Comments on: MadTV’s ode to interracial love

By: AS

AS — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:24:34 +0000

I thought the comic part of this sketch was that though the woman is with a black guy, many of her lyrics have a tinge of what I call “leftie racism”, or a condescending and patronizing attitude ; for example, in a Christmas song she sings, lyrics go “and Santa must be black…. because he only comes around once a year ….. and crawls down your chimney like a …..”. And you always see the blck guy hurryingly change the lyrics, or look shocked, or actually say “We didn’t rehearse that part before”.
I think these sketches are a good commentary on the fact that many “liberal” caucasians still consider others inferior.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 07:49:43 +0000

TMJ,

I don’t think it hurts culture or society to examine issues of phenotype, fairness, and equal representation. I made the distinction in this context because arguably there hasn’t been a complete lack of eurafrican (or eurafrican looking) or other mixed male comics that have been celebrated in our culture, but of those that were acknowledged, none were mixed-identified (admittedly common for every field from the 1930s through the 1970s).

However, from the baby boomer generation on I’m not sure I can name any middle phenotype male comics that have been acknowledged and respected on the same level as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, David Chappelle, Adam Sandler, Jim Carey, and Jerry Seinfeld. There doesn’t seem to be equal representation for middle phenotype male comics, mixed-identified or not.

By: TMJ

TMJ — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:59:08 +0000

Dave:
Wow, “Black (identified but middle phenotype)”

That threw me off a little bit…are we really down to phenotypes dude? They were light skinned. And they were Black. So what’s the point of denoting them as being in the middle of a ‘phenotype’? I understood your initial point of there being no mixed comedian superstars, but it felt a little — icky — when you spoke of them that way. Why separate Pryor and Foxx from the latter group?

By: Animelee

Animelee — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:35:17 +0000

Yo LL, http://www.mininova.org/tor/179903 !

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 09:59:31 +0000

I don’t see how the skit is per se negative to mixed people, but maybe I’ll “get it” when I have a chance to watch it. Like with the Boondocks, I feel as a mulatto that we’re like a not-yet-famous actor reading a review of our perforance: more concerned that they actually mentioned our name “mulatto” than that they treated us in a fair way, because a non-one-drop identity is still so rarely acknowledged in mass media.

Q’s point that Quincy Jones produced the episode and dates white women and has had white/black mixed children brings to mind a question for me: why has he not created more media featuring mixed race people and our experiences? You would think white/black couples in Hollywood would be the biggest supporters of positive representations of mulattos/eurafricans, and that white/asian Hollywood couples would be the biggest supporters of positie representations of hapas/eurasians/asian-africans. I get the sense, however, that this is not the case.

A good side topic would be what’s the status of mixed people generally in comedy? Since at least the 60’s, it seems like among male comics, the most revered male comics in our culture have been either monoracially white or monoracially black.

White: Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Adam Sandler, Sam Kinnison, Jim Belushi, Steve Martin, Jim Carey
Black (identified but middle phenotype): Red Fox, Richard Pryor.
Black (identified and phenotypically): Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Jamie Fox, Dave Chapelle.

For a 1st generation white/black biracial who is a friend of mind and trying to make it comedy, please check out http://www.ericandre.com

By: Kaonashi

Kaonashi — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 05:33:43 +0000

What you are talking about is a reoccurring skit on Mad TV about a black guy married to a white woman who’s a closet racist…only she doesn’t know it…in fact, she thinks she is “open-minded and daring” for doing such a thing! They are shown either running their own Cable Access TV show or you see them in the coffee shop singing and they natter on about “Interracial Love” but the woman’s comments show that even as she proclaims her love for him, it’s obvious that she doesn’t respect him as a human being OR a black man. At least once during the skit, someone (his mother, the Jewish landlord trying to evict them, neighbors, etc) always screams “WAKE UP! Your wife is a damn RACIST and you need to LEAVE her!” to which she usually either says that they are “jealous of their love” or says “How can I be racist? I’m married to a Black Man! YOU are the racist!”

They’ve also adopted two Eskimo babies as well, lol!

By: Jeff Stevens

Jeff Stevens — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 03:59:16 +0000

I didn’t see the skit but I do know that there is a prevalence of black male/white female” couplings on TV which at times can seem forced and almost a gimmick, perhaps even a way to show how they are just ever so progressive. It’s like that is the only possible interracial coupling there is. But we all know its about the shock value for americans of seeing a white woman with a black man, not about breaking any real ground or exploring somethign.
Perhaps the Mad skit was simply a way to address that since one of their real functions is social commentary.

By: Q

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:57:03 +0000

Note that its exec producer is avid Barbie-collector Quincy Jones - who was also Michael Jackon’s producer.

So, one could expect a fair amount of White-fetishism in his works.

But, has it really sunk this low to pure fetishism without even any added redeeming artistic value? Was there any other point to this skit? Hey, where all the White wimmen at? Wow.