24, Family Guy, That 70's Show. Probably the ones I watch the most, other than that just have ESPN on most of the time.
BETH: Hey, what do you call a doctor who fails out of med school? JERRY: What? BETH: A dentist. (They laugh) JERRY: That's a good one. Dentists. BETH: Yeah, who needs 'em? Not to mention the Blacks and the Jews. Such a racist show.
ya, I like 24, lost, family guy is freaking great. Family guy humor and Seinfeld humor aren't related. If you like one, I don't see how you could like the other.
I listened to the Dan Patrick show today. He brought up a good point on the awkwardness of the crowd's respone. First, the show is taped around 5pm. Second, a lot of people who see Letterman are tourists and probably have no idea what went on in the news that day. Not to mention if you're doing your daily routine you might not find out until the evening news at the soonest. A lot of people probably had no idea of the event, or if they did, the severity of the event during the taping of Letterman. It was still a disgusting incident, but I think it was natural how awkward the Letterman interview went. BTW, Patrick was also booked previously when Farah Fawcett had her meltdown on Letterman too! Lesson: tune in next time Patrick is booked on Letterman for more craziness.
Why would thinking Family Guy is funny mean you can't think Seinfield is funny? If you said liking one doesn't mean you will like the other I would agree but the two aren't mutually exclusive.
Geez, it's not like Family guy and Seinfeld humor are mutually exclusive. I think they're both great. Now where's my Venn diagram emoticon?
I watched both the screaming and the apology. I hate to say it, but I think he IS a racist. I think he is trying to fight it and he really does feel sorry for it, but the stuff that came out of his mouth there was not "just" (I know it is not "just", only relatively speaking here) calling someone a "n****" - it went far beyond that. And the apology with the stuff about the "afro-american community"... I don't know, but even though he meant well in that moment, to me, it just sort of indicated some sort of prejudice that has some deep roots within the guy. It will be almost impossible for him to come back from this. The audience laughing was really awkward... And yeah, the guys who heckled him are probably idiots, but nobody deserves to be called the stuff he said. He is ashamed now, and rightly so. Also, I think that he was sincere when he said that the Letterman show was probably not the right venue to express his regret. Also, his apology was not scripted, which makes it appear more sincere that he really felt sorry, but, to me, it also revealed that the guy must have been raised in a racist way or must have had some sort of anger against black people inside of him for a long time. Sad...he was one of my favorite characters on Seinfeld.
Read the "my best post ever" link in my sig. Then realize that Richards made a mistake... a huge mistake... very unfortunate. And you may require forgiveness at some point in your life... maybe not for such a highly publicized terrible incident... but forgiveness nonetheless. In every American... in every human... there are deep threads of the society's fiber in each of us. And our societies world over are plagued with racist emotions and sentiments... racist or not, every human has the potential to blow a fuse at some point. Every one of us. No one can honestly say they've never ever had a racist, stereotypical at least, thought flow through your cerebral cortex... If you make that claim, you live in a different world. At at least one point in every person's life, perhaps with friends or family in private, or even in public when you most definitely wished you had the moment back to do over... we have all blown it on this topic. The key is not allowing such thoughts or feelings to surface... not giving in to those sentiments. This unfortunate incident, isolated I would guess, just happens to bring to the surface yet again one of America's and humanity's darkest hours... Forgiveness does not equal trust. I would doubt many will trust Richards again. But forgiveness will keep them all from bitterness... and the roots of bitterness lead to the hatred we are all seeing come back to the surface in this case. It's simply too easy and unacceptable to me to just write off Richards as a racist and totally forgive the instigators that night, and the responses given which were equally racially charged. It is simply cowardice to write them off. It is brave to at least offer an apology... but apologies require forgiveness to work. Until then, racism succeeds.
Rocket River, I have only gotten to the end of page 9 of this thread thus far, but can no longer control the *need* to give you props on your positions. i will toss my two cents in by saying that it is one thing to call someone a n*gger when they have already crossed that racial line with you. at that point, imo, the line has already been crossed. true, some will say that you could be the "bigger man" and not cross that line. however, in the heat of battle, i can see how it could get crossed. not condoning, but i understand. what is incomprehensible to me was tossing in the DIRECT AND MALICIOUS references to slavery and lynching...even going so far as to put it in a linear context. that's more than heat of battle...that's suppressed thoughts, emotions and feelings. that's the racist cream bubbling to the top and spilling to the bottom of his soul and persona. f*ck kramer and richards as far as i am concerned. i'm a black man living in a predominantly nonblack city (san antonio) and i think i'm a pretty understanding guy. that said, and not in contradiction with that, i'd beat the everlasting sh*t out of someone that felt it was ok to cross that line. no one who sees blacks as equals would dare THINK of saying something like that. like someone else said, if it were a jew and you brought up burning in ovens, or that 2K years ago that person tortured/killed the (percieved/accepted by many) messiah, there would be NO QUESTION of the predilictions and future of that comedian. he'd be banned, ostracized, and never defended by any other than those that shared those same racist, stupid beliefs. hearing another black person actually DEFEND these beliefs disgusts me. i get the whole desire to never see our (black) people act like idiots. i get that. then respond accordingly. call him a prick. call him a drunk idiot. ask him, "hey bro. what's your definition of a n*gger? do you think you're acting that way? i'm just saying??" i could probably swallow that one. but to repeat 5,6,7 times over that they are n*ggers and to highlight it with a direct reference to 50 years ago is waaaaaaay beyond the line for me. props to you, Rocket River.
btw, and AnotherBrother i am soliciting your further response to this: heckling is part of the job. it is part and parcel with being a comedian. true, those guys should have been ejected for disrupting the act. but don't you believe there were at least 36.5 different comebacks he could have used? isn't not just more appropriate, but more effective, for the comedian to use a comeback that is not just appropriate but poignant and humerous? wouldn't making those guys out to look even moreso like idiots be an exclamation point to his prowess as a talented, "successful" comedian?
I'm not going to tie myself up in knots about Michael Richards. I don't understand why anybody needs to be reminded that we're all a little predjudiced at some level when something like this happens. I don't know about you, but going to the "50 years ago you would have been lynched" card makes me less inclined to see things from his point of view. I've been in fights with black guys (ok, two...when I was in elementary and junior high) and I had plenty of ways to express my displeasure with them without going there. Assholes are like snowflakes...they are all unique and can be described as such. Assigning a racial characteristic to said ******* makes you an *******. You might even be a racist *******.
