Recent controversies highlight debate about race's role in comedy (Or, "Quit whining and laugh!")

sacramento bee ^ | 9-18-03 | debby kong

[hoosierskypilot]

Aki Aleong's stomach churned as he watched the Fox comedy game show, the one with the nerdy Asian businessman wearing thick glasses and the karate-chopping martial arts master screaming "Banzai!"

Paul Noble watched the same show but saw something else. To him, it was a fresh, funny program with great stunts, like two men jousting while riding shopping carts. The Asian characters were just part of the backdrop.

Once, minorities like Aleong, a Chinese-American, might have silently winced about being the butt of jokes on a network program -- in this case, the Fox summer show "Banzai!"

Not anymore.

As minorities' numbers have grown, so has their ability to make their voices heard when they feel humor slips into insult. But that doesn't mean comedians will stop treading the line between the two.

Race in comedy "is just like race in everyday situations," said comedian D.L. Hughley. "It's always a component."

Hughley, who is black, has often joked about the differences between blacks and whites. For instance, he once observed that blacks, unlike whites, don't enjoy bungee jumping because "that's too much like lynching for us."

"There's always the chance that somebody is going to be offended," Hughley said. But "I want people to see what I'm seeing. They don't have to agree with me, or like it, or understand it ... but if they see what I'm seeing, then chances are I'll get a laugh."

"Banzai" was only the latest in a series of recent incidents in which comedians looking for laughs got criticism instead.

In February, some Hispanics were outraged after a satirical Vanity Fair advice column counseled against learning Spanish, asking, "Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to? The help? Your leaf blower? Study French or German, where there are at least a few books worth reading, or, if you're American, try English."

Sikh groups demanded Miramax remove a scene in the movie "Dysfunktional Family" in which a man wearing a turban is called Osama bin Laden. And some blacks said a character who poked fun at civil rights icons in the movie "Barbershop" last year was disrespectful.

The Vanity Fair column provoked a scathing letter from Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek, who was on the magazine's cover. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists warned that "humor and satire are not safe hiding places for ignorance and bigotry."

The magazine apologized, saying the remarks of entertainer Barry Humphries, in the guise of Dame Edna, "were meant to satirize stereotypes, not reinforce them."

But for some, the issue went beyond advice dispensed by a guy in drag.

"Lots of times, Latinos are invisible in the pages of magazines," said Joseph Torres, the association's spokesman. "I think there's extra sensitivity to how we're portrayed in a magazine or in a situation comedy because there's such a void there."

Aleong, an actor and president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, feels the same way about "Banzai." Aleong watched the show with Fox officials before it aired and voiced his complaints to them.

"We can take a joke," Aleong said. But "all I saw were geeky Asian guys, nerdy guys. I'm saying, 'Where is the balance?' You can poke fun at people, you can ridicule them, but please show some balance."

Fox says the show, which originally aired in Britain, was a parody of Japanese game shows. It "shouldn't be viewed as anything more than what it is -- a very different kind of game show," Fox said in a statement, adding that it has been a leader in promoting Asian-American talent.

"I like the challenges, the innovation of it all," said Noble, a white man who lives in Ashburn, Va. "I certainly don't base my opinion on Asia down to this one show. I'm obviously open-minded enough to realize it's not like that. It's just a funny show."

Racial scrutiny can also extend to what comedians say about their own ethnic groups.

Mexican-American cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, whose nationally syndicated "La Cucaracha" strip provides a biting view of the world through the eyes of its Hispanic characters, said that in humor, "anything goes."

But some Hispanics have told him they don't like the title of the strip, or the way the characters dress in flannel shirts and baggy pants, Alcaraz said.

Vietnamese-American comedian Dat Phan has turned painful experiences into comic material with a racial undercurrent. He's joked about introducing himself to a Vietnam veteran as "Charlie" and used his own name as fodder, quipping "It's pretty hot in here. Can you turn on dat fan over there?"

Phan figures that, by poking fun at himself, he turns the table on people like the classmates who picked on him in school. "I got to the punch line before they could," he said.

Phil Yu, author of a Weblog titled Angry Asian Man, said he supports Phan's work because Phan is Asian, "in a profession where there are very few Asians." But some also fear Phan may be seen as "just this funny guy who does this accent," he said.

In the end, every group seems to take its lumps from some comedian. But these days an almost universal target seems to be white people.

"It's almost OK to say something about your own race and whites, but you can't cross over to a different race," said Pam Geroianni, a "Banzai" fan who is Hispanic. "White seems to be a free for all."

Political satirist Bill Maher agrees there is a double standard when it comes to race and comedy -- but he says it's easy to see why.

"Obviously black people can get away with saying things about white people that white people couldn't be saying about black people," Maher said. "Black people should be able to do things we don't get to do, because of all the things we did to them that they didn't do to us."

