If you watch Sticks and Stones it isn’t actually very offensive. There’s a couple “low brow” racial jokes that are like a hundred years old such as a mocking WW2 and before depiction of Dave’s version of an “Asian bucktooth face,” some out of the blue suicide jokes and a line or two here and there that are obviously delivered just for shock value- a few “low hanging” comedy fruits are plucked- but nothing is very politicized. He doesn’t deliver his material as if he’s trying to advocate a particular view to the audience or trying to get too serious about most of what he says. He has a sequence about LGBTQ, but he doesn’t really insult the people of the community as much as he brings up some historical points and a little ribbing on stereotypes ala Chappelle show. But he also goes to some effort to show he isn’t trying to be mean and thought about the people involved.
After the special are clips that give more context and insight- including that he ran the material through a first showing in SF- a very liberal and very LGBTQ city to test it out. He even contemplated not doing certain jokes because there was a trans woman in the audience and that made him nervous about the material- and he decided if he couldn’t say it TO a trans person he shouldn’t say it, so he tried it out and she loved it. He talked to her after the show and gave her special mention and a special thanks with photo at the end.
Context is key. Chappelle says some things that, to use the liberal vernacular- are referred to on the left as “problematic.” But overall he may have said some things some people might find offensive but weren’t overtly inflammatory or meant to insight anything or push an agenda. That’s an important distinction in comedy nowadays- are they telling a joke about topics of the day, or are they pushing politics through humor? I for one felt that while there were some jokes that I could have done without or would prefer were done a little different- that Dave was doing the former and not the latter.
In his conversation with the trans woman she pointed out to him that the media had accused him of “normalizing” R Kelley through his jokes- but no one has ever accused him of “normalizing” LGBTQ because of his jokes. That seems a bit hypocritical perhaps? That bashing R Kelley makes him an advocate, and ribbing LGBTQ doesn’t make him an advocate? Chappelle ran into the same problems with his show which led to his “meltdown.” He wants to make comedy but he also is surprisingly subtle- he doesn’t always come “on message” but instead presents scenarios that require you to think about an issue.
Some, but a small percent of people want liberal fascism. Most of the “offense pendulum” crowd just want people to think about other people. Chappelle is reasonably decent about that. His comedy doesn’t push his views very hard. He includes them at times, but more than anything he includes thoughts, and lets you make your own. That’s something we certainly could use in media, comedy, someone who presents a picture as they see it but leaves room for you to see it how you want. The racism and the like in his comedy is usually based of observations of absurdity in life and not off a specific agenda.
Blindly following critics is foolish, but so is assuming that because a lot of people like something you will too. Being familiar with a number of critics and having some idea what they tend to like is helpful, just as there are some friends who’s recommendations you trust more on wether you’ll like certain things than others. A passable comprehension of math and how averages work doesn’t hurt either. Using critics in CONTEXT to help guide your decisions can be smart and save you from wasting time or money if those are precious to you. As for audience scores... Amongst plenty of examples of things lots of people love which I want nothing to do with- Passion of the Christ has an 80% audience score and a 49% critic score. Unless you really cant get enough Jesus fan fiction AND torture porn- or are a huge buff of period pieces set in the BC Middle East- I’d agree this is a film worth skipping. So critics aren’t perfect but they aren’t totally worthless either.
I was bitten by a werethesis while traveling through a local college campus to visit friends in my 20’s. At first I didn’t notice anything except a mark from where it’s cover had closed around my arm. As days went into weeks I started to notice an odd rash appear, that, and an appetite for verbosity. The radio would physically hurt to listen to unless it was NPR or other talk shows. Then- after about a month, under the full moon, I turned for the first time. I was at home with my at the time sweetheart. She’d made ball park franks cut and arranged into little hearts, she was loving like that. She wanted to raise mongeese together and was almost finished with her doctorate in custodial arts. We were going to move away from that blasted town and her father- the overweight sheriff who didn’t approve of our love, as soon as she finished.
But that night- as she spoke to me, as usual, about the situation in the Congo, instead of “yes,” “uh huh,” “that’s terrible,” I... I don’t know. I blacked out. When I came to there were hot dog bits all over the walls and my sweetheart was buried under a jumble of words. When I looked closer, even in my confused state I could tell that they were MY words. I had done this. I spent the next decade and a half on the run from her vengeful father- but that’s a story for another day. Mostly I moved town to town, lives off the land, never stayed in one place too long. I found myself out west and got a job writing fortune cookies- but while my transformations were no longer so violent- the effects seemed to linger longer and longer. I was fired after a couple of months because my fortunes wouldn’t fit in the cookies. I suggested bigger cookies, they suggested I leave.
Things were bad for awhile. I found myself on a long haul freighter going wherever the job took me. It wasn’t so bad at sea. Those freighters are HUGE and no one seemed to mind that I’d write up the hulk with long diatribes in sharpie. Some time into it we made port in Thailand. While ashore at a local crossword parlor I was kicked out because my answers didn’t fit in the grid. I went to a nearby bar and there I overheard tell of a local legend. It sounded much like the creature that bit me. I spent 6 months trekking the jungle following leads until I reached a small shack in the middle of the deepest oldest jungle where an old witch woman lived.
She told me that if I ever wanted to live like a man again, ever wanted to love, I only had two choices. Find the werethesis what bit me and drive an ereader through its spine, or exercise my verbose instincts on the internet so as to purge myself of them in life. I’ve tried to find that damn devil book and failed. Spent more lookin than most men will ever see. I’ll never give up until the day I die, but until then I offer my thanks and sorrows to you who must share in my pain. It may be selfish- but with what it costs to hunt this demon and keep anyone else from this curse I need to be functional to work. So that- that is the story of why I must write these essays.
How ironic that a comedy sketch titled sticks and stones is hurting some people's feelings. I get that not every joke is for everyone even i caught myself thinking "oh shoot did he just say that? he's gonna get murdered online". But comedy is subjective to begin with. There ARE people that enjoy Amy Schumer too. Honestly the pure honesty in his sketch was like a breath of fresh air. Everyone gets offended by everything these days so it was kind of nice to see him take that risk because bottom line is that it's a comedy show!
Different era . They would both lose money today. You can't even make fun of yourself.
Eddie Murphy knows that. You seen that Mexican guy that had a show on TV lately? or Jeff Foxworthy. Hell we can't even make fun of rednecks.
Sticks and Stones is Schumer trying to use the MeToo . It will age in six months and she'll be all whatever. She should have released it in July for Pride.
I was actually thinking of George Lopez. Who is the medias version of WWE's Rey Mysterio.
Need a Hispanic,? Got one.
Sorry got confused between the black guy and the other metoo.. Don't see a hispanic or white guy up there. So Chappelle sux and Schumer admits she'll suck anything that has an extremity.
Dave Chapelle sold out Madison Square garden 3 nights in a row for a basic comedy set. If he wasnt relevant and if people hated him that would not have happened.
Eddie Murphy knows that. You seen that Mexican guy that had a show on TV lately? or Jeff Foxworthy. Hell we can't even make fun of rednecks.
I was actually thinking of George Lopez. Who is the medias version of WWE's Rey Mysterio.
Need a Hispanic,? Got one.