Also, yes, dark comic all that crap is minstrelsy! I don’t want to hate Martin but damn his movies suck. They are making a big momma 2! WHY!! WTH!!! All his recent movies (blue streak etc.) all have a stepnfetchit feel to them. The MAJORITY of television shows with Black folks are that way, and we laugh at ourselves while we cry inside.

But that’s why I admired Chappelle’s move so much. His show was great—but it was ugly. The fact that he could step back and see his show–or see how others who didn’t feel that pain might see it–was a wonderful show of integrity. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he loses his soul?

Umm, have you ever read Joel Stein’s backhanded “celebration” of Bruce Lee as one of TIME magazine’s 100 most important people of the century filled with thinly-veiled insults, unsubstantiated rumors and cheap shots?
http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/lee01.html

No other profile roasted the dead VIP so slanderously.

For example, they could have similarly roasted MLK with KNOWN facts like these:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030502.html

But instead, they just gave him a slobbering BJ, like every other celeb covered…except Bruce.
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/king.html

I agree. It’s why “Martin” as a show (and Lawrence’s stand up) left me cold. With sitcoms, I always try to find the standup routine or earlier work of the “star,” see if I like them w/out scriptwriters. Sometimes I like them better, sometimes I can’t see the appeal.

For myself, I want smart and clever real-life commentary comedy, I want someone to be absurd to prove a point, and I want someone to think that the audience might just have a brain and have learned something once, even if they left it at home. It helps if they can be easily quoted.

Hunh. That’s probably why I like Eddie Izzard.

Most of morning “news” shows sound so scripted anyway, that I wonder if anything that was said was their real opinion.

“Minstrel shows began in the 1830s, with working class white men dressing up as plantation slaves. These men imitated black musical and dance forms, combining savage parody of black Americans with genuine fondness for African American cultural forms.”

Hmm, sound familiar? Only, now it’s Black men who have replaced “working class white men.”

50% of humor in America these days merely involves people aping urban Black stereotypes. Take a look at half the “funny” pics & videos on the internet. Watch some “Martin” or “Fresh Prince” re-runs. For some reason, people find the poor or exaggerated imitation of Black youth subculture inherently funny. But when I walk through the hood, I don’t feel the uncontrollable urge to laff?