The Boondocks 11/13 - The Trial of R. Kelly

Cafe Society
1

This is the second episode of “The Boondocks,” and, like the first, it left me in stitches. I think it got more good laughs out of me than last night’s “Family Guy,” and that’s really saying something!

A couple of (though far from the only) memorable lines:

Riley: “At what point does personal responsibility become a factor in this equation? I see piss coming, I move! She saw piss coming and she stayed!”

Hell, that whole speech from Riley was hilarious.

There were several great lines from Ruckus, too:

Ruckus: “It sure is beautiful out here. White folk sure know how to make some nice foliage!”

Ruckus cracks me up. In a pitiable way, it’s ironically amusing that the most vehemently anti-black racist on the show is darker than the night sky, himself.

Ruckus: “Have you ever looked at 'em? White men are just a joy to be around. They smell like lemon juice and Pledge furniture cleaner.”

Last night’s episode also marked the first appearance of Jazmine, though she only showed up in the background and didn’t say anything.

I’m really glad that the only comic strip that I manage to laugh at on any kind of consistent basis has made the transition to a cartoon show nearly seamlessly (IMHO, of course).

I also like that even though Huey isn’t flawless (he’s a bit out there with some of the conspiracy stuff), he’s still intelligent and level-headed enough to see issues from both sides and be the voice of reason when things start getting out of control.

He’d probably make a great Doper, especially considering his lines near the end of the episode:

“I did battle with ignorance today, and ignorance won. I admit that I’m often… vexed at the behavior of my own people. Yeah, ‘vexed’ is a good word.”

2

I hate to admit it but I actually might not dislike the show as much as I thought I would. I can’t stand the comic strip but the show seems like something I can get into. Last night’s show was pretty good and had quite a few laugh out loud moments.

3

I still get a chuckle out of the opening sequence.

Huey making speeches.
Riley with his guns.
Granddad whipping out his belt.

This episode was stronger than the first one, I think. Of course, we didn’t have to deal with introducing the characters which will tend to slow things down.

4

Loved it. I’m finding this show is pretty much what people always told me South Park was.

5

I was confused. At the start of the episode it seemed like Huey was supporting R Kelly but then at the trial he was tearing people up for supporting Kelly.

6

I don’t remember Huey ever supporting R. Kelly. He did warn Tom that convicting him would be harder than he thought.

Does anyone know who the anti-R. Kelly protesters were supposed to be? I think I recognized Henry Louis Gates, but who were the other ones?

7

I think Huey believes whenever a black person is involved in the justice system, it’s usually because of racism…however he has an open mind, and is willing to admit that sometimes the reason why, is because the brother fucked up…he pretty much said that to the crowd and in the voice over ending.

Did anyone noticed the sync problems with Kunstler 's (adam west) mouth and voice?

8

I recognized Cornell West.

9

I didn’t like the episode. They stole the whole pee joke from Dave Chapelle. It was a complete ripoff, and it wasn’t as funny. The show really isn’t as funny as I’d hoped it would be, plus it manages to reinforce negative black stereotypes without really presenting a coherent message, or purpose for doing so. Most of it seems to be done for shock value, and to be seen as a show that tells it like it is. It’s just another tired version of the “black people are different from white people”. Everything on this show has been done better by more talented people (like Chapelle & The Southpark Guys). I really want to like this show, but so far, I’ve been disappointed.

10

No. They were both riffing off the fact that R Kelly (allegedly) really was recrded pissing on an underaged girl. Two peopel can tell jokes about the same real thing and both be original.

I really like this show. It’s funny and insightful. Unlike South Park and Family Guy, it really has some brains behind the facade of shock humor.

The Adult Swim Bumper said Rosa Parks was among the protestors, but she was removed out of respect for her memory. I think she’s still there in the background at the end, though.

11

I also wanted to like it, and really didn’t very much. I missed the first half of last week’s show, and I mostly stayed tuned to this week’s to find out if that really was Batman I was hearing (it was).

I don’t find it funny. Which is odd, I like the comic strip, but the show just isn’t very good.

12

No, the Boondocks stole Chappelle’s joke almost verbatim. In his special, “For What It’s Worth”, Chappelle jokes that a 15-year old is old enough to know whether she wants to be peed on, and that, if it were him, he’d move out of the way. This was the same exact joke used on the Boondocks.

13

There was a Newsweek article about the show that mentioned Rosa Parks was in an ep (including the line from someone “Sit down, Rosa Parks, that’s what you’re best at” or words to that effect). I was wondering if it would survive.

14

The show only used the “move out of the way” part, and the comment is so obvious that I don’t see why you assume they stole it from Chappelle.

15

Because the phrasing is exactly the same, and the speech about personal responsibility is exactly what the Chappelle jokes were about. It was clearly stolen. I have no doubt McGruder saw Chappelle’s special, and “his” joke was too similar to not have been lifted, or at least inspired by Chappelle’s act.

16

Missed it. :frowning: Does Adult Swim rerun them?

17

The new Sunday night ep gets rerun the following Saturday night at midnight.

18

Thanks!

19

I really do love the opening credits for the show - they rock. I think they did a gorgeous job animating Huey. The look in his eyes is just perfect.

I don’t find the show that funny. There’s just something about it, though, that pulls me back.

I didn’t realize until the end of the show that it was Adam West as the lawyer. He’s getting some good work as a voiceover actor. Although most of the time he’s referenced within the cartoon, so this was a bit different.

Susan

20

So not only did he steal the joke, he’s too stupid to even try to hide it? Maybe if I looked at them side by side. Meanwhile, I still don’t think Chappelle’s jokes about Kelly were so astonishing or unusual that anybody who said something similar had to steal it.