Whites are "the majority. We're the culture that has run the show," Maher said. So of course whites "are going to be a big target."

[Pearls Before Swine]

In a post-racist society, all of these ethnic jokes would be good-natured fun. Its a measure of how divisively focused all of these groups are that no one can have a laugh. Remember the "fighting whites?" No one was insulted--it was a good laugh and sold a lot of T-shirts. This need to tiptoe around everyone's sensitive spots is bogus--get over it.

[livianne]

But of course! As long as you are only sexist or racist toward the evil white man, it's not an affront to anyone. Female bashing - mysogany. Male bashing - just what they deserve. Making fun of people of any color - racism. Making fun of whites - just what they deserve.

For people so quick to point out what they deem hypocritical, they sure do miss a lot of it in themselves.

And Bill Maher - what an ass. I can tell how wracked with guilt he is by what 'we' did to 'them' (no individuals here! just racially separated groups!). Or maybe he's just upset his show got cancelled.....

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

..."Obviously black people can get away with saying things about white people that white people couldn't be saying about black people," Maher said. "Black people should be able to do things we don't get to do, because of all the things we did to them that they didn't do to us."...

What the freakin hell did I ever do to blacks but give them the place ahead of me in every line, and a twenty per cent head start in every contest and free ride to college when I couldn't afford to go myself.

I'd so like to choke that idiot Maher.

[GSWarrior]

www.engrish.com

[HurkinMcGurkin]

"Black people should be able to do things we don't get to do, because of all the things we did to them that they didn't do to us."

Who the hell is this "we", "them", "they" and "us" you speak of, Bill?

And what are these "things" that "black people" should be able to do, that white's shouldn't? Oh, I can only imagine.

Screw you, Bill.

[ctlpdad]

May be a two-fer her for ya

[HurkinMcGurkin]

Looks like Maher struck the same nerve in both of us.

[ctlpdad]

May be a two-fer here for ya

[mhking]

Place bets now!!!!!!

Do you pick list A - the ah...Black Conservative list? [hai!]

Or do you pick list B - the ah.....Just-ah Damn list? [hai!]

C'mon! Bet! Bet! Bet!

Betting Ends!!!!

Ah!!! This is double ping list!!!

Both lists win!!!!

[dwd1]

I could have sworn "banzai" is a Japanese Expression...Wonder why someone Chinese (probably too much sushi...oops! same mistake) is upset...

It may have something to do with the fact that the humor is a little too mean spirited...

I don't take myself that seriously but I do understand a need for limits on having fun at someone else's expense when the humor is racially based....

[Garrisson Lee]

Sometimes I get called a chink, but it cracks me up because I always get a mental picture of the little bucktoothed guy wearing sandals and a lampshade on his head and round glasses.

But I've got great teeth.

[ChewedGum]

"It's almost OK to say something about your own race and whites, but you can't cross over to a different race," said Pam Geroianni, a "Banzai" fan who is Hispanic. "White seems to be a free for all."

This is a big deal to me. Either enjoy the quirks of everyone or don't point out anyone. I just posted a long article on Reverse Racism here (per the Caucasian Club contraversy) .

Gum

[hoosierskypilot]

Plus, if you live in CA, you now get to see people receive free college if they are in the country illegally. I know kids, some of whom (my son included) work two jobs and go to school full-time. But if he were to show up at registration (at the targeted schools) and simply say, "no habla", he'd get a free ride.

[Garrisson Lee]

You mean that whites are a free target or that you shouldn't even make fun of your own?

I think if you can't make fun of yourself without people getting upset it's time to give up. But I don't see how anyone can think that it's an insult if it's about them and a joke if it's about whites. Things don't get better without first becomming fair. Back in college the jocks I hung out with were a variety pack and we lovingly called each other every racial slur we could make up. I ended up being called the eskimo king for god only knows why. But nobody got pissed off because it was all give as good as you get.

[Garrisson Lee]

How can you stay so angry over what happened when you were a kid? You're rich as hell now, get over it. You are always so gloomy. Go foreclose on a widow.

[weegee]

That looks like a DVD cover. Maybe I'll need to buy those import UK DVDs (I can play them) since the US show got cancelled.

If people in America are outraged over the "insensitivity" of that show, they should never visit Japan and see what they are putting on the air.

[weegee]

Lots of times, Latinos are invisible in the pages of magazines,"

There are a whole lot of "latinos" in the movies and on albums and they get a lot of magazine exposure. Maybe they aren't the "right" latinos just like the "wrong kind" of black politicians get nominated to the Supreme Court.

How visible are Poles in the pages of magazines?

[weegee]

There are some who excuse it by saying that only white people can be racist because you have to have the power structure to be racist.

[mhking]

That looks like a DVD cover.

[hai!]

Maybe I'll need to buy those import UK DVDs (I can play them) since the US show got cancelled.

http://www.amazon.co.uk. 'Nuff said...