“Cock/ Dick/ Pussy/ Fuck /Nigger-- A Broken Crutch for Comedians”
In the last few days I watched a few DVDs Queens of Comedy and David Chappell’s Comedy Special, a foray into comedy Central, a Chris Rock DVD and I was disappointed. I was disappointed, not so much for the material that wasn’t funny or creative, but that those apparently talented comedians sold themselves short; like Chopin playing chopsticks. The chopsticks in this case is the nigger,cock/dick/ pussy/fuck jokes. I was bored, there was no story, and it was nigger, cock/dick / pussy/fuck used repetitively. In the Queens of Comedy these talented ladies seemed to condone domestic violence and the second rate status of women in relationships; instead of celebrating women, they were buying into the same bias as rappers who view women as “’Ho, bitches, cunts.” Can anyone of these performers do a show – without using, Nigger, bitch, ho, dick, fuck etc.? If the performer is truly talented and humorous: Wouldn’t the show be just as funny without relying on those trigger words?
In the long history of comedy cock/ dick/ pussy/fuck jokes abound from the times of the Romans to Chaucer to the present. What can we say new about the subject of these jokes – nothing really new and except for that fact that the humor seems to respond to our prurient behavior—what ya’ain’t supposed to say in public. But if comedy is an art doesn’t that compel the artist to strive for a unique creation?
Though Bill Cosby has been vilified for being the Uncle Tom of comedy by some younger black comedians, nothing could be farther from the truth. He grew up in the slums of Philadelphia and through sheer talent and will became wealthy, well-educated, and one of the best loved comedians in America. His work is about telling stories, finding the humor in life, and without any of the nigger cock/dick/ pussy jokes. The Scottish comedian Billy Connolly’s, though he is more inclined to cuss, his shows are creative humor about life. In hearing Dick Gregory within the past decade what I enjoyed the most was his playful inventive wit that didn’t rely on nigger/cock/dick/ pussy jokes like some broken crutch.
Watching the Queens of Comedy I felt the most anguish for the younger black girls who would watch this show. These black women comedians weren’t talking about pride, self-respect, dignity or self worth; on the contrary, they spoke of their lives as solely sexual objects getting some dick and that there were occasions women deserved to be beaten. The Queens of Comedy, Rock and Chappell wasting their talent on trivial cock/ dick/ pussy/ fuck jokes I am left with only a few questions: Can these comedians entertain without appealing to the lowest common denominator and relying on derogatory scatological humor like some broken crutch?
