Episode 121 — The Origin of Dubstep

[admin 330]

Moshe Kasher aka Mo Mo is back to reveal how he possibly created dubstep on today’s Who Charted! He describes his connection to Bassnectar, explains the appeal of World Star Hip-Hop, and breaks down the differences between LGBTQIA while counting down the Ultimate Music Chart. Moshe also tells us about his recent secret war with a blogger, being distracted by Mila Kunis at a diner, and shows off his skills at naming other famous M.K.s during a round of Chart Darts!

[DanEngler 5249]

This goes without saying, but Moshe Kasher is awesome. If you don't already fux with The Champs, get on that.

[RickSchmittJr 166]

i think Moshe is great on his own, but i don't fucks wit The Champs podcast. My first two listens to that show made me realize it's not for me. But to each his own....i'll stick with ku-ku and wie-wie

[RickSchmittJr 166]

Thanks for the Chart-Out, just hearing my name mentioned made me You rock, Kulap!

[pbnews 93]

King Middle School -- shout out!

 

Is Kulap from Wisconsin? She's mostly got the L.A. patois going, but sometimes a little Fargo sneaks in there (or maybe it's my imagination)

[robinsbruce 4985]

King Middle School -- shout out!

 

Is Kulap from Wisconsin? She's mostly got the L.A. patois going, but sometimes a little Fargo sneaks in there (or maybe it's my imagination)

 

Minnesota!

[robinsbruce 4985]

For Howard:

 

[Podus 108]

I would fuck with the champs if the got rid of the shitty effects

 

[DanEngler 5249]

I would fuck with the champs if the got rid of the shitty effects

Doug's drops are an acquired taste (read: I hated them for my first few episodes) but, every once in a while, he'll land one so perfectly that it makes the rest worthwhile. They've also been used far more sparingly in recent episodes, possibly because Chris Rock and Aisha Tyler have no qualms about choking the life out of Doug.

 

Compare this to Jonah Raydio (another recent favorite), where the drops are always a total catastrophe, and half the fun is listening to Jonah berate Neil Mahoney et al for their incompetence.

[pokey_valentine 115]

Out of curiosity, I searched for the blog Moshe Kasher was talking about, and found him on Your Fave Is Problematic (the person who runs it has another tumblr called Calling Out Bigotry). There's no editorializing or explaining, just a very long list of direct quotes (although, elsewhere, the blogger refers to the special as "vomit-inducingly racist and sexist").

 

I enjoyed Moshe on this show, but large portions of his standup really are problematic. To start his special, he says, "If you do become offended at any point tonight during the show, we’ve now established that that’s just you being a bitch." I'm tired of this attitude from comedians, and I'm tired of "ironic" (post-ironic, or whatever) offensive humor.

[emilyg 2]

loved this episode. and was glad to hear moshe's take on 'Thrift Shop', and didn't just describe it as Wiewie did as a 'haul' video. It really is much more, http://rapgenius.com/Macklemore-and-ryan-lewis-thrift-shop-lyrics

 

as for Macklemore's 'Same Love' song (the 'prop' song as Wiewie called it), this song was debuted last fall in support of Proposition 74 in Washington state for same-sex marriage (which was passed). Macklemore didn't write this on 'the flames' of Thrift Shop, or the success of Thrift Shop didn't enable him to write that song. he's being writing real things for 10 years now, not just now because of his recent commercial success.

[DanEngler 5249]

I enjoyed Moshe on this show, but large portions of his standup really are problematic. To start his special, he says, "If you do become offended at any point tonight during the show, we’ve now established that that’s just you being a bitch." I'm tired of this attitude from comedians, and I'm tired of "ironic" (post-ironic, or whatever) offensive humor.

I could pull a similar set of out-of-context quotes from any of Louis CK's specials, the average James Adomian-centric episode of Comedy Bang Bang, or a 24-hour slice of Rob Delaney's Twitter timeline. Looking further into Your Fave Is Problematic, it becomes clear that the author recognizes no degree of nuance between those who espouse genuine, virulent bigotry and fluff.

