# Things that seemed funny at the time but you couldn't get away with them now **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [September 25, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472 "2020-09-25T04:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/121 "2020-10-08T01:08:16Z")
Do you have a cite for that? It was an R rated film and a hard R at that. What censorship would there be on spoken words in an R rated movie? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/122 "2020-10-08T03:14:59Z")
Now that’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/123 "2020-10-08T05:10:26Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I would say the material of Andrew Dice Clay has aged badly. Andrew Dice Clay was regarded as objectionable by many people even at the time. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/124 "2020-10-09T05:08:27Z")
It didn’t occur to me for a long time that the song “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” was basically just a list of racist stereotypes. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/125 "2020-11-06T19:37:13Z")
In 47 years of listening to the song (“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”), it’s never occurred to me that the race of the title character is even implied. Now you have me scrapping for possibilities. I suppose the name “Leroy” is more likely to be a black man. _If_ his race is established, then I suppose the ‘King Kong’ reference could be racist. Nah, I’m not buying it… ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/126 "2020-11-06T19:43:05Z")
He’s an oversexed thug who lives on the south side of Chicago. He drives a pimpmobile and wears a lot of flashy jewelry. He carries a razor in his shoe. He likes shooting dice. He lives on the south side of Chicago. Nope, no racial stereotypes there. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/127 "2020-11-06T19:57:55Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It didn’t occur to me for a long time that the song “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” was basically just a list of racist stereotypes. Is there any controversy about the song because of this? I don’t remember hearing of any. I did a little Googling, and came up with [this analysis](https://www.stereogum.com/2039308/the-number-ones-jim-croces-bad-bad-leroy-brown/franchises/columns/the-number-ones/), which seems fair: > [@](#): > > One thing about “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” that’s rarely remarked-upon: It’s never specified, but it seems pretty obvious that Leroy Brown is black. He’s a stereotype, a slick Chicago gangster who chases women even when it’s not wise and who turns out to not be as tough as he thinks. The song has a sort of boogie-woogie blues beat; it sounds like white guys trying to sound black. Croce sings in a clumsy imitation of black English: “Now Leroy, he a gambler.” It’s not that the song is _racist_, exactly. Standards were different in 1973, and there’s certainly no hostility in the way Croce sings the song. But it’s the sort of extended joke that would not go unexamined today. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/128 "2020-11-06T21:21:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Is there any controversy about the song because of this? I’ve never heard any controversy about it. But I still think a white guy would think twice about writing a humourous song about a stereotyped resident of the south side of Chicago nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/129 "2020-11-07T03:30:09Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > He’s an oversexed thug who lives on the south side of Chicago. He drives a pimpmobile and wears a lot of flashy jewelry. He carries a razor in his shoe. He likes shooting dice. He lives on the south side of Chicago. > > Nope, no racial stereotypes there. I guess I’m just not familiar with much of this. Don’t know anything about the south side of Chicago or who lives there. Didn’t know that “custom Continental” and “El Dorado” are code for ‘pimp mobile’. Flashy jewelry could be the Guido stereotype. Razor in his shoe just sounds like a low-rent gangster, which could be any ethnicity. I’ll take your word for it. I guess it was all lost on me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/130 "2020-11-07T03:59:03Z")
Croce did so well with that song, he kinda did it again [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/odkIEDi2x0g/hqdefault.jpg "Don't mess around with jim lyrics") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odkIEDi2x0g) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/131 "2020-11-07T09:04:19Z")
That song came first. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/132 "2020-11-07T17:56:42Z")
