Moron this discussion

Thanks to my Pal Jimmy Mac, a nifty discussion on "Meta-Racism":
http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2005/11/metabigots

November 10, 2005
Meta-Bigots
This Slate piece on Sarah Silverman gets a number of interesting, fairly subtle things very right:
Silverman's work is a natural byproduct of the high-stakes game of contemporary American identity politics—the emotionally volatile generalizing about our moral right to generalize. But she's not just a critic of PC culture: She's a connoisseur. She handles the complex algorithms of taboo—who's allowed to joke about what, to whom, using what terminology—with instant precision: "Everybody blames the Jews for killing Christ, and then the Jews try to pass it off on the Romans. I'm one of the few people that believe it was the blacks." (The joke exposes not the ancient perfidy of any particular race but the absurdity of blaming entire races for anything.) Her best jokes are thought experiments in the internal logic of political correctness: "I want to get an abortion, but my boyfriend and I are having trouble conceiving." A Playboy interviewer, probing for something salacious, once asked Silverman if she had a nickname for her vagina. She answered "Faggot"—a throwaway joke that manages to kink sexual identity into such an ingenious pretzel it could fuel a doctoral dissertation.[...]
Through her stand-up, however, Silverman has become an important member of a guerrilla vanguard in the culture wars that we might call the "meta-bigots"—other members include the South Park kids, Sacha Baron Cohen's "Ali G", and the now-AWOL Dave Chappelle. The meta-bigots work at social problems indirectly; instead of discussing race, rape, abortion, incest, or mass starvation, they parody our discussions of them. They manipulate stereotypes about stereotypes. It's a dangerous game: If you're humorless, distracted, or even just inordinately history-conscious, meta-bigotry can look suspiciously like actual bigotry."

That last line's kinda the key to the discussion, but if you go to the link, some of the comments illustrate people who are also dabbling in this. The danger, as with all blogs, is that it's all pretty much opinion. Except this one. This blog is absolute truth.

Parting thoughts

This is a rat hole. Actually, it's the utility (phone, sewer, power) access at the new office. Those ARE rat droppings, though.


Crappy pizza for dinner last night, then some shopping. I don't think Kiki reads this, but yes, I did make it to Zara...

Also, I didn't notice 'til this AM, but I was staying at the Hotel Napoleon, and boy do they take the Napoleon gimmick seriously -








And now, after some more pain au chocolat, to the airport. Hopefully in the Chi by 5 PM. Bon Voyage, frogs!

Paris Nautilus

These pics make me hard, as most turn-of-the-century architecture does.
The first is the staircase in Winston's current office. All that Oak...









This one is the branch office they're opening. Wrought iron and marble. The elevators in both buildings are the size of telephone booths. A far cry from my office in the Leo Burnett building where the elevators hold 10 people and go from the 44th floor to the ground in 35 seconds.

Tonight I will attempt some shopping. My french sucks.

We Come From France

Greetings from Paris. I had a gruelling as hell day of travel and work yesterday. Well, 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday). The new Winston space is beautiful:

And we're a stone's throw from the Arch De Triomphe!



Actually, both offices and the Hotel Napoleon are on streets that radiate out from the Arch. I'm doing my best to be the ugly American... I'm stopping people on the streets and saying, "Where the FUCK is Rue Street?!"
Thank you, Kevin Fleming!

Actually, I've had coca light and some Pain au Chocolate this AM, and last night's dinner was a steak and frites and 2 Fischers. Yum Mee!

I'm hoping to get to a Zara and a Bookstore for Kiki before I'm out. Bon JouR!

Prurient or Feduciary? You make the Call.

For those who don't read the comments, I am attaching a comment by my friend Eric Lindberg that he left on ly rant on the Natuonal Punchline. I do so as a setup to what I want to talk about today (Hello, Neighbor!)

"Also, let me talk about this for a minute, as my goose is got. If you do comedy for a living, you have to accept all kinds of funny...even if you don't think it's funny. 50% of Artie Lang's stand up is making fun of "da fags" now I think Artie Lang is funny. I don't think those jokes are funny, (Well, one or two are) but I can't go WAIT! That's cheap! because people are laughing. It's like when certian asian improvisors used to get pissed that people do asian accents at IO, then they would go up there and play a retard or black guy...doesn't work that way...now there is a BIG diff between Gay Bashing jokes (that is when there is no punch line or irony or statement or anything) and funny gay humor (like, for instance, 100% of Ant's stuff, ok he's not that funny either, but you get my point) it's a slippery slope (Speaking Of Asians) That make sense? I also agree people are stupid and may interpret things as "That guy hates gays let's have a hearty laugh with him" (or blacks, or Jews, or mormons, or whatever...) but I don't think you can get hung up on that. In the long and short of it, I don't think people that do this are allowed to get offended at other comics stuff...not that my Juciy Fruit joke was A. All that funny B. something I'll EVER say again...but you see what I'm saying? It's all about dicating taste, about assigning standards to comedy, you can't do that...you just cant...am I crazy? Maybe, but I doubt it. much props to you both."

