Comedy Gripes: No Fairplay in Comedy

I might have mentioned that I had a few friends visit me this summer, all arriving within a week or two of each other. Whenever I have visitors, I try to plan activities that I know will interest them and while I think I did an okay job of it this time around, I would sometimes find myself thinking of activities that might have made for an even better visit for my friends. Such was the case when I casually mentioned to G. that I wish I had thought to get tickets to the Chelsea Lately show when she is in town. Chelsea’s comedy style is often dry and biting and can be summed up with the expression ‘take it or leave’. I thought G. would fall into the former group, and she did for a time, but now she is firmly in the other camp. She could think of nothing worst than sitting in the audience at the Chelsea Lately show.

Because it sometimes seems as though I live under a rock, G. sent me this clip as explanation for why she is no longer a fan of Chelsea Handler. Apparently, the comedian went much too far in perpetuating existing race stereotypes (i.e. all black women want to marry ex-cons and all black men end up in prison) and criticizing other minority groups. According to G., this has been going on for some time and even minority comedians who sit on Chelsea’s panel during the opening set are not immune from her criticism. So, while she was initially okay with it, G. feels that is has gone too far and that Chelsea’s joke are in poor taste. And, they’re not funny!

Now, I watch the show on occasion as a sort of nightcap before I fall asleep and thus far, I haven’t heard anything that I found offensive. Additionally, I watched the video and while it is not the most comfortable thing to hear, I wondered how this was different from the jokes that black comedians tell about people from other racial groups. Fair is fair, right? Not so, says G. Rather, she feels that blacks have hardly been on the receiving end of fair and instead, often have to be accommodating. I had to pause and think about this because on the one hand, G. is right. Blacks are still rebounding from a few hundred years of neglect and while some may think that we are at a point where we can say that everyone is equal, there is still evidence to the contrary. For instance, when blacks speak up or act out in any way, they are viewed as confrontational and reprimanded in some way. For whites, overly emotional behavior is simply seen as a personality trait and shrugged off. Obviously, we live in a world where there are shades of gray and things are far from clear. But consider this example and you’ll see G.’s point.

On the other hand, do we have any right to expect that whites will hold back when we so freely paint insulting images of them and of each other, all in the name of comedy? Should jokes about minorities be limited to minority comedians while white jokes are open to all? Will we ever get to a point where we can say fair is fair and have evidence to support that expression? Something to think about…