Episode 442 - Atlantis Dire Warning

[Exportionist 6]

Tragedy + Time = Comedy, right?

 

So yes, some jokes are horribly racist and make light of serious unfortunate circumstances. Racist jokes, jokes about 9/11, jokes about slavery, jokes about tragedies. I think it is okay to make jokes about these things in the proper setting. Comedy Bang! Bang! a comedy podcast, is the proper setting for comedy and jokes. The character of Ming is light hearted and affectionate and comical and you should laugh and enjoy yourself and your life and the comedy brought to us by professional comedians who are being silly and not offensive. Tommy Middle D is not a racist, and Jeremy Rowley isn't a racist. Scott married an Asian woman because he loves Kulap and he isn't a racist either. There are absolutely no racial problems with this program. It's comedy guys.

[Bernard_Shakey 3484]

I don't understand how this ming guy is supposed to be a character? I live in a predominatnt asian based culture and im not hearing a joke, just a spot on accent of a chineese or vietnamese man, there's not much eggaerated here so the only thing left that could be funny is the accent itself and little bit of light improv banter?

 

Tito ben works because Eugene is filipino and he's getting lots of layers of filipino culture in his humor, along with the fact that yes, tito ben and the filipino accent sounds silly to the white folk. But again he's filipino and has the right to poke fun of himself and his own culture.

 

This is at worst, maybe... mildly offensive but im just gonna say, whats the point in treading in something borderline racist like turing a culture into a punchline, if your not gonna make me bust up at the seams.

 

( been listening for like 7 years, never felt the need to chime in like this )

 

<3 JoshRulz

 

Maybe in another 7 years you'll get it. This is improv. Meaning it's made up on the spot with very little preconceived.

He didn't have a bit at the ready for you but he "yes anded" the shit out of this appearance. Scott and him played incredibly together.

Ya' got this one wrong Josh.

[SteveH 11126]

Listening to this tonight, but question for y'all: Is the previous appearance of Ming worth listening to? I tend to skip episodes with names I don't recognize and prioritize fan / personal favorite episodes, and get to the other ones as part of my backlog if I can. I'm assuming I can listen to this first either way.

 

might I remind you that there may have been a time that you didn't recognize names such as Lauren Lapkus, Neil Campbell, Mike Hanford, Paul Rust, Jon Gabrus, Matt Gourley, John Gemberling, Claudia O'Doherty...

 

SHALL I CONTINUE?

[NameThatPunky 804]

Ming might be my all-time favorite CBB character. This episode is the first in a long time that had me ROFLMAOing my ass off, all over the floor.

 

I don't understand people who don't like Ming. I cant even keep track of all the other characters that have been on here and were just a voice with no background.. Personally I fucking love Ming he fucking nails it. Daly is always a winner on here so the two on one show is just fucking c+ Great great ep!

 

I'm infinitely confused by this. I found the first segment suuuuuuper boring and could hear Scott desperately trying to force some funny out of it.

[NicholasArthurTallidis 247]

Ming is a good palate cleanser. Sometimes you need a nice low-key charac to balance out the huge cartoonish performances. I like a guest that allows me to suspend my disbelief and accept them as a real person.

 

Also, I am Vietnamese and take no issue with Asian accents. In fact, a lot of the Asian Americans I grew up around love that stuff. Miss Swan was our shit. Assuming it is not hateful, we should learn to laugh at ourselves and our quirks. My dad did a great White Guy impression whenever he watched football and it was hilarious. If an accent is not something to be ashamed of, then it is something that can be made fun of. If it was a speech impediment or something, that may be a different story, but an accent alone will only offend you if you see it as some sort of flawed aspect of the individual.

[limb 4]

Ming is a character that Rowley did for many years live at the Groundlings. He was in various sketches in different formats- sometimes it'd be a normal sketch and other times it'd be an interactive improv where Ming was a life coach and he talked to the audience, etc. etc.

 

It's worth nothing that at that specific theater, you have to produce several sketches a week with new 'big' characters every week and they encourage you to use any tool you can to create a character- pick a piece of wardrobe, a voice, a physicality, etc. and try and turn it into a character. In that fast-pace process, sometimes it can wade into murky waters when the character shows ethnic or flamboyant traits. It gets murkier still when you do a ethnic/flamboyant voice or behavior and the audience goes wild for it. Some performers will cut something if its problematic even though it gets a great reaction and other performers will double down on it. Stand ups have a similar problem when they're trying to write new material quickly- some cut jokes that don't fit their worldview, others will keep anything that gets a consistent laugh.

