Put Another Asshole on the Barbie, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #136
October 8, 2009 Michael Davis 31 Comments
People in Australia are out of their fucking mind.
The country that was founded by thieves and murderers thinks this shit is funny.
That’s why there are only two things good about Australia, Crocodile Dundee and ….. well, one thing- Steve Irwin is dead.
Oh wait 2 things, Tatiana informs me that the World Pole Dancing Champion is from Australia.
Reg
October 8, 2009 - 9:42 pm
What pisses me off is that these clowns have been ‘performing’ this crap for 20 YEARS. And that in 2009 a whole country doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
McCarthy
October 8, 2009 - 10:15 pm
Thank goodness Harry Connick, Jr. was on hand to be the voice of reason.
Shane Kelly
October 8, 2009 - 10:41 pm
That was sooooooooo wrong! Sooooooooooo wrong!Seriously? What the Hell type of things are acceptable on television over there?
Though I do have a THIRD thing that is good from Australia. The Umbilical Brothers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiFiej2D9pI
Mike Gold
October 9, 2009 - 5:17 am
Some great comics talent in Australia, too.
But who the hell would have thought that Harry Fucking Connick would be the voice of sanity? Damn. Good for him.
Reg
October 9, 2009 - 9:25 am
Harry’s been ‘down with brown’ for a minute. After all.. he’s from Naw’leans. And I definitely agree…he manned up large here. For all of us.
Rick Oliver
October 9, 2009 - 9:29 am
This is definitely some sick, twisted shit — but I’d go easy on the “thieves and murderers” criticism. An Australian acquaintance of mine retorted that America was founded by religious fanatics and then asked which was worse.
Vinnie Bartilucci
October 9, 2009 - 9:39 am
Rule one – ANYTHING can be funny. A well timed fart in a church against those wooden benches can be better comedy than Patton Oswalt. (They don’t call them pews for nothing…)
Rule two – ANYTHING can be NOT funny to somebody. Consider the audience, consider the time, consider everything before you do a joke, skit or spoof, and be ready for reprecussions anyway.
Rule three – things that are tolerated, even applauded in one country are anathema in others. The broad slap-and-tickle comedy of Japan can be shocking to those in other countries – it’s the whole reason Dragon Ball was pulled from that library this week. Again, be ready to accept barbs from every direction.
I cannot imagine how they ever thought this act would not get absolutely pilloried. Twenty years ago, yeah, I imagine this might not have been so offensive (even if the Internet had existed as it does now), but nowadays…wow, just wow.
Remember, an episode of All in The Family featured Archie in Blackface, running to the hospital in the makeup for Gloria’s birth. Heck, twenty-odd years before that Ricky Ricardo showed up at the hospital dressed as an African witch doctor with blackface and a bone in his nose for the birth of his son. You could never get away with either of those jokes today, regardless of intent or context. These guys had no intent or context, it was a minstrel show joke, and no more.
One thing I have to wonder…are there more people offended that they wore blackface, or that they made fun of Michael Jackson?
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 9:54 am
Rick said:…
‘An Australian acquaintance of mine retorted that America was founded by religious fanatics and then asked which was worse.’
DAMN Rick that’s a GOOD point…
BUT 200 plus years later we have a Black President which means that we have learned a LITTLE something. So at least the ‘religious fanatics’ are not STILL in charge because if they were a Black President would NEVER have happened.
Well- they’re not in charge yet, God knows they are trying.
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 9:55 am
Mr. Gold.
Harry Fucking Connick is my new gay fantas…I mean HERO!
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 10:03 am
Vinnie-
I DO believe ANYTHING can be funny-but for an entire country to NOT know its offensive when they are leaders in buying African American music, and FANS of African American sports figures and their kids try and dress like African American kids-I find it fucking CRAZY they did not think that “act” was rude to say the least.
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 10:10 am
BTW-
I thought the way that Steve Irwin,( master of all things animal on land and sea) was killed was HILARIOUS-I’m not stupid enough to announce that to the world without KNOWING it would offend some people. I would never say that I thought the way that Steve Irwin was killed was HILARIOUS… without WANTING to pissed some people off. You know me. I’m all about the love-I never want to offend.
