Is this racism, and what are we meant to be laughing at?

[dumpster]

The clip was shown on FX the other night, and is presented here via youtube for your opinions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAmLYuujKN8

Personally, I found myself laughing at this, until about three quarters of the way through, when one guy says "Aw, all this racism is killing me inside", at which point, I couldn't decide whether there was meant to be some point to the thing I was missing. Looking back now, I have no idea what I was laughing at the beginning. I think it's just racist for the sake of it.  It's like they are getting very cheap laughs and there's no point to it.

Am I missing something?  Is there a deeper meaning, or is this just someone saying "Don't get between a n**ger and his pork!" for the laugh?

Just what are we supposed to be laughing at in this clip?

[Brutus Beefcake]

A fucking Uncle Tom.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

"Aw, all this racism is killing me inside"

Isn't it just a really good comment by Chapelle about how the entire idea and execution of his sketch has made him feel?

[Garam]

I think he's just trivialising the word 'n**ger' so much so that it becomes ridiculous rather than offensive. Like wot that Lenny Bruce fella said about  how saying 'n**ger' repeatedly done made that dern word lose its impact.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

"Aw, all this racism is killing me inside"

Isn't it just a really good comment by Chapelle about how the entire idea and execution of his sketch has made him feel?

Yeah, we already had a bit of a discussion about it in the youtube thread, I'm not going to make the whole post again but I really can't see how this sketch could be seen as racist. The 'all this racism is killing me' line is one I referred to back then as an example of why it wasn't racist, he's having a go comedians who use racial stereotypes in comedy to get a laugh and also acknowledging that a lot of people will be laughing at this sketch for the wrong reasons - because of the constant use of 'n**ger' and not the context of the use and the other stuff going on. It's a much cleverer sketch than it appears to be at first I reckon and I really don't think there are any questionable bits to it.

[Dusty Gozongas]

Word!

[Dusty Gozongas]

Personally, I found myself laughing at this, until about three quarters of the way through

And then you were taken aback?  ;o)

American humour often draws from a different history.

[Artemis]

For me, the sketch makes fun of the way in which the term 'n**ger' has been adopted by some black people, both as a legitimate adjective and a derogatory term. It's funny because it's now being used towards a white family, making it ok to use the reclaimed word, now a loose term sometimes used as 'brother' and sometimes used as 'wanker', in the latter context. I don't think it's got any deeper meaning then that. Given that it's comedy primarily aimed at a black audience, I don't lose any sleep if I don't 'get it' although usually, it ain't that hard to get.

[Jemble Fred]

It's not racist, it's just lazy, pedestrian nothingness.

[Gavin]

Chappelle spoke about that sketch at some length on the Oprah Winfrey show. He said he decided to stop doing the sketch and that he would probably stop using the word altogether.
His reasoning was that when working on season three he noticed one of the white crew laughing at the sketch in a particular way that made him feel very uncomfortable. He explained it a lot better than I am.

[Artemis]

It's not racist, it's just lazy, pedestrian nothingness.

It's making fun of the way some black people speak to other black people (the clue being that the laughs only come when 'niggar' is used in a culturally recognisable way, not just when it pops up in passing, like at the restaurant) , the twist being that it's used against a white family. I don't think 'lazy' is quite accurate, it's probably just not really aimed at you.

[Mr. Analytical]

Chappelle's an interesting comedian in that he, like Chris Rock, spend a lot of their time reacting against the trappings of the thug/gangsta lifestyle.  Rock famously did that bit about how he loves black people but hates n**gers and I think Chappelle is on similar ground.

I think a lot of his material feels a bit uncomfortable to white audiences because it mercilessly takes the piss out of certain strands of black culture, in this case it's, as Artemis says, the dual connotation of the word n**ger and the way that black people use it so freely despite it being a racist term.

[Artemis]

I think a lot of his material feels a bit uncomfortable to white audiences because it mercilessly takes the piss out of certain strands of black culture, in this case it's, as Artemis says, the dual connotation of the word n**ger and the way that black people use it so freely despite it being a racist term.

Absolutely, and it does get irritating the way some folk denegrate Rock and Chapelle, for example, because they're not 'in on the joke' (their underlying premise being that all comedy should be accessible to all people - if they don't get it, it must be shit) whilst at the same time holding up the truly racist stuff that Cook and Moore used to come out with is 'comedy gold' or something.

When Chris Rock talks about hating n**gers, and Chapelle makes cracks aboud n**gers and pork, they're making jokes at the expense of the underclass/thug element of their culture in a way that people in that culture are going to understand and find funny, but that people outside it are only going to enjoy if they recognise it for that, which makes Chapelle's comment about being uncomfortable at the way white crew members were laughing entirely understandable, if a little sad.

When Cook and Moore sing about being a n**ger who fucked a white chick and make casual references to 'coons', it's more difficult to accept that they are doing so to make fun of the underclass of racist bigots in white culture, both because of their delivery (and the material being poor), and that in a historical context, white culture shouldn't even go there... it's hardly a path littered with comedy gold.

[Not Seymour]

Has everyone seen this before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uvJzr0zZvk

I think it's somewhat relevant to some of the discussion going on here, if just for the teacher's explanation of the way 'Nigga' has become a casual term.

[petercussing]

Hahahahahahaha.

Can you lend a nigga a pencil, indeed. You clearly can't say that, dad.

Teachers trying to be down, eh?

It's funny that the news station had probably one of their few black reporters to talk about the story.