 

With all that said, the incarnation on CBB seems to be just an irregular and specific accent or cadence for Rowley to use while riffing. Without knowing that it's a remnant from an actual character or seeing Rowley perform it (he has a Jim Carrey-like rubber-face when performing), it is pretty much a voice which I can see as being insensitive/offensive/confusing.

[mikethehuman 1251]

Ok I feel the need to add my two cents, which means I most certainly should not. But like most people in this situation I choose to fight my natural instincts.

 

So, I must say I was on the side of people who either 'don't get' Ming or just don't really appreciate him all that much because they like characters with more 'substance' or 'Tommy Middleditch'. But then it finally clicked with me. Ming is the perfect character to just totally zone out to so that I can prepare my lungs for the hilarity of characters like Neptuna or Dalton Wilcox. We can't be spoiled with C+ characters 100% of the time. Am I getting this right?

 

Anyway, hope you all benefited from my hot take on this week's Comedy Bang Bang and my extreme use of punctuation and other assorted characters, and I will see you all next week on Talking Bang Bang. Be sure to follow me on Friendster and PlentyOfFish for more punctuation and insight.

[SteveH 11126]

i fast forward through the ads, but caught the tail end of one for the national guard? was that really an ad for the national guard? I could easily just go back and listen to it, but I choose to post on the forum instead.

[NicholasArthurTallidis 247]

i fast forward through the ads, but caught the tail end of one for the national guard? was that really an ad for the national guard? I could easily just go back and listen to it, but I choose to post on the forum instead.

Actually, a good amount of military folk I know are super into podcasts. And come to think of it, a good amount of podcast fans I know could use some discipline and order in their lives.

[KatherineIsOdd 486]

Surely if there is an underwater creature that should be used as currency, it's the sand dollar?

 

Andy Daly is killing me with that Neptuna voice! How does he do it!?!!

[SteveH 11126]

I really get a kick out of Scott getting a kick out of something. Andy talking about the prostitute wanting him to wear a frilly hat or whatever was great.

[CraigEminger 468]

I really enjoyed Ming. It was a lower-key type of funny, but I was still cracking up at some of the interactions between Scott and Ming.

 

As for my jumping around of episodes, I'm not quite Sam Beckett (uh, the Quantum Leap one, not the real one)... I just tend to fall off the podcast wagon sometimes and don't always pick up right where I left off. I get plenty of the in jokes.

[Bernard_Shakey 3484]

i fast forward through the ads, but caught the tail end of one for the national guard? was that really an ad for the national guard? I could easily just go back and listen to it, but I choose to post on the forum instead.

Man, I hope not. If so, I must have missed it.

I did notice DraftKings is back.

I don't care for it and wish Scotty would pass on these advertisers.

Actually, a good amount of military folk I know are super into podcasts. And come to think of it, a good amount of podcast fans I know could use some discipline and order in their lives.

Make Content not War

[StanSitwell 811]

i fast forward through the ads, but caught the tail end of one for the national guard? was that really an ad for the national guard? I could easily just go back and listen to it, but I choose to post on the forum instead.

 

That was an ad for I believe Leesa, in which Scott made reference to spending 2 full weeks a year mattress shopping and then likened it to being in the National Guard. I was washing dishes to this episode so the ads were not skipped, you're welcome for that

[NameThatPunky 804]

 

That was an ad for I believe Leesa, in which Scott made reference to spending 2 full weeks a year mattress shopping and then likened it to being in the National Guard. I was washing dishes to this episode so the ads were not skipped, you're welcome for that

 

Are you me or something?

[rat's pine 268]

I think Ming works better as a co-host than a guest, though I did enjoy his bad observational jokes. As for the accent, If you don't dig the character/improv style then yeah it probably won't win you over and that's totally understandable.

 

Leesa mattresses: Draug lanoitan eht nioj!

[FaceLikeThunder 2114]

It's pretty amazing that Andy remained very easy to understand through that wet voice.

