’t even do it very well. His “white guy” voice is lame; it just sounds like he’s making his normal voice lower. Both Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy did hilarious “white guy” voices. IMO, if you can’t outdo that, you shouldn’t even try. It’s just been done to death.
Oh, don’t rant about Dave Chappell just because of his “white” accent. It’s a funny accent. I love the sketches involving the police like this one:
Dave and the “white guy”, I think his name is Steve or something, pull up at a traffic light next to a police car. Oh yes, both are high.
Steve: Dave…I’m gonna race him
Dave: I tried to think of some way to tell him to stop but all that came out was “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
Later on, the police have pulled them over.
Officer: Did you realise you were speeding?
Steve: Honest Officer… I didn’t know that I couldn’t do that.
Officer: … … Well you know now. Now get out of here.
HEHEHEHEHEHE
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. White people do walk funny.
I am a white person.
I walk funny.
I run funny as well but that’s not the point right now.
“Excuse me, officer… excu-u-u-use me! Now… I’m a little high… all I wanna know is: Which way is third street?”
“Now take it easy! … Yer on third street.”
Come on. How can that voice NOT belong to a white police officer? It’s the White Urkel voice!
After careful scientific study, I’ve concluded white people do walk funny. How do I know? I walked around all day today, and I spent the whole time looking over my shoulder at my ass. It looked pretty strange to me, let me tell you.
Hate to disagree, Eve, but it’s a well documented fact that if you gave Genghis Khan a skateboard, he’d be shredding like Tony Hawk in no time flat. Cite.