 

Edit: For example, tarring a Jewish comedian who jokes about stereotypical Jewish behavior as an anti-semite, referring to a female pop singer's cat eye-style makeup as "yellowface", stating that a non-Indian person wearing a sari constitutes "appropriating Indian culture", etc.

[robinsbruce 4985]

I could pull a similar set of out-of-context quotes from any of Louis CK's specials, the average James Adomian-centric episode of Comedy Bang Bang, or a 24-hour slice of Rob Delaney's Twitter timeline. Looking further into Your Fave Is Problematic, it becomes clear that the author recognizes no degree of nuance between those who espouse genuine, virulent bigotry and fluff.

 

Edit: For example, tarring a Jewish comedian who jokes about stereotypical Jewish behavior as an anti-semite, referring to a female pop singer's cat eye-style makeup as "yellowface", stating that a non-Indian person wearing a sari constitutes "appropriating Indian culture", etc.

 

+1 Dan.

 

My opinion (which I'm sure is flawed) is that we all have friends/family that are problematic, and we all say things that are problematic from time to time. I still care about those people, I still try and reduce the bull-shit coming from my own mouth, and I still enjoy Moshe's stand-up. Not every joke he makes is awesome, but that's how comedy works. I don't think he is a bigot, and I think that his attitude (and other comedians) is justified if people are trying to tell them how to write their jokes/bits.

 

I'm not saying pokey is wrong to express his/her thoughts on the matter, just throwing my pennies on the pile.

 

P.S. I liked this ep. a lot. Moshe's book is pretty good too. So if you like him and don't own it, grab a copy.

[seanotron 2307]

Out of curiosity, I searched for the blog Moshe Kasher was talking about, and found him on Your Fave Is Problematic (the person who runs it has another tumblr called Calling Out Bigotry). There's no editorializing or explaining, just a very long list of direct quotes (although, elsewhere, the blogger refers to the special as "vomit-inducingly racist and sexist").

 

I enjoyed Moshe on this show, but large portions of his standup really are problematic. To start his special, he says, "If you do become offended at any point tonight during the show, we’ve now established that that’s just you being a bitch." I'm tired of this attitude from comedians, and I'm tired of "ironic" (post-ironic, or whatever) offensive humor.

 

I have no comment on Moshe's routine as I'm not familiar with it, but the Your Fave is Problematic blog is a perfect encapsulation of the Tumblr social justice rabbit hole. That individual has lost all sense of proportion. They say Benedict Cumberbatch is 'problematic' (Oi, I'm so sick of this word I could barf) because he used the phrase 'I'm a tart for it', which the blogger believes to be slut-shaming (even though in context he would be slut-shaming *himself*). They also criticize him for saying 'People go nuts for it', because that is supposedly ableist and mocks people with mental illnesses. They accused Marina Diamandis of wearing blackface in this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_oMD6-6q5Y - when that's clearly not what's going on.

 

I had a friend that went down this particular rabbit hole (and I very nearly dropped down there myself) and we don't even speak anymore because according to them every word out of everyone's mouth was somehow racist, sexist, ableist, misogynist, transphobic, etc. My point being, I wouldn't use that blog as a reliable gauge of whether someone is actually problematic or not.

[robinsbruce 4985]

For some levity

 

 

[pokey_valentine 115]

I should clarify that I have seen Moshe Kasher's Netflix special, and I am speaking for myself.

 

The quote I singled out in my previous post, that "if you become offended […] that's just you being a bitch," is in the context of Moshe saying that he's a comedian in a comedy club, and therefore he's "just kidding," because that's how the world works, or something like that. I don't like that or agree with it. And, anyway, I'd much rather be offended by a joke than to be warned at the top not to be offended.

