Never watched Mencia…

What is that female comedian from SNL, the daughter of Minnie Ripperton? Can’t think of her name…she can sing tho…

Margaret Cho is the bomb. To me, anyway. I can totally see the progression in her comedy, from the crazy screaming to the political satire I see now. I loved her because she wouldn’t follow the rules (can you tell i have authority issues?) and she has continued along on that vein. I am sorry some asian folks do not like her comedy; as a Black woman, I can understand being forced into a pigeonhole by society, the media, and even my own people! I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every negative comment I heard from Black people–esp. my own family–when I ditched my perm and went natural. Just because Margaret doesn’t fit the image of what asian people want her to be, doesn’t mean she isn’t funny. Heck, that makes her funnier. And more courageous.

cant’ argue with you on that

thanks for the props; appreciated. as far as Aaron’s use of the word goes, there’s often the question of whether he’s a “reappropriator” or he’s offering a critique of the word’s overuse.

I’m afraid he falls into neither category. In the show’s promo interviews, he admitted that he fought to keep the word on the show because he didn’t wanna “clean it up for TV.” It’s a word he says he uses in everyday life, and a word that gets used a lot by many blacks.

In other words, “he jus’ keepin’ it real, y’all.”

As for Dave, I think he’s balancing on the in-joke tightrope. That’s one hell of a feat for any non-white comedian. Stand up is the most intimate form of humor/satire. The goal of trying to critique/observe your experiences through entertainment while getting your point across is difficult to do w/o just being the entertainer.

Did anyone ever see the PJs. That show killed me. But I think the in-jokes were too much for TV!

BTW I loathe Carlos Mencia.

Much props on the article, I wish I had time to write such a well-thought, concise, yet detailed piece like the one you did, and again, I completely see where you are coming from. Outright defending MacGruder is hard for me in a sense, because I don’t really agree with a great deal of what he does, the use of the N-word especially…. However, I think I defend him because, imo we need more voices like him out there, I may not agree with his tactics, but I think I can see his purpose.

Just as a side-note, I’ve always thought Uncle Ruckus to be the embodiment of Stanley Crouch, as he rather looks like him, and actually says similar things. Another side-note, I saw him speak at my university, and he was going on about how Coltrane was the man until he “fell off the boat” aka Post A Love Supreme! I had read that stuff in his books/articles, but I don’t know, it didn’t seem real to me until I heard it from his lips.

I think another reason I defend Macgruder (and Chappelle, but he’s outside this discussion) is that I feel like as I said before, it’s very strange to me to all of a sudden start placing any amounts of blame on these guys, who are simply reacting to what is around them, as opposed to the guys who are creating the action that MacGruder can react to.

I haven’t read any articles on what MacGruders goals for season 1 were, but perhaps he was taking this season to address black issues, and will move into more non-internalized race issues in further seasons, or perhaps he was levraging the goodwill he had built up in the black community and sincerly thought he could reach out to some people and potentially change some minds.

I think for myself, I can relate to some of his messages that are plaguing the black community because I have to deal with them, and it pains me to see whats going on, and if you try and tell people outright, you get called out for “preaching”, and if you say nothing, nothing changes. At least this way Aaron is wrapping his message in a show that people like, and can watch, and he can just hope someone can become enlightened by it… Maybe its a futile endeavor, but I dont know I can blame him for trying.

On a more personal level I can relate to him, cause I’ve often been called “anti-black” cause I haven’t toed the party line in all things african-american. Being mixed and lightskinned at that makes me all the more easy to become invalidated as “running from my blackness”. The only thing that saves me is that my educational choices and extracurricular program choices make it hard to dispute my dedication.

This would be such a good discussion to have in person or in round-table format, I think its hard navigate a topic like this as its such a thin line between meanings and misunderstandings.
So again, I understand both of your concerns, and I think we probably agree more then we think, but also disagree in other ways, but ultimately I think all three of us want the same thing, its just a matter of which methods each of us as individuals deem as worthy the risk vs. the detriment that may occur. I can’t say for sure what his goal is, but I can only superimpose my hopes and dreams onto what I think he’s trying achieve.

But it’s really not a case of “either/or,” now is it? I mean, I think all those artists you mentioned (and many more) have dragged Black America through the mud for money, but that doesn’t make McGruder himself any better.

As far as his comic strip history goes, here’s something potentially worth looking at.
http://merqury.net/boondocks/