Bloggasm

I’ll start this essay with a joke about race jokes:

Person #1: How does every racist joke start?

Person #2: I dunno, how?

Person #1: (pantomimes looking over each shoulder to see if anyone of color is within hearing-range)

With that looking-over-the-shoulder, is Person #1 recognizing that what he is about to say is racist, or does he simply know that anyone overhearing it will take it out of context? I had a conversation recently with a friend of mine over whether or not it was fine for a liberally-minded person to make what many would label a racist joke. We theorized that within some realm of justification, we were simply mocking people who were racist by taking their racist stereotypes and putting them up to their funhouse mirror of ridiculousness. In essence, true racism is conveyed in a way so that these stereotypes are portrayed seriously, while race “jokes” are meant to paint a grim but funny picture of a serious issue.

How much of the above is blatant rationalization in a resistance to giving up our politically incorrect ways is up for debate, but one can certainly see it mirrored in both the comedy and political scenes of today. The word “Macaca,” escaping from Senator George Allen’s mouth causes fierce political debate. A comedian calling a gas station clerk “Abu” in one of his jokes is only met with laughter. Mel Gibson claiming that the Jews are responsible for all the world’s wars causes public shame. Jon Stewart announcing that his nose couldn’t look any “Jeweyer” is comedic gold.

Race humor has become such a huge fad that you can hardly watch a Comedy Central comedian line-up without coming across a comedian whose jokes are mostly based on racial stereotypes. These kind of jokes first came into fashion with black comedians like Richard Pryor and Chris Rock, but then quickly caught fire with Latinos like George Lopez and Carlos Mencia. And now, the fad has grown so huge that even white comedians are jumping on the bandwagon, some of whom are becoming well known for their race humor, like Lisa Lampanelli.

One could conclude that repeating stereotypes in joke form can get the blanket stamp of approval, but such is not the case. David Cross was quick to attack Larry the Cable guy in an open letter in which he rebutted Larry’s claim that people who get offended by his jokes are too politically correct:

But perhaps the funniest (oddest) thing in your book is you taking me to task for being P.C. Have you heard my act?! I’ll match your un-P.C.ness any day of the week my friend…

…Well, first of all, your act is racist. Maybe not all the time, but it certainly can be. Here, let me quote you back, word for word, some of your “faintly negative” humor and I’ll let people judge for themselves.”

Cross then moves on to quote several Larry the Cable Guy jokes, and–perhaps with the slanted light that is David’s open letter–the quotes do seem incredibly racist and unfunny. Perhaps because underneath the jokes there is a very unsubtle reality to them, as if Larry is simply pointing out what to him is obvious truth. And we have to think about his audience for a second: Southerners, self-described Rednecks, and when we think of racists, they’re the first people who come to mind.

You see what I did just there? I passed judgement on Larry the Cable Guy’s humor simply based on his audience, and the way they would perceive the joke. And that’s the horrible complexity of the racial joke, because we must not only judge the comedian’s intentions but also how it will be received, and nobody will doubt that Larry the Cable Guy knows his audience very well. He seems molded around it. Are we to believe that accent and the fact that “britches” seems to be a normal addition to his lexicon in place of the word “underwear”? How did a person who became rich well before his claim to fame ever come to think a cut-off shirt would be fashionable? Larry the Cable Guy is a self-made caricature of the Redneck, simultaneously degrading the label and giving it legendary status until you’ll actually see high schoolers stick “Proud to be a Redneck” bumper stickers on the back of their trucks right next to their Confederate flags.

And then there is the shock factor to race jokes. Because of the taboos that have developed during the civil rights movement, telling a particularly edgy race joke can be funny simply because of how shocking it is. Compare the laughter of a comic who relies on racial jokes to a comic who doesn’t. You’ll notice a much lower hum to the race comic’s audience laughter, because the audience often makes a deep “Ohh” sound simultaneously with the laugh, the sound we make when we know we really shouldn’t be laughing. And often, the comic will go out of his way to make note of when the laughter reaches a particularly low register, because he knows he is walking a thin line, and his noting it is his way of affirming that he knows what he’s doing, that he’s not pushing it too far after all because it’ll all on purpose.

The problem lies with a comic’s dependence on the shock factor. Very often, the joke is absent of an actual punch line, and the comedian falls into the trap of having to continually up the ante, which is virtually impossible. For every Dave Chappelle, you have a Carlos Mencia, who can’t seem to grasp anything beyond the obvious and instead tries for that deep, taboo laughter, often telling the audience that he has “taken that joke too far,” when they’ve already grown numb to his racist humor.

The prevalent theme here seems to be context, so what is the context in which a race joke is acceptable? Well, before we even begin to answer this question, I must assert that there will be people out there who, no matter the context, will find a race joke offensive, and if you’re worried about pleasing everybody, then perhaps race jokes shouldn’t be your thing. If, on the other hand, you’re willing to move past this, the next thing you should know is that race jokes should never be launched towards an opponent of yours. Michele Malkin will never find an Asian joke funny coming from a liberal blogger and Margaret Cho will never find an Asian joke from a conservative funny. If there is any level of animosity between you and another person, that race joke will become a much deeper cut and take on a serious implication whether or not it’s intended.

It goes without saying that race jokes should only be thrown around with people you know. There’s something about the anonymity of a race joke. If someone feels comfortable telling me a race joke without knowing me, it makes me wonder what that person is trying to convey, as if he’s telling me this joke simply because we’re both white chums, the boy’s club, if you will. My best friend making a joke about black people comes off much more innocently than someone who I just met at the bar.

And finally, I would say that nonverbal communication makes all the difference. What is your face saying as you tell your joke? Do you appear to be satirical or simply mean spirited? Delivery is the key.

Twenty minutes before I started this essay, I was talking to an Asian friend of mine. She mentioned that she’d made another Asian friend on campus. I immediately replied, “Well, I’m glad you’re learning to mingle with your own kind.”

She laughed. I laughed. No awkward feeling between us.

Success.

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