 

The thing about the ironic offensive comedy that's so ubiquitous now is that, if the jokes hit, they can be surprising, subversive, and funny, but if they miss, they don't just fall flat, they can easily be construed as petty and hateful. Dan, I'm not surprised you'd mention Louis C.K. He is to this type of comedy as Seinfeld was to observational humor. He's the best. He's mastered the voice. In Seinfeld's heyday, all the comedians were asking us what the deal was with airplane food. Now, they make rape jokes, or lob out generalizations about black people. Comedians who do something different (actually, Adomian comes to mind) tend to be the ones I get most excited about.

 

About the blog in question, I agree that it takes a shotgun approach to identifying the "problematic," and it starts with the assumption that every artist/entertainer is "problematic" (which is probably true, but arguably unhelpful) and works backwards to find proof. The biggest stretch to me is the entry on Zooey Deschanel (although the cited Jezebel article is worth a read). But that doesn't invalidate all of her criticisms.

 

On that note, she impressed me with this entry on what to do if your "fave" is "problematic." She's obviously zealous and passionate enough about this issue to maintain two tumblrs, but she's still willing to live with the tension of appreciating an artist's work without dismissing its "problematic" elements. I can get behind that.

[VampiresVampiresVampires 303]

I think Moshe might be the funniest guy who seems to be outside of the Earwolf/UCB family. He's interesting, he's razor sharp, and, most of all, he's funny.

 

Sorry this doesn't add much to the discussion, but I just thought I'd leave a worthless opinion in case it stirs someone to listen to his stand-up.

[Kickpuncher 5012]

This episode was just pure distilled Hooch joy. I'm lukewarm to Moeshe's stand-up, but he's always great as a podcast guest, and Ku and Wie were both killing it the whole time.

[seanotron 2307]

I think that the blogger in question buries whatever valid criticisms she may have in an avalanche of 'Everything is terrible!'. I'm sure she is well-intentioned, but her overzealousness means she ends up finger-pointing at the wrong things which ends up obscuring her point. I just know from personal experience that it's far too easy to be totally consumed by that stuff and lose some perspective.

 

And it's for sure a healthy and sensible thing to recognize that things we like have problems.

[DanEngler 5249]

For what it's worth, pokey, I agree with nearly everything you've said.

 

I just feel the universe is too nuanced to formulate — as Jezebel and Your Fave is Problematic frequently do — a cohesive set of rules around which jokes are okay and which are the products of deep-seated bigotry. In a country where politicians are voting against the Violence Against Women Act, reproductive rights are actively being curtailed, and true racial/gender/marriage/et al equality is a long way off, I don't buy the growing assertion that a lousy joke constitutes an endorsement of rape, or adding "#thuglife" to the end of a tweet represents even casual racism.

 

That being said, I'm happy these issues are being debated openly rather than than going unexamined altogether.

[pokey_valentine 115]

I think that the blogger in question buries whatever valid criticisms she may have in an avalanche of 'Everything is terrible!'. I'm sure she is well-intentioned, but her overzealousness means she ends up finger-pointing at the wrong things which ends up obscuring her point. I just know from personal experience that it's far too easy to be totally consumed by that stuff and lose some perspective.

 

I don't disagree with your point, in general, but it's worth remembering that she's 17-18 years old. Her peers on tumblr are furiously shipping characters on Glee or something. At least she's trying. It's just as easy to neglect that stuff, and I'm also speaking from experience.

[seanotron 2307]

 

I don't disagree with your point, in general, but it's worth remembering that she's 17-18 years old. Her peers on tumblr are furiously shipping characters on Glee or something. At least she's trying. It's just as easy to neglect that stuff, and I'm also speaking from experience.

 

Fair enough, I wasn't aware of her age.

[rachelpi 228]

I was hoping that Myq Kaplan would be one of the MK's and then he was!

[Cody Nelson 22]

I'm sure there are good points scattered throughout, but I don't care to find them, because man, that is one insufferable tumblr.

[Jon1326657842 51]

People have a visceral reaction to certain words or ideas, and that's exactly what Moshe's playing with in his writing. I'm not a fan of knee jerk reactions in general, it just seems like such a dismissive point of view. The fact that she doesn't have anything to go along with her quotes actually hurts her case. Context is everything.