I have been watching alot of Comedy Central the last few months and have also been to quite a few local comedy clubs in teh last couple years and have noticed that a very large percentage of the black comics I have seen either lead off with white vs black jokes or they get into them within the first few minutes. My WAG is that 80-90% of them do lead off with these types of “jokes”.
Mexican comics tend to do alot of black vs mexican jokes. I have never seen any white comics do any jokes related to race in recent years other than jewish jokes.
I don’t offend very easily, but there are a few comics who push my buttons when they do this. Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence are 2 big offenders.
Why is this? Is there nothing else funny to talk aobut other than white guys not being able to dance, white guys small dicks, white guys voices, and how white guys act around black guys?
I have to think that mainly the reason is because blacks (At least the vocal and militant ones) would never stand for a comedian telling black jokes. I have heard a story (Which may be apocryphal) of a local cable TV channel in Chicago which went on in answer to BET and called itself White Entertainment Television… They played things like Leave it to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show… There was, supposedly, an outcry or horrendous racism and the station was forced to close its door… Based strictly on its name rather than any policy of radism… Go figure…
Chris Rock pretty much zings both sides. In Bring the Pain (the best stand up routine EVER), he tears into the black community as well as the white community.
“since 1) they’re a protected minority and 2) whites aren’t.”
Hmm, I thought whites are a minority in California now?
I think they start that way cause most of the people in the gallery are black & they want to get them to laugh. either that, or they aren’t very original.
I don’t really have a problem with black comedians doing “white” jokes; I just think it’s old hat now. When Richard Pryor did it, and then Eddie Murphy, it was still relatively fresh. When Eddie used to do his imitation of white people trying to tell his jokes, it was hilarious: “I’m Mr. T - I’ll rip your cock off”.* But it’s just been done TO DEATH now. I can’t even stand to watch those stand-up shows anymore, because comics are still doing pale imitations of stuff that was funny 20 years ago.
What’s-his-name on Saturday Night Live used to do that great imitation of Jessie Jackson, complete with black makeup.
Well, as watsonwil pointed out, Chris Rock offends everyone. He apparently pissed off a lot of black people by talking about black people as opposed to “niggers”. Martin Lawrence just isn’t all that funny, in my opinion.
Yeah, I agree. Give it a rest, already.
*If anything was offensive about Eddie Murphy’s stuff, I would say it was his slams against gays more than anything else.
IMHO, the prevailing perception among black comedians is that if you’re not stealing Richard Pryor material, then you aren’t funny. And since Richard did it…
Its beyond old hat, though. I’m black, and at this point I just find it tiresome. Just as tiresome as the ‘ghetto keepin’ it real’ routine. If I wanted to remember having to steal power from streetlights during my childhood, I’d go talk to my mother. And I won’t have to pay her for her insight.