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 10:15 am
STEVE!!! WATCH OUT!!
Why? It’s just a harmless String-ray! I’ve faced REAL danger,from lion and tigers, Crocodiles and Big foot this is just a fis…
CRANKY!…————-
Vinnie Bartilucci
October 9, 2009 - 11:11 am
“I find it fucking CRAZY they did not think that ‘act’ was rude to say the least.”
America leads the world in the art of “thinking ahead to see who this will offend”. Most other countries still follow the rule of “Apologize if we offended anyone but give it a shot anyway” or the more archaic policy of “Fuck ’em if the can’t take a joke”. So watching the comedy of other countries is similar to seeing the religious practices and mores of third-world nations. They Just Don’t Know Any Better.
As many times you try to argue that minstrel comedy was a valid art form, and in fact many of the founding fathers of black comedy got their start there (Lincoln “Stepin Fetchit” Perry eventually got an NAACP Image Award), none of it will create a valid justification for putting on black face today. I’m still amazed Spike Lee got away with it in Bamboozled (a truly magnificent film until it just falls apart in the last five minutes). I would loved to have seen that in a theater and watched the white people start laughing, and then stop, and look around furtively to make sure it was okay.
There is a wide expanse between choosing not to tell a joke (prudence and manners) and being told you CAN’T tell a joke (censorship, at least colloquially). Alas, the less people do the former, the more likely you’ll hear the latter.
There are valid reasons at all three levels of the psyche (id, ego and superego) to think ahead before telling a joke. Especially now that there is YouTube.
“Think twice, and then say nothing”
–old Sinanju proverb (that I obviously do not follow).
Linda Gold
October 9, 2009 - 12:21 pm
Wow- Mike and I have been tracking blackface appearances for years to try and determine what the most recent occurrence was but I never thought we’d get a contemporary one (aside from Bambozzled which is brilliant)! So MOTU I really need to ask you this since no one whose opinion I trust has given me a answer. Do you consider the whiteface (Joker) poster of Pres. Obama to be racist? In the context of America’s history of minstrel and forcing early black performers to “cork up” because they weren’t black enough for white audiences I find it very offensive and not a little racist. I’d like some other opinions.
Mike Gold
October 9, 2009 - 1:37 pm
There was a lotta blackface on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, a show that was, in its time, perceived as quite progressive. The show employed a number of old black vaudevillian and their classic routines (“Here Comes Da Judge” being the most famous) which came out of the minstrel shows.
It’s a very, very complicated history. It’s easy to say that minstrel was a horrific insult, and that would be correct. Yet, phenomenal, groundbreaking black talent like Bill Robinson, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Jordan, and even Rufus Thomas came out of all that.
Many white performers who worked minstrel or blackface began to see it as offensive, perhaps through the eyes of their black co-workers. Stephen Foster stopped writing the stuff. Eddie Cantor quit doing blackface and it completely destroyed his movie career.
And the height of irony: the NAACP condemned the teevee series Amos and Andy — which had a black cast, including the awesomely talented Tim Moore as the Kingfish and the famed director Spencer Williams as Andy. The successful show was removed from syndication, which was quite a victory for the NAACP. However, the long-running radio show upon which it was based was still on the air. It starred two white guys as most of the voices (they also created and produced the show back in the 1920s). So they continued to do audio blackface even after the teevee show was banned.
But… get this. The final season or two of the Amos’n’Andy radio show featured the leads performing… an on-air minstrel show! AND THIS WAS IN 1960!
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 1:48 pm
Linda asked:
“Do you consider the whiteface (Joker) poster of Pres. Obama to be racist?”
Dear Linda,your question is going to take a long thought probing intelligent answer.I have to ponder the many sides of the argument and weigh the multitude of….ah screw it…
HELL YES!