My wife took me to task on this as well, when I mentioned the National Punchline and Eric and Tara's comments. She is of the firm belief that there are things too taboo to do on any stage, even the Hot Karl. The conversation started as we were discussing Chappelle on Oprah. My third-hand understanding of the reason he cited for taking off to Africa was that a wite person was laughing at one of his jokes. Now, this shook me to the core, as I LOVE Dave Chappelle, and thisnk he's the best thing on TV today. As one of the commentators on BET's year in review show said, "America NEEDS Dave Chappelle (see: the Black Bush Sketch)".
After I discussed this with my wife, who had seen the interview (anybody got a copy I can have?), it turns out that he was concerned over how some white people were reacting to his racially-charged sketches, and was put off by someone laughing a little to hard at the way black people were portrayed in some of his sketches. Now, this makes much more sense, as he's expressed the same trepidation both on his show and on stage the one time I saw him live (the show was terrible).
This fostered a discussion between my wife and I regarding the power of politically incorrect humor (for want of a better term; this has nothing to do with the only man in the world less funny than Charles Grodin, Bill Mahr). I am of the belief that nothing should be off limits to me onstage. If I make a joke pointed at one group or another, it's to make a point. I never run onstage and scream an epithet to draw a reaction; it comes from a place of heightening, and usually is the ultimate part of the bit. The climax, if you will.
My wife teaches High school, particularly English, and a big part of their curriculum is "To Kill a Mockingbird" which, of course, is based on the Scottsboro lynchings. A whole day of discussion is based on the power of the N-word and what it means and how it's used. She thinks I should not be allowed to use the word at all. That it is not my place as a white man to use that word for comedy.
Another justifier: I think I can count one one hand the number of times I have said it onstage. For the uninitiated, what I do is entirely improvised, and I have only "gone there" following the direction of the show. I invite you to come see for yourself. But, the Hot Karl is improv at its purest. No form, no limits, no taboo. Much of the subject matter is based on people's differences and sex. But while I may make a racial joke in the course of the show, I am not a racist. To make an SAT-type analogy, I am no more a racist than I an the type of person who would attempt to copulate with someone's tracheotomy hole, which I've also joked about in a show.
My wife's basic argument is not that I am a racist though, and also ties up some of the comments Eric made. Her basic argument is not that the jokes are mean spirited, but even if they are meant to poke fun at those subject matters, and are beautifully ironic, what matters is how the audience perceives them. And we are back to Chappelle. I feel like I know what his comedy is about, but his problem comes in people coming up to him in Airports saying "Man, I love them jokes you make about them [N-words]". The danger is in the stupids. I guess it always is.
But will I censor myself so that the people who don't "Get It" are not misled? Hell no. I recognize that it's a huge responsibility, but I believe it's necessary not to be held down by limitations. Especially in a show like the Hot Karl.

As my father always said, "Fuck 'em if they can't take a Joke."

Ugh. See what I mean?

National Punchline for sale Here.
Punks.

National Punchline

So, we're balls deep in a time where all of America shares the same half-assed punchline.
Not since "Bill and Monica" or Enron have we shared the "joke" that we can shoehorn into any situation and get a guffaw. I'm talking, of course, about Brokeback Mountain.
The laughs garnered by someone saying "sounds like Brokeback Mountain to me..." make my skin crawl. Also, the loudest laughers have not and wil not ever see the movie. They just think the idea of gay cowboys is giggleworthy.
I realized the National Punchline first when my uncle compared something to "like Bill and Monica". It wasn't like coitus or pleasure in an elected office at all. However, many present laughed because they thought the idea of the president getting off was funny to them.
It reared its ugly head years later on the ComedySportz stage when an audience volunteer shoehorned Enron into a game of doctor know-it-all. It didn't make sense in the sentence or the game; yet it garnered a laugh from the audience. Ugh.
I guarantee that it's taking place on stages and in social circles all over America. And people who think homosexuals are "funny" are laughing.
Fight the power, y'all.
In the same vein, if you say the name of the suburb of Schaumburg on a Chicagoland stage, somehow that garners a laugh from the audience. I have no idea how or why, but it never fails. It reminds me of the old Yacov Smirnov joke: "I don't mean to be so hard on Cleveland. Every country has that one city everyone laughs at. For instance, in Russia, we make fun of Cleveland."
Yep, I just quoted Yacov Smirnov.
I am the Weakest Link. Goodbye.

Bring out the best

I've been called "gimp" or "gimpy" more times in the last four weeks than I care to count. I know it shouldn't, but MAN does it grate on me.

I am sofucking ready to be done with these crutches I could puke.

I miss my pals. 'specially my improv pals and the magic we can conjure up un a stage.

I watched my good pal Dan Bakkedahl do a really funny piece on the Daily show last night. It was so silly and rife with detail. I loved it. You can watch it here (Fist in mouth; though Domestic Pardners is damn funny.)

On the bright side of everything, Miette learned to clap.

The Goundhog Saw its shadow.

Well, my x-rays looked good, but not good enough to throw the crutches into the river. 3 more weeks if taking it easy.
I did leave the bone growth machine with the doc. He understood that I was creeped out by Bolo Yeung and would give it back to him for me.
Three more weeks. Fack.
Could be worse. Could be better.