In the 70s, my favorite stand-ups were Richard Pryor and George Carlin. They were fiercely funny social critics that used wit, perfect timing, their own lives as art and a flair for language to arrive at the conclusion that we need to come together as a society and appreciate our differences instead of fight each other over them. So we got busy. Flash forward to 2013. So many comics use well worn, all been done before stereotypes that reinforce cartoon ideas about other races. Sometimes its barely disguised hate speech. Its like stand-up looked around and decided, its just easier to work with peoples fear and expectations of what low-brow comedy is rather than use the gift of making people laugh to see things in a way they hadnt considered before. A lot of modern stand-up has more in common with Republicans playing on peoples fears rather than offering anything new or enlightening. Instead of shining a light on a issue and finding a unique way to make a diverse audience laugh long and hand at your insight, its just easier to do Asians are bad drivers, jokes. Right? its lazy.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 23:22:11 +0000
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