Vinnie Bartilucci
October 9, 2009 - 2:04 pm
I don’t recall any actual blackface on Laugh-In, but I won’t dispute you. I fondly remember Pigmeat Markham showing up doing Heah Come De Judge. My mom had a tape (8-track, yet) of old songs she’d play in the car, and one of my favorites was a recording of “Open the Door, Richard”, an old Markham bit that can be traced straight through comedy history to “Dave’s not Here”. Classic “one sided” comedy, a style that made Bob Newhart famous.
Redd Foxx was a long-time member of the Chitlin’ Circuit, and when he got Sandford and Son, he made damn sure that there wasn’t a single one of his friends from the circuit that didn’t get good work on the show. LaWanda Page was quite the “blue” performer on the circuit, almost as bad as Foxx himself.
I have railed against the banning of Amos and Andy for years – a classic example of not grasping the importance of the show and only seeing the obvious. And as you all know, you should NOT get me started on Song of the South.
There was a FABULOUS documentary on black comedy done for Comedy central some years ago – well worth seeking out if I could remember any details about it other than its existence. SO so much of modern comedy started in the Vaudeville halls and the Chitlin’ Circuit. I’ve been racking my brain for the name of the performer who came out in white tie and tails, and sporting giant chicken legs and feet. He was doing Steve Martin-style surrealist comedy almost a century and change ago.
Amazing work can come from what seems to most to be horrifically demeaning genres. Yes, the majority of Blaxploitation films were grindhouse time-wasters, but some amazing work rose from it, right under “the man’s” nose. And in many cases, the baby is thrown out with the bathwater as ALL examples of such genres are excoriated, regardless of individual merits. Again, these Aussie boys are not example of said meritorious moments.
Reg
October 9, 2009 - 2:24 pm
Great commentary…I’m loving it.
@ Linda…the same folks * that misappropriated the Chicago student’s art experiment ( http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/obama-joker-artist.html )are the same ones that promoted the ‘witch doctor’ imagery for the teabaggers and their ilk. So yep.. The end result is racist in tone and intent.
* “…a still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word “socialism” and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines.”
Reg
October 9, 2009 - 2:39 pm
Oh yeah… Australia? I was on the receiving end of a few of ‘those’ type of looks when I was down under. Pretty homogeneous culture. But I was blessed to have had very illuminating conversations with some of the original people. Absolutely beautiful and very, very powerfully in tune with ‘stuff we can’t see’ folk. And very, very, mucked over by the colonialists.
Now, New Zealand? Lot better vibe with much more diversity. I would be very surprised if such a skit would have originated or seen the light of day there.
Linda Gold
October 9, 2009 - 2:51 pm
The backkface Mike is talking about on “Laugh-In” was a full blown minstrel number with tambourines and everything. We saw it not that long ago.
MOTU thanks for the conformation. The only people I have heard from have been right-wingers who assured me I was insane for thinking it could even be remotely racist.
Mike Gold
October 9, 2009 - 3:02 pm
Reg — That’s very interesting. Given their censorship policies, I would have assumed New Zealand would be less appreciative of diversity. Interesting; that shows my prejudice. Live and learn.
I think there were at least two blackface skits on Laugh-In, counting one of those news intro dance numbers (which I loved) as one. I believe that’s Laugh-In’s the latest example of minstrel on major network television we had seen…
… at least, in the United States.
Reg
October 9, 2009 - 3:15 pm
Mike – My time in New Zealand was limited to Auckland and was all too short.. but during my stay I saw and interacted with Maori, East Indians, Fijans, and other Malaysian folk, along with the more lighter hued peeps. The vibe of the city and people was MUCH cooler than what I experienced in Sydney.
But your reference to certain of the country’s policies is one that bodes research. Thanks for that… cause it’s definitely a place I would spend lots of time in…if I can ever twist Nickolodean into signing a contract…that is.
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 6:35 pm
SOOOOO…
How long does everybody think it will take for the GOP to find a reason to HATE the fact that O U R President won the Noble Peace Prize?
I can see it now, they will say . WTF? he has not done anything! But he HAS done something…
he won the Noble Peace Prize
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 6:42 pm
Now that I think about it, what happened to “Country First” the GOP’s slogan and mission?