[unfiction 0]

I'm a fan of CBB, but Ming ruined this week's episode for me. My wife's family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, and I had to turn off this episode because I didn't want her to hear it while I was getting ready for work in the morning. I knew it would make her upset because Ming's accent is clearly making fun of the way her family speaks English. Her family came to the United States as refugees, and worked really hard to rebuild their lives from nothing. It's not easy to learn a new language, and most of my wife's family speaks three or four languages. That these (probably monolingual) white guys are making fun of people like her family because their accents aren't flawless is inconsiderate.

 

I don't think that Jeremy Rowley or Scott or anyone involved in the podcast was intentionally being racist. I also know that at a surface level, it's amusing when people talk in an unusual way. But for the people you're making fun of, there's a ton of identity issues that can make it a sensitive topic.

 

Anyway, Heynongman, love the podcast. Cheers.

[LORDWIZARD 115]

I don't care for it and wish Scotty would pass on these advertisers.

 

EW Crisspss is a pretty huge entity. I wonder if he even has the option to deflect advertisers since the takeover? Draftkings are probably too lucrative a client for them to pass on because of ethics - they (EWestley Snippss) do produce a lot of weird reality TV and are all about profit so their moral compass might be pointing differently than the CBB audience.

 

Foot Cardigan is great though.

 

Sorry this post wasn't funny, guys.

[Bernard_Shakey 3484]

I'm a fan of CBB, but Ming ruined this week's episode for me. My wife's family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, and I had to turn off this episode because I didn't want her to hear it while I was getting ready for work in the morning. I knew it would make her upset because Ming's accent is clearly making fun of the way her family speaks English. Her family came to the United States as refugees, and worked really hard to rebuild their lives from nothing. It's not easy to learn a new language, and most of my wife's family speaks three or four languages. That these (probably monolingual) white guys are making fun of people like her family because their accents aren't flawless is inconsiderate.

 

I don't think that Jeremy Rowley or Scott or anyone involved in the podcast was intentionally being racist. I also know that at a surface level, it's amusing when people talk in an unusual way. But for the people you're making fun of, there's a ton of identity issues that can make it a sensitive topic.

 

Anyway, Heynongman, love the podcast. Cheers.

 

You say you don't think anyone was being intentionally racist, but you also say "Ming's accent is clearly making fun of the way her family speaks English." and "these (probably monolingual) white guys are making fun of people like her family because their accents aren't flawless..."

If I may digress; Personally, I have always been fascinated with voices, accents and impersonations. Since I was a child I have always done impersonations and silly voices. Of course every single one of them was a rip off of Dana Carvey's impressions. Part of the reason I fell in love with the Comedy Bang Bang podcast was due to James Adomian. His impressions were so dead on! Gary Busey, Alan Rickman, Dr. Bronner etc.

When I first heard Ming, on his first appearance, I was again astonished at this audibly unique, yet consistent voice.

I listened back to Ming just now and must say that, to me, he is speaking perfect English. He is just doing so, with an accent. So for me it begs the question, (to use a colloquialism) 'Yo, is this racist?' I would agree that if he were portraying his character (which is clearly Asian) in a negative way that this could be offensive. But is just doing an accurate impression of a dialect of a language that is not natively yours, inherently offensive? I'm not sure. Nick Krolls over the top Aussie character could be but what about Andy Daly's Byron Denniston, Royal Watcher from across the pond. (a seemingly benign accent/impression)

Again these are just my thoughts as a privileged white American male and I of course recognize your feelings may differ and are certainly valid.

[StanSitwell 811]

I'm a fan of CBB, but Ming ruined this week's episode for me. My wife's family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, and I had to turn off this episode because I didn't want her to hear it while I was getting ready for work in the morning. I knew it would make her upset because Ming's accent is clearly making fun of the way her family speaks English. Her family came to the United States as refugees, and worked really hard to rebuild their lives from nothing. It's not easy to learn a new language, and most of my wife's family speaks three or four languages. That these (probably monolingual) white guys are making fun of people like her family because their accents aren't flawless is inconsiderate.

 

I don't think that Jeremy Rowley or Scott or anyone involved in the podcast was intentionally being racist. I also know that at a surface level, it's amusing when people talk in an unusual way. But for the people you're making fun of, there's a ton of identity issues that can make it a sensitive topic.