[Pseudopath]

Here's another Chappelle sketch exploring issues of racism in 21st Century America:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVv8FW0EIQ

It's a lot easier to find the heart of this sketch, but like the Niggar Family skit, it's simply ridiculing stereotypes.

[Artemis]

Has everyone seen this before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uvJzr0zZvk

I think it's somewhat relevant to some of the discussion going on here, if just for the teacher's explanation of the way 'Nigga' has become a casual term.

I kind of felt a bit for that teacher. I mean, no white person has any business using any derivation of 'n**ger', and his use of it was obviously ill-advised and innappropriate, but for all we know that kid so proudly holding his trophies like he's a model student could be a little monster in the class, and the teacher may have used the term to try and connect to the student. He was right to point out the different uses of the word, but he still shouldn't have said it.

I'll put my soap box away now.

[Blumf]

no white person has any business using any derivation of 'n**ger',

Racist ;)

[Garfield And Friends]

Has everyone seen this before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uvJzr0zZvk

I think it's somewhat relevant to some of the discussion going on here, if just for the teacher's explanation of the way 'Nigga' has become a casual term.

I kind of felt a bit for that teacher. I mean, no white person has any business using any derivation of 'n**ger', and his use of it was obviously ill-advised and innappropriate, but for all we know that kid so proudly holding his trophies like he's a model student could be a little monster in the class, and the teacher may have used the term to try and connect to the student. He was right to point out the different uses of the word, but he still shouldn't have said it.

I'll put my soap box away now.

Whether he hated 'n**gers' or was just trying to be 'down' with the lad, his nervous style of trying to explain himself did him no favours. Damn cracka.

[Not Seymour]

...but for all we know that kid so proudly holding his trophies like he's a model student could be a little monster in the class, and the teacher may have used the term to try and connect to the student.

It's never actually made clear what the kid said to the teacher, even though they had footage of the teacher clearly repeating it; they let the reporter's voice-over drown him out until he gets to the part where he caused the offence. That pisses me off. Now we'll never know what the kid allegedly said to the guy, even though they could have quite easily let the teacher tell us.

I think the punishment was pretty harsh, and for the kid to want the teacher to permanently lose his job just tells me it's a case of a young lad making a big deal out of something for his own ends, whether it be compensation or just getting rid of a teacher he isn't too fond of. There isn't a high-school student in the world who wouldn't jump at that chance.

[Pinball]

When you see teachers, nurses, doctors and other professionals lose their jobs for one incident that a 'customer' complains about, it makes one wonder why anyone bothers entering those professions. Talk about a tenuous job! Years of training for a shit salary, then pfffffttt, you're fired.

[rudi]

And all for calling a black child a n**ger.

It's political correctness gonzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Felatio Imperative]

I think it's bullshit. If black kids don't want to hear that word they should stop saying it. It's like saying 'cunt' is unnacceptable unless it's said by women. Either it's offensive or it's not, and saying that it's only offensive when it comes out of the mouth of a certain race is just ridiculous.

[Artemis]

saying that it's only offensive when it comes out of the mouth of a certain race is just ridiculous.

Do you know much history?

[Pinball]

If someone said young black males were vulgar for saying "n**ger", "bitch" and "ho" all the time, would that be racist? Would it be ok for a woman to complain about the misogyny bits, but not the n**ger bits? It's all getting a bit silly this PC modernity, innit nigga?

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

I don't quite see your point, Pinny.

[Boing]

When you see teachers, nurses, doctors and other professionals lose their jobs for one incident that a 'customer' complains about, it makes one wonder why anyone bothers entering those professions. Talk about a tenuous job! Years of training for a shit salary, then pfffffttt, you're fired.

When you pay into that system all your life,eventually contract a debilitating illness,have never registered with a GP and have to take a day off work and argue the toss with your boss for your contractual sick pay.So you go to one of these revolutionary "drop-in" centres and,after 45 minutes waiting they refer you to your GP.Genius.Fucking innovative.I can't get near a GP.NYAGH!,I'm gonna start again..................

[ApexJazz]

Chappelle spoke about that sketch at some length on the Oprah Winfrey show. He said he decided to stop doing the sketch and that he would probably stop using the word altogether.
His reasoning was that when working on season three he noticed one of the white crew laughing at the sketch in a particular way that made him feel very uncomfortable. He explained it a lot better than I am.

No, you covered it pretty well. This was the sketch that gave Chapelle pause when he felt it wasn't getting laughs for the right reasons. Itz a funny riff on the unspoken racist undercurrent of American 1950's suburban sitcoms (he's doing an Eddie 'Rochester'Anderson impression throughout), but obviously can be misinterpreted (as it innocently has here) or give an illicit thrill to the wrong crowd. Conscience is a mo 'fo.

[Jemble Fred]

All his stuff just seems so simplistic and one-note, though, having sat through several lengthy Youtube videos. It's the most basic 'swap one word for another, repeat ad infinitum' schtick. I couldn't give a fuck about his ideology, his comedy just seems too simple to be funny. The n**ger family one especially, how monotonous can an idea be?

[Mister Cairo]

I think it's bullshit. If black kids don't want to hear that word they should stop saying it. It's like saying 'cunt' is unnacceptable unless it's said by women. Either it's offensive or it's not, and saying that it's only offensive when it comes out of the mouth of a certain race is just ridiculous.

I agree with you. Some black people do complain about young kids saying rubbish like that. White racists think "oh, he's saying it in a joking way, it"s okay for me to say it".