Racism is the new Funny
Greetings readers,
I'm the hottest, freshest voice in this opera of opinions we like to call the GOGC. My name's Smokey Cloud and like the small, wooden plank from Baskin Robbins, here's a taste of what's to come:
I'm from the south and I like that. I lived the majority of my life in North Carolina and four years ago I spent two weeks on a roadtrip throughout the entire region. It was a majestic journey that opened my eyes to parts of southern culture I had only read about in the first chapters of John Grisham novels. I believe stereotypes exist because they're generally true and my trip further backed up this theory. There are some incredibly racist people in the south. These aren't bad people, they're just beholden of terribly oppressive and narrow minded views. So maybe they are. It's a terrible truth, but it's still a part of life and I grew up all around it.
I live in Los Angeles now and the past two weeks I've attended an amateur stand-up comedy evening at a local watering hole. I have an extensive knowledge of the lives and routines of all the greats, but I'd actually never been to an amateur night. Any substantial viewing of the totp comics reveals that stand-up can be done very well in just about any form. It's a ubiquitous form of entertainment, like the West Coast run-n-gun offense. These comics, however, elected to go the other way with it. It was a room full of Bernie Mac wannabes, each one pining for the shock value of stereotypes and racism. Oddly, the only one who came close to pulling it off was a young white woman who looked twenty minutes away from her own deb ball.
It was sad. By the end of each routine the comic would spout extremely racist comments; not jokes, nothing structured to be funny in any sense, just the gems you normally get from someone named Cooter. The lack of effort is what pissed me off the most. Each one hid behind the same blanket statement claiming that being of their particular ethnicity or gender allowed them to say what they said. Me, I just felt bad for the state of stand-up.
So I guess my review of the amateur stand-up circuit in Los Angeles is this: If you're really pining for an evening of hatred and half-assed jokes, go to any bar holding a stand-up night. If you want to see a man who excels at his craft, Brian Regan will be in town August 11-13.
I'm the hottest, freshest voice in this opera of opinions we like to call the GOGC. My name's Smokey Cloud and like the small, wooden plank from Baskin Robbins, here's a taste of what's to come:
I'm from the south and I like that. I lived the majority of my life in North Carolina and four years ago I spent two weeks on a roadtrip throughout the entire region. It was a majestic journey that opened my eyes to parts of southern culture I had only read about in the first chapters of John Grisham novels. I believe stereotypes exist because they're generally true and my trip further backed up this theory. There are some incredibly racist people in the south. These aren't bad people, they're just beholden of terribly oppressive and narrow minded views. So maybe they are. It's a terrible truth, but it's still a part of life and I grew up all around it.
I live in Los Angeles now and the past two weeks I've attended an amateur stand-up comedy evening at a local watering hole. I have an extensive knowledge of the lives and routines of all the greats, but I'd actually never been to an amateur night. Any substantial viewing of the totp comics reveals that stand-up can be done very well in just about any form. It's a ubiquitous form of entertainment, like the West Coast run-n-gun offense. These comics, however, elected to go the other way with it. It was a room full of Bernie Mac wannabes, each one pining for the shock value of stereotypes and racism. Oddly, the only one who came close to pulling it off was a young white woman who looked twenty minutes away from her own deb ball.
It was sad. By the end of each routine the comic would spout extremely racist comments; not jokes, nothing structured to be funny in any sense, just the gems you normally get from someone named Cooter. The lack of effort is what pissed me off the most. Each one hid behind the same blanket statement claiming that being of their particular ethnicity or gender allowed them to say what they said. Me, I just felt bad for the state of stand-up.
So I guess my review of the amateur stand-up circuit in Los Angeles is this: If you're really pining for an evening of hatred and half-assed jokes, go to any bar holding a stand-up night. If you want to see a man who excels at his craft, Brian Regan will be in town August 11-13.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 6:48 PM.
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