Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Ray-Ray
It has always been interesting to me how much comedians can get away with. They can say some pretty offensive things under the pretense of comedy and people usually just think its funny. I'm one of those people. I love watching shows like south park or watching stand up on comedy central. Comedians have this way of highlighting these completely not P.C. things that are realities in our society and making them funny. It fascinates me. Anyway, I went to the comedian that was on campus earlier tonight, Ben Hague. He has been featured on comedy central and opened for Dane Cook recently. I really enjoyed his show and his humor. One of the funniest parts of his show was a joke about the nav system called Tom-Tom. He said he asked for one for Christmas but instead his dad bought him a knock off version called a Ray-Ray. He explained that the Ray-Ray was not as polite as the Tom-Tom. For example when he missed a turn, instead of saying in a calm voice "recalculating"; the Ray-Ray would yell "What the f*ck? you missed the turn what the f*ck are we supposed to do now?". I thought this was hysterical but the joke only got a few laughs. He continued by explaining an even cheaper version called a Ling-Ling that just rammed you into other cars on the road. At this joke everyone in the audience was cracking up and applauding. At this, Ben Hague paused and pointed out the fact that no one felt comfortable laughing at the black joke, but was totally fine with the Asian joke possibly because there were no Asians in the room. The whole audience laughed at this realizing that it was probably true. Sometimes we take things so seriously we cant even laugh an obviously funny joke. Not everything has to be SO P.C... And if any arena has some room for the not so politically correct stuff, its comedy.
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speaking of comedians and driving styles, you reminded me of this one bit dane cook has, where he says if someone cuts into your lane, and you're a white guy, you go, "umm...hello?" if you're black it's, "check out this mothafucka", and if you're asian, you go "ahhhh!". the audience didn't see this material as offensive. maybe driving style stereotypes are ones that are kinda of a safe area, one harmless enough to joke about.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Ben Hague thing, I think there were reasons for the awkwardness. I think the first was that there were African American people, when I'm sure there were Asian people there, I didn't see any. Which I don't know how I feel about that, but part of the thing about laughter is its somewhat natural, so it's not always a controlled thing. Also, since he told the "Ray-Ray" joke first, the "Ling-Ling" joke might have been less shocking. Then again, it is possible that Asian stereotype jokes may be more accepted than African American stereotype jokes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation. I especially like that Ben Hague points out that no one was comfortable laughing at his Ray-Ray joke. Racist jokes don't seem to cause as much of a stir when you're laughing at your own race, but at the expense of another..now that's when things get messy.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like it was a great show, I wish I could have seen. It does seem that comedians can get away with saying a lot more than most other people. But people know when they are performing that they are trying to be funny, so they don't take the information serious. I think it is interesting that people in the audience did not laugh at the black joke, but it may have been becuase of the people around them and not wanting to offend anyone. I used to go to a lot of shows in New York City and all of those jokes everyone seemed to laugh. That may have been because there was no one minority in the audience.
ReplyDeleteit's amazing that a lot of celebrities intentionally stay away from saying potentially controvertial things and comedians make a living off of it. we almost always give them a pass when they go over the line too, unless you're the Kramer's of the world! hah
ReplyDeletei agree with you i think dane cook is really funny too, but at the same time we can all make everyday stories like that into something funny
ReplyDeleteGeorge Carlin was a master at things like this. His bit about things you're not supposed to joke about; he states it best that its how you construct a joke that makes certain things in life. And sometimes these things may be racist, but often you'll see everyone in the audience laughing about the subject, even those that are targeted.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting and good point, I wish I was there. It seems like I would have laughed at both jokes. I really think it is stupid if you are selective of when you laugh or not based on who is around you. If it's funny it's funny, he said it not you so it shouldn't be bad to laugh at it. It is true though that Chris Rock and Chappelle can drop N-bombs all day and everyone laughs, but when Kramer did it it was a huge controversy as Bill said.
ReplyDeletewell said laurie, i definately think people worry too much about being P.C. all the time. we all just need to relax and enjoy things rather than take things so seriously. if you think something is funny, just laugh and you shouldn't have to worry if it's not P.C.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that he has told this joke, as I have heard it with other comedians. I can't remember his name, but another comedian on comedy central has a joke kind of like this one. (He is the fat white man who wears the hideous orange leather jacket and says "It's allright, take your time I'm just letting you adjust to the amount of orange on the stage.) He's actually really funny.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever noticed though that female comedians are not quite as funny as male ones?
I'm surprised too what comedians get away with. It seems to be getting worst too. Look at comedians from the past to today, which comedian is worse?
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