Johnny Carson voice “I did not know that”! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/133 "2020-11-12T06:42:32Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > I’ll take your word for it. I guess it was all lost on me There was a university study of eye-witness reliability that I remember being reported in the Scientific American in the late 60’s, where they briefly showed people a picture, then asked questions about it. “Eye witnesses” reported that it was black man that had the cut-throat razor blade. I can remember my father (who had lived in Chicago) being irritated by it, because he didn’t think it was a good test of eye-witness statements in general. “Of course people reported that it was the black man who had the razor. That’s just because it’s black men who carry razors. It doesn’t mean anything more about eye-witness statements.” Have a look at the top of page 129 here: [“Although both white and Negro boys commonly carry safety-razor blades to sharpen their pencils, she thought of razors only in connection with Negroes.”](http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/documents/The_Negro_in_Chicago_1922.pdf), and at page 109 here: [… legends relating to the Negro … the razor as a weapon …](https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8iwrdivn4dMC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=negro+razor+police&source=bl&ots=EJO55aacUD&sig=ACfU3U1AgflP72BJlvunpuXB-mhetzc9Wg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3k-KGsvzsAhV7xzgGHcxOCwU4KBDoATAHegQIAxAC#v=onepage&q=negro%20razor%20police&f=false) You may also enjoy [The Cider House Rules](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124315/) There was a thread here years ago, that I can’t find, that suggested that Blacks carried cut-throat razors because it offered plausible deniability: any man, even a black man, may carry a razor: it’s used for shaving. Stuff I’m seeing now suggests that it was just a White myth. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/134 "2020-11-12T08:23:10Z")
Reminds me of the “legal advice” that if you carry a baseball bat in your trunk as a weapon, you also carry a ball and a glove too so if you beat someone up and the cops are looking for suspects and catch you you can claim you were playing in the park yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/135 "2020-11-12T11:27:23Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > Another **30 Rock** episode which featured a fake Fox News chyron that read “Exclusive Interview With Kenyan Liar,” a reference to Barack Obama birther conspiracy, is also being pulled. I disagree with that decision. The joke in question is _mocking_ the birther movement, and ridiculing Fox News for treating it as a legitimate “controversy”. I find this the most dangerous of this sort of thing. It’s mocking the extremist republicans, some of the things Jack says back in 2008 is chillingly Trump mainstream nowadays though, it’s almost as if he was watching back then and completely missed the point. Am I missing something about blackface though, the complaint is that it is both stealing roles form black people and often portraying them in a stereotypical way? In which case this clearly not the case when Jenna is switching with Tracey. Another recent complaint was Chang’s Drow on Community. What, stealing roles from all those Dark Elves out there? It was also pushing a number of buttons, including Chang being non white, and insane, and it being a taboo undiscussed. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/136 "2020-11-12T12:01:55Z")
The original problem was that blackface was horribly racist. But because of that long history of racism, blackface in general has become tainted by association. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/137 "2020-11-12T13:21:45Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Have a look at the top of page 129 here: [“Although both white and Negro boys commonly carry safety-razor blades to sharpen their pencils, she thought of razors only in connection with Negroes.”](http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/documents/The_Negro_in_Chicago_1922.pdf), and at page 109 here: [… legends relating to the Negro … the razor as a weapon …](https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8iwrdivn4dMC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=negro+razor+police&source=bl&ots=EJO55aacUD&sig=ACfU3U1AgflP72BJlvunpuXB-mhetzc9Wg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3k-KGsvzsAhV7xzgGHcxOCwU4KBDoATAHegQIAxAC#v=onepage&q=negro%20razor%20police&f=false) There’s also this lovely quote from Upton Sinclair’s _The Jungle_: > [@](#): > > “See hyar, boss,” a big black “buck” would begin, “ef you doan’ like de way Ah does dis job, you kin get somebody else to do it.” Then a crowd would gather and listen, muttering threats. After the first meal nearly all the steel knives had been missing, and now every Negro had one, ground to a fine point, hidden in his boots. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/138 "2020-11-12T13:51:59Z")
I love, [“Achmed the Dead Terrorist”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBvfiCdk-jc), but I got a PC backlash the last time I posted this link. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/139 "2020-11-12T14:59:48Z")
In Willie Dixon’s [_Wang Dang Doodle_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Dang_Doodle) (1960), a razor is one if the weapons black guests bring to a party in Chicago. It was sung by various black artists including Howlin’ Wolf and Koko Taylor. Tell automatic slim Tell razor totin’ jim Tell butcher knife totin’ annie Tell fast talkin’ fanny Tonite we’re gonna pitch a ball Down to that union hall ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472/140 "2020-11-12T15:02:56Z")
Gee, I wonder why? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-seemed-funny-at-the-time-but-you-couldnt-get-away-with-them-now/921472.md?page=8)