 

Anyway, Heynongman, love the podcast. Cheers.

 

I guess I can understand someone being sensitive to character voices like this, but I really don't think Ming is piling on. Yes he's doing what we all would consider a classically "asian" character voice, but I don't think he gets egregious with poor pronunciations and comedic attempts to confuse one word for another, so I don't really feel like the Ming character is all that hurtful. Like when Nick Kroll does a voice based on a foreign place, it is chock full of jokes and references that I could see being offensive (even though I'm a huge fan), but I think this guy does an Asian character while managing to be respectful.

 

As an American who speaks fluent English, I can say that while I've laughed at "comedic voices" based on foreign accents, that doesn't at all mean that I am making fun of people who can't speak English, or that I think they're stupid for not being able to fool people into thinking they're American. My wife's family is from Europe and some relatives don't speak very good English. If I were to have left the US as a child or teen for another country, there's no way I would be able to speak the native language that well. So what I'm saying is basically that I don't think everyone who takes enjoyment from a character with a foreign accent is poking fun at ESL people or calling them stupid or poking fun at the struggles they went through... sometimes motherfuckers just wanna laugh.

[FaceLikeThunder 2114]

I'm a fan of CBB, but Ming ruined this week's episode for me. My wife's family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, and I had to turn off this episode because I didn't want her to hear it while I was getting ready for work in the morning. I knew it would make her upset because Ming's accent is clearly making fun of the way her family speaks English. Her family came to the United States as refugees, and worked really hard to rebuild their lives from nothing. It's not easy to learn a new language, and most of my wife's family speaks three or four languages. That these (probably monolingual) white guys are making fun of people like her family because their accents aren't flawless is inconsiderate.

 

I don't think that Jeremy Rowley or Scott or anyone involved in the podcast was intentionally being racist. I also know that at a surface level, it's amusing when people talk in an unusual way. But for the people you're making fun of, there's a ton of identity issues that can make it a sensitive topic.

 

Anyway, Heynongman, love the podcast. Cheers.

 

Did you listen to the rest of it later?

[AlexMurphy 107]

I'm a fan of CBB, but Ming ruined this week's episode for me. My wife's family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, and I had to turn off this episode because I didn't want her to hear it while I was getting ready for work in the morning. I knew it would make her upset because Ming's accent is clearly making fun of the way her family speaks English. Her family came to the United States as refugees, and worked really hard to rebuild their lives from nothing. It's not easy to learn a new language, and most of my wife's family speaks three or four languages. That these (probably monolingual) white guys are making fun of people like her family because their accents aren't flawless is inconsiderate.

 

I don't think that Jeremy Rowley or Scott or anyone involved in the podcast was intentionally being racist. I also know that at a surface level, it's amusing when people talk in an unusual way. But for the people you're making fun of, there's a ton of identity issues that can make it a sensitive topic.

 

Anyway, Heynongman, love the podcast. Cheers.

 

what is racist about the character?? the voice/accent is actually pretty subtle compared to other chinese impressions.

 

it doesn't even sound chinese to me. and none of the shtick is really held up by chinese stereotypes.

 

I think the comedy comes from "Ming" being just an odd dude.. and yes, some of it is predicated on him being a foreigner in the sense that he doesn't get some traditional customs.

 

but its more of a "fish out of water" scenario. Nothing hinging upon him being chinese really

[NicholasArthurTallidis 247]

Enough about Ming. We need to focus on what really matters here:

[anazgnos 8]

an accent is merely a condition of linguistics, it has nothing at all to do with race.

 

to say that it's racist when a person of one skin color does an accent associated with someone of a different skin color is in effect an embracing of the idea that there are essential differences between races.

 

spoiler alert: there are not.

 

Fair enough, but this does glide past the sort of problematic associations that exist around a white guy doing an asian voice, as the Asian stereotype has long been used, if not as an outright object of ridicule, at least othering/exoticization in American comedy. I think the ep was funny but I also think the issues people are raising are 100% fair.

 

If we're at the point of asserting that accent is a totally neutral thing that has nothing to do with either race or character, why then is the accent funny, or necessary at all? What is it bringing to the comedy, if not these racial or cultural associations?