Aren’t Rules Dangerous?
Which Goes First, Rules or Comedy?
We all know that no one can make fun of our mamas except us. Not that we’d want to, but this goes along with the idea that has been tossed around over the last couple weeks in Bark posts and comments: Many people seem to subscribe to the belief that it is in better taste to make fun of groups to which we belong than to make fun of those to which we do not.
In her book, Stand-Up Comedy: The Book, Judy Carter suggests that the starting comic begin by making fun of him or herself. It seems like rich and considerate advice. But we don’t want everyone talking about themselves all the time, so we move the circle out to include family, profession (assuming you do something besides trying to make people laugh), sex, race, political party, country, those who agree with your views on globalism. I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to define which groups we “belong” to. We belong to many, have intimate involvement with many, and have good reason to criticize the corruption of many.
For instance, what about racial jokes? Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle have gotten us to look at racism, to face uncomfortable truths about white people, our privilege and corruption. In the following joke, Chris Rock makes fun of the accomplishments of his white neighbors:
“Only black people in the whole neighborhood…. Mary J. Blige, one of the greatest R&B singers to ever walk the Earth. Jay-Z, one of the greatest rappers to ever live. Eddie Murphy, one of the funniest actors to ever, ever do it. Do you know what the white man who lives next door to me does for a living? He’s a f****** dentist! He ain’t the best dentist in the world…he ain’t going to the dental hall of fame…he don’t get plaques for getting rid of plaque. He’s just a yank-your-tooth-out dentist. See, the black man gotta fly to get to somethin’ the white man can walk to.”
Racism is painful enough to think about when it’s funny. Comedians can talk about things the rest of us shy away from because they are presenting information in a way that brings us together in laughter as we note our stupid practices that have kept us apart. Black comedians have made fun of groups to which they don’t belong in order to show important truths about oppression.
I’m not a proponent of making rules about comedy. But I think, generally, that we can suggest it is fair game to make fun of our oppressors. In an attempt, I wrote a fake news piece about auto insurance companies, “Two Words that Will Cost You.” Who doesn’t hate insurance companies these days? Who doesn’t feel oppressed by them and their questionable practices?
In case you are interested in satiric news, check out thespoof.com. You can also post your work there.
Tags: Chris Rock, Jokes on Race, Judy Carter
Don’t forget Lisa Lampanelli in that list, comedy’s “lovable queen of mean.” But her bit is pretty one-note: OOO, look at all these races in my show (and) Btw–I have a black bf and I wanna talk about having sex with him. Maybe it’s one-note to keep it all equal, but it doesn’t work as well. For me, it’s because she isn’t really saying anything but relying on the connotations of slurs to pull it through. Maybe it’s got some merit for making us consider racial slurs, but she seems to mostly say, “they exist, and I’m gonna use them.”
I’m not familiar with Lisa Lamanelli’s work, but you’ve intrigued me. Now I want to check her out to find out how she addresses race (and humor in general).
TJ posted an entry in May that included a link to a comedy podcast called WTF with Marc Maron. I’ve listened through the episodes to catch up (it’s updated twice a week) and I came across one episode that discusses race and comedy that you might be interested in, Shira.
I thought it was really interesting to listen to the perspectives of the host Marc, a white comedian, and W. Kamau Bell and Dwayne Kennedy, black comedians. It’s episode 46 and you can get it for free on iTunes.
Thanks, Geneva! I’ll try to watch WTF and especially episode 46. If I can figure out how to use iTunes.
Humor’s funny (how’s that for profound?!). Always used to take folks down a notch–which is often healthy. The rules you point out make sense though, given the nature of humor, oppressors don’t have any business pushing the oppressed further down–even in jest!
It’s funny, I set out to dismantle rules about humor and, you’re right, I ended up making some!
Rules in commedy probably works the way rules in writing does. When you first start out, it’s good to know what they are so that you can intentionally break them when you get better (and more famous). :-)
Making fun of opressors should always be allowed.
I like the way you frame this, Asa. Rules are agreed on and then the artists go forward breaking them.