Saturday, August 1, 2009

#209. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour


Black people know humor. Pop in the DVD of Coming to America for a Black person, and you'll have them hooked for the next two hours and in a deep, humor induced trance of epic proportions.

The lineage of humor in the Black community stretches back to the the early slave narrative, when one Black slave would entertain the others, behind their masters back - as depicted in the movie Life - and can be seen at full display in the Richard Pryor sketches of the 70s, the Eddie Murphy SNL skits and the subesquent movies he would make in the 1980s.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence filled the void when Eddie Murphy made horrible movie decisions in the 1990s, and then came Chris Tucker and his role in Friday, and the subsequent Rush Hour franchise.

You might say that Black people now have the ultimate funny-man entertaining them exclusively, as Tyler Perry and his TBS shows and movies - that usually star him in drag - have become all the rage in the Black community. It is hard to find a white person who actually has seen a Tyler Perry movie or show, but Black people incorporate his programs and movies into their daily diet of Sprite and BET.

Black people find Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle funny, but our uncomfortable with some of their performances in the past, which Black people justly believe help to perpetuate negative Black stereotypes. Rock and Chappelle, though Black, fail to be Black enough in their comedy, as the only positive symbol of comedy in the Black community is making fun of whitey, not pointing out the problems that plague the Black community - which mainly consist of Blacks themselves.

However, one form of comedy Black people find offensive, if not downright irritating, is the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Comedy Central's white answer to the Black phenomenons known as Def Comedy Jam and The Kings of Comedy.

Black people find the Blue Collar Comedy Tour a form of kryptonite, and like when Black people hear classical music, run in the opposite direction or quickly change the channel anytime Black people are exposed to the vile message that the four white guys who contribute to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour spew.

Those four white guys include the uber-redneck jokester Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Combined, this fearsome foursome - to Black people - crack jokes about middle America, the South, rednecks and everyday mishaps. The bulk of the jokes revolve around lower-class white people and their ways, but all white people find the Blue Collar Comedy Tour funny, even if they wear white collars to work.

Black people don't like this one bit. Anytime white people show racial solidarity, as Black people did when voting 96 percent for Mein Obama in 2008's presidential election, Black people are uneasy and smell the pungent odor of racism.

When four white comics come together, under the "accusations-of-racism" force-field, known as the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Black people are weaponless and are deprived of name-calling - their equivalent of a nuclear weapon in the on-going war against white people that they are waging.

The Blue Collar Comedy Tour is seen as a revival of sorts by Black people, where white people come together for humor and conviviality. Never is negative word spoken of Black people, but the paranoid nature of Black people leads them to believe anytime white people congregate together, a lynch mob isn't far from forming.

The only jokes delivered at the Blue Collar Comedy Tour consist of "You might be a redneck if....", or "Get er done". No jokes at Black people's expense, just jokes at white people's expense.

Stuff Black People Don't Like will always include the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, because four white guys cracking jokes to an entirely white audience is too much whiteness for Black people to handle. And even though the jokes aren't racial in nature, white people laughing and having fun without the help of any Black people is seen as a major offense to all Black people, for they are the ultimate form of entertainment.

Even though it's called the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Black people still see it as the White Comedy Tour, a title they would never, ever allow.


11 comments:

walter said...

I guess I must be one of the exceptions,I'm black and I like clean comedy without the profanity and vulgarity.I like Chappelle and I also like Blue Collar Comedy Tour because it is funny, as Larry would say "that right there is funny I don't care who you are."

Anonymous said...

I guess I must also be an exception, I'm white and I switch the channel when Blue Collar Comedy Tour airs. I guess since I'm a northerner I have this subconscious fear that these good 'ole boys might gang up on me if they hear me speak 'the kings english' or what ever southerners call our accent.

Anonymous said...

At least these good 'ole boys can extract a laugh at thier own expense. Chappelle however seems to get in trouble for the same. George Lopez does too. I like to think the I can except any person as my equal. At the same time I have no respect for the 'urban black culture'. I'm glad that this blog has no regard for what is politically correct. I hope to see more comments from blacks. If we live by this 'politically correct' mentality we will never directly address any of our root issues. How can ANYTHING be solved by ignoring it?
Mabey if we give out more government services we can bring the black man up. After all foodstamps and welfare seem to be helping blacks out of the rut. Yeah, I said it. I'm a Republican that cares about what the black man thinks.

juandos said...

One of the problems it seems to me about urban blacks (not all of them of course) and some of the white comedians like those fine fellows in the blue collar comedy tour actually based in ignorance...

I see the samething happening when I've watched the kings of comedy with some white folks, again the humor is lost when ignorance of the topic of the comedy is present...

I've sat and watched Dave Chappelle with a collection of white guys that I work with and most of them have this 'deer in the headlights' look because a lot of Chapelle is ranting on (riotously IMHO) sails right over their heads...

There's no connection...

Silas Von Lindt said...

I would have imagined that Stuff Black People Don't Like™ would have included songs by Johnny Rebel, but I guess this guy didn't think so.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2vNzz2VMWac

Anonymous said...

"actually based in ignorance..."

I'd lean more towards a word like inexperience, but I agree. I myself have traveled the world including 8 countries and 40 states. I can understand any of the above mentioned comedians. Most american whites have little interest in other cultures and don't see the real meaning in many of the 'jokes'. The problem is that they are more likely to 'experience' black culture in a negative light when they go on a road trip to their nearest urban center and 'experience' something that deserves no respect. Thus the cycle continues as it has for far to long. Neither whites nor blacks seem to want to turn the other cheek. As a white though I see the fact that more whites voted for Obama than blacks as an example of whites doing just that. The next step lies with the black man. The 'RACE CARD' has very little value anymore. After all a black person is now 'THE MAN'.

Anonymous said...

I actually saw one black man out of the whole audience. You don't find one white at the Apollo Theater, in "Def Comedy Jam".

I bet that black man felt like a Rottweiler in a sea of Argentine Dogos.

Anonymous said...

I guess I'm like Walter, an exception to rule #209! I'm black and I love the Blue Comedy Tour! Those guys are hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Count me in... I don't think the author truly knows black folk... we may not be at the Ryman, but I know MANY blacks who crack up at these boys. Hell just turned from Larry the Cable Guy on Bigraphy to King of the Hill. I ain't white and don't know any rednecks ( well wait I think one, but bottom line- funny is funny.

Anonymous said...

i am white and really like the 'blue collar comedy tour' but am a little down on 'larry the cable guy' since i found out a couple years ago that he is a phony. his real name is DAN WHITNEY and he is from NEBRASKA, i am not KIDDING. 'LTCG' was a character he invented and it was so successful he is stuck doing it indefinitely. i hope he likes it, just like PAUL REUBENFELD enjoys being the inane PEE WEE HERMAN.

Anonymous said...

This site is extreamly disrespectful. You wasted your time making a site talking about black people, like they were things, and what they don't like? Can you read - grow up and get a life - because you really should.

BUT, I'm mixed and Ron White is prob. the funniest person I've ever seen and I like country music. I'm diverse. BECAUSE I LIKE IT, NOT FOR THE COLOR OF MY SKIN. I know plenty of white people who don't like anything to do with country.

So stop sterotypeing and come on into the 21st centurey, you prik.