"Cheer up, Brian," says Eric Idle -- as they are both being crucified. "It's not that bad." Idle then goes on to sing Britain's alternate national anthem.
Now that's offensive.
I agree with George Carlin, though: nothing -- no subject, no treatment -- is off-limits in comedy. Nothing. You find it offensive? Fine.
And?
Richard Pryor was offensive. He was also funny as hell. Lenny Bruce, especially in his later years, never quite managed to pull that off. Bill Hicks was somewhere in between.
Carlin also hit the artery in dealing with offensive language, twice in fact: once in 1972 with his seven words" bit, and again -- even funnier, in my view -- with Offensive Language" in 1990 (Peter Cresswell, take note!).
I've written a bit of it myself, what I call humor. Plan to do more. But offensive? You know, all humor is offensive. There's always a target. If no one is offended, the target wasn't hit.
I mocked stereotypes of old ladies as well as the federal bureaucracy in this old thing, the American public school establishment in this one, contemporary "serious" music and its practitioners and critics here, and I had animal rights activists praise the Atkins diet for its similarity to cannibalism. But that wasn't enough: I'm the one who put reading glasses on Allah.
Goodness. I do hope someone got offended. Why else would I bother?
So in the same spirit in which I posted a "No Burka on Free Speech" over to the right, I present three items for your consideration.
The first is courtesy of Jesse Walker at Hit&Run, and is a true suppressed classic: Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (1943). This one needs to be seen to be believed. Does it feature affectionate and respectful treatment of blues and jazz (ie, "black" music)? It sure does. Are the racial stereotypes meant as hostile or demeaning? Nope. Are they demeaning anyway?
Yes, they are. So are the anti-Catholic bits in Milton and, if memory serves, in Shakespeare.
Watch "All This and Rabbit Stew" with similar thoughts in mind. All told, really, I think it's no worse than Richard Pryor or Will Smith (or every rapper) making fun of white people. Or, for that matter, black politicians in America making fun of white people.
Finally, courtesy of fellow Texan Gus Van Horn, the infamous "Hadji Girl" video. "Infamous" because Corporal Joshua Belile actuall stood to be in some trouble over this one (he's been exonerated). For which I say: Corporal Belile, you are profoundly my brother Marine, in a way in which the outgoing Commandant of the Marine Corps, Michael Hagee, is not. Corporal Belile: I've got your back.
And I agree with Gus: when you get to the end of this video, you'll laugh out loud.
So mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau..and:
Durka Durka
Muhammad Jihad...
You bet.
Oh, and hell yes, Allah wears reading glasses. He has an office and a desk, too. You really think I'd lie about any of that? Why, that would be...offensive.
(Originally posted at SoloPassion)
Posted by Craig Ceely at July 2, 2006 03:14 PM