Episode 271 — The Blackface Debate

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Today Mike Prochaska & Andrew discuss the blackface debate, Julianne Hough, and Mike’s hometown of St. Louis. Be sure to keep leaving us messages at (323) 389-RACE.

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No, blackface is never ok. Not for your stupid movie. Not for your stupid Halloween costume.

 

Speaking of Paul Scheer: I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, where I wouldn't others, because on his WTF episode, he mentioned Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy as being his comedic inspirations FIRST. The only other comedian to do that on the ep was Aziz Ansari and Kevin Hart. All of the white comics start their list with George Carlin or Monty Python or some other old-school white comic that I've never heard of. At the end -- as a throwaway -- they add in Richard Pryor (and I'm betting that many of them have never even seen Pryor's standup). Scheer made it point to put them high and, I think, state that Chris Rock is the one who really inspired him and made him go to UCB classes, etc. So, I'm willing to give him the benefit that maybe he is one of the few white folks who really appreciates black comedians (I think its just him and Gary Owens as of now) and maybe this is his way of paying homage and poking a little fun at early 90s and Arsenio. I noticed that he doesn't really change his voice or put on an AAVE accent. I think the most startling thing are the clothes and the high-top fade wig that he's wearing. The guests do more character work than he does in the show(his wife does a good impression of Andrew Dice Clay) which is a good choice. I would definitely have more problems with it if he was the center of attention and doing as strong of an impression as the guests are. But I haven't seen all of them, so take me opinion with a grain of salt. Also, other POC's mileage may vary.