If there is something I have learned about writing comedy skits and performing stand up is comedy is an odd thing. Performers often push the limits and veer into offensive territory and I am not sure where the line is.
I have a pretty twisted sense of humor. On the surface I come across as pretty reserved and even conservative (which I think is hilarious in itself.) People are often shocked that I like bawdy sex comedies like “Hall Pass” and “American Pie.” I’m also a fan of raucous, boundary-pushing comedy like “Family Guy,” “The Boondocks” and “South Park.”
I know where my limits are though. I don’t make jokes about female or male rape, although a lot of comedians and comedy writers do. There is nothing funny about men being raped in prison. Comedians would never dare touch jokes about men raping women. I was troubled by “The Boondocks” which had a running joke about prison rape. The show also courted controversy in the episode “The Return of the King,” where Martin Luther King returns to lambast black people as being “shiftless n****s.” And the episode “Pause,” featured a Tyler Perryesque character who made awful religious theater and used his position to seduce men.
However, I did write a joke about rednecks having sex with their sisters and a friend, who is a self -described redneck, took me to task over it. She said there was nothing funny about incest. And when you think about it, incest is often coerced, so it’s not something that should be joked about. (So no more incest jokes for me.)
But there was an odd white dude I took a comedy class with several ago, who weaved a bit into a skit, where he describes having sex with his sister. It was so awkward, I couldn’t help but laugh.
I refuse to use the n-word in my comedy, which is kind of a rarity. There is nothing funny or familiar about that word. I’ve been called that word before and it was not in fun. However, I once got an angry message from a white person upset because I used the term “cracker.” He said it was offensive. I replied cracker was not on par with the n-word. I then wrote another cartoon featuring the word cracker. Moral of the story, never get into a fight with a guy who writes jokes for a living. All you’re doing is giving him more material.
Ethnic humour is generally off limits, although comedians of color regularly mock white people. But I think they can get away with that because they are in the minority and generally suffer from discrimination. People of color use humor to mock white people, because in American society, white people have power. This is what makes Rush Limbaugh dangerous, because he uses humor to make fun of marginalized groups, blacks, women, Latinos, gays, ect. That just makes him a bigot and bully and as Bill Maher said he’s not funny. If you put him on stage, he would sink like a stone.
When I was taking a stand-up comedy class, my teacher said someone has to be the butt of the joke. No one likes it, but it just happens. Case in point, I was watching BET’s “Comic View” a few years ago, and a black female comedian made a joke about Africans working as taxi drivers and being arrogant. She said, “I don’t know why you are so arrogant, a couple of years ago, you were riding lions.” I thought it was funny.
However, my stand up piece included a section about Africans selling black Americans into slavery and not having the receipts. Some African Americans didn’t take too kindly to it. I figured if they can make jokes about Africans, I can make jokes about them too. I guess everyone likes a joke, as long as it’s not about their group.