They CHEER when we lose the Olympics and will surely denounce OUR PRESIDENT for winning one of the world’s greatest honors.
Country First my ass. God, I wonder what they would say if one of Obama’s kids grew up and cured cancer? Wait, that’s easy they will claim cancer was a myth like global warming.
Reg
October 9, 2009 - 8:57 pm
Michael…How about 30 seconds after the news was publicized?
MOTU
October 9, 2009 - 9:07 pm
Reg,
IT TOOK THAT LONG??
Reg
October 9, 2009 - 9:54 pm
Michael, it took that long for Limbaugh to transmit his orders to Steele.
Mike Gold
October 10, 2009 - 6:55 am
Reg — “if I can ever twist Nickolodean into signing a contract…that is.”
Ha! Good luck with that. I remember working on a project for Nickelodeon when I was at DC back before the channel actually got lit. Did lots of work on it, picking old stories (Adam Strange, as I recall) and having them relettered to help teach kids how to read. I think they’re STILL waiting for the paperwork.
Reg
October 10, 2009 - 4:52 pm
Mike – Thank you SO MUCH for that bucket of cold water!!
It just served to reinvigorate me!
Or to hide my tears.
😀
Reg
October 11, 2009 - 4:25 pm
Seems like Harry’s been the subject of some fairly serious hate mail since he took Australia to task for their sense of …comedy …so much so that he had to cancel a gig in Sydney.
http://www.watoday.com.au/entertainment/harry-quits-gig-after-web-attacks-20091011-grwa.html
Vinnie, Linda, Mike – It seems that blackface is making a comeback. Where you say? Yep. Australia.
http://www.watoday.com.au/entertainment/hey-hey-abc-denies-skit-is-racist-20091010-gr9k.html
“THE ABC is pushing ahead with a satirical show that goes a step further than the controversial Hey Hey It’s Saturday ”blackfaces” performance that caused international outrage this week.
In the Hey Hey reunion on Wednesday night a comedy troupe blacked their faces, but for his new TV show, the comedian John Safran has blackened his whole body.”
In the episode, Safran travels to Barack Obama’s home town of Chicago. After make-up artists transform him from white Jew to black brother, Safran meets two members of a militant, blacks-only organisation, attempts some hip-hop freestyling in a packed nightclub, and gets into arguments about racism at a speed-dating night for blacks.
In the episode, Safran also spends time at a hot-dog stand, where a bunch of young white racists shout abuse at the black women with whom he is working.
“Don’t f—in’ call us n****rs,” Safran yells as he pushes one of the racists in the chest.”
Cough.
Steve Atkins
October 11, 2009 - 6:43 pm
MOTU…The president won the Nobel Peace Prize for one reason, and one reason only…
His widely recognized love of the Conan comics has bridged the vast chasm between the American Geeks/Fanboys and their government that had been a source of much aggression and bitterness.
BTW, the Amos & Andy tv show was one of my favorite “Golden Age Of Television” programs.
However, I prefer “Rochester” from THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM.
I got pretty tired of seeing Whoopi Goldberg announce that the following Looney Tunes were “products of their times.”
I see the dim-witted, lazy Negro hunting Bugs Bunny. I don’t think that this is an accurate example of the African American male.
I see it for what it is: a reference to “Lightnin'”, the janitor from AMOS & ANDY.
Nobody ever mentions that he’s doing the EXACT, SAME STUPID THINGS THAT ELMER FUDD DOES.
I see black-faced characters and my initial reaction is (if they’re singing)”Okay, they’re making an Al Jolson reference” or (if the voice is gruff and sarcastic) “They’re doing a Rochester impression.”
I understand the (current at that time) reference points.
These things are not harmful.
What IS harmful are things done for shock value, as I think this “act” was trying to do.
Every such attempt to get, and keep, attention has it’s fans and followers.
Don’t believe me? Fine. Answer this question:
How many people devotedly follow Rush Limbaugh now?