Dear Lisa Lampanelli:
No matter how many black men you fetishize for fodder for your “comedy” routine, you do not have the right to call Lena Dunham — one of the most privileged white women working in show biz right now — “nigga.” It’s not your word to use or reclaim.
Me with my nigga @lenadunham of @hbogirls – I love this beyotch!! say.ly/oKP5chO
— Lisa Lampanelli (@LisaLampanelli) February 18, 2013
Look, Lisa, I get it. You’ve fucked a metric ton of black dudes in your day, and somewhere along the way, you got it in your head that you can fuck your way to not being racist. But here’s the thing. You can’t.
Sure, you can tell jokes about your proclivity for black dick. You can make jokes at your own expense about your weight. Apparently you got skinny and now white dudes will fuck you? Is that it? Hooray for you, Lisa.
But when you say shit like this: “How many ‘hispanics’ does it take to clean a bathroom? None! That’s a nigger’s job!”
And this: “What do you call a black woman who’s had seven abortions? A crime fighter”
You’re not being a “lovable queen of mean.” You’re being a racist asshole.
Sure, you may get some laughs. People laugh at racist assholes all the time. People laugh at inappropriate shit all the time. But you should know that no matter how many people you make laugh, deep down inside you are nothing but a racist asshole. A racist asshole who happens to fuck black dudes, but a racist asshole all the same.
Let me say it again: no matter how many black guys you fuck, you can’t fuck your way out of being racist.
So do us all a favor and knock it the fuck off.
Respectfully yours,
Angry Black Lady
[cross-posted at ABLC]
Xecky Gilchrist
Yeesh. Not often am I so glad to have never heard of somebody.
Just Some Fuckhead
Raaaaooow
Cassidy
Wow. This was uncomfortable. Not wrong and not criticizing.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Christ, what an asshole. I was unaware of her existence until this post, and I wish my blissful ignorance had not been violated.
Sean
Fuck yeah ABL. That’s a huge pile of bullshit from a not very funny asshole.
Lewis Thomason
Who is Lisa Lampanelli and why ,if this letter is true, should anyone care.
Cassidy
@Lewis Thomason: She’s a comedian who got famous from the short lived comedy reality competition hosted by Jay Maher. She was a lot more sedate back then talking about being a 40-something mom to a teenager. She was actually funny.
different-church-lady
The evil spawn of Andrew Dice Clay continue to propagate…
Omnes Omnibus
@Lewis Thomason: She is a stand-up comedian. As for why you should care, that is entirely up to you.
c u n d gulag
@Xecky Gilchrist:
DITTO!!!
Ted & Hellen
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
“Christ, what an asshole. I was unaware of her existence until this post, and I wish my blissful ignorance had not been violated.”
Standard ABL procedure: Post unhinged, faux-outraged diatribe aimed at someone so important that no one has ever heard of them.
Rinse, repeat…on the front page.
Another Halocene Human
Let me just click the imaginary “AGREE” button here (y no like or agree buttons, cole?) to everything you said.
And I, too, resent Dunham although she made up for a lot of it with that pro-Obama ad which pissed off uptight conservatives so much.
But still! Dunham needs to answer for the casting on her show. Why is it impossible to cast an African-American actor as a “normal” person these days? It’s like we’ve regressed since the 1980s, which is a scary thought indeed.
It’s telling that I’ll go to work and see ancient “In The Heat Of The Night” reruns playing in the break room.
quannlace
Yo-yo! Back in the 80’s and 90’s, I’d cringe whenever white guys tried to act and talk all gansta. Guys, please.
Joey Maloney
Way to uphold your principles. “Of course she’s racist, what can you expect from such a giant slut, amirite?”
Betty Cracker
@Xecky Gilchrist: What you said.
Ted & Hellen
Someone’s jealous…
Pinkamena Panic
@Joey Maloney: Your concern, she is noted, mon ami.
kuvasz
The woman reminds me of the skinny white chick in “Don’t be a Menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the Hood” with the complexion problem who has black guys hitting on her because she is white, regardless of the fact that she looks like a garden nome.
Omnes Omnibus
@Joey Maloney: I didn’t get slut-shaming from what ABL said; I saw it as a NSFW version of refuting the “I have a black friend, so I can’t be racist” trope.
jon
Laughter is the sound of surprise. Some of those racist comments made me laugh, but just because something is funny doesn’t make it right. Sometimes I laugh at things that are wrong, but racism isn’t something I’d ever go out of my way to seek as entertainment.
Give me some dead baby stuff any day. Give me jokes about cruelty and hate and stupid people. Give me wrong wrong wrong spelled R-O-N-G it’s so wrong. But don’t give me lame ass black jokes or “Haha! Look! A fag!” or anything else that may make drunk assholes tip their waitresses well but won’t get you far in life or a career. Comedy can be many things, but lazy reliance on sexism, racism, or class-related bullshit just isn’t going to be something I’ll support.
She may have her nigga, but she was Imani’s bitch.
Imani Gandy (ABL)
@Joey Maloney: wasn’t saying she’s a giant slut. her entire comedy routine is based on the number of black guys she’s fucked. she can fuck whoever and howmanyever dudes she wants.
JCR
@Joey Maloney:
The principle here, as ABL stated several times, is that it doesn’t matter who or how often you fuck–it doesn’t undo other bad behavior. In other words, there is no causality, and you have it exactly backwards. Nice try, but ABL is pretty damn consistent, whether you agree with her or not.
Imani Gandy (ABL)
@Omnes Omnibus: bingo.
The Red Pen
I now have an image of Lisa Lampanelli having sex. With anyone.
Ew.
ranchandsyrup
Lisa knows exactly where the line is. Stepping over it and glomming onto Dunham stinks of desperation. Guess the Comedy Central Roast schedule is light for 2013
Cermet
The so-called joke about crime fighter is so sick it is has moved on to Nazi holocaust level humor – just utterly sick.
TooManyJens
@Joey Maloney: Context, how the fuck does it work?
SatanicPanic
Woah, did she really tell those jokes? Because that’s fucked up. That’s not even funny.
Ian
Apparently, LL thinks that the right to use the N-word is sexually transmitted.
Imani Gandy (ABL)
@Ian: laugh OL.
PeorgieTirebiter
Giving attention to attention whores isn’t likely to chamge their behavior. If the above examples of her “jokes” are getting laughs, I’m more disturbed by her audience.
scav
No idea who she is (huzzah!) but golly, some people just can’t hack the oncoming loss of what little public notice they once had. The pong of Chanel N° Desparation is strong on this one. Wonder if team Wasilla is looking for a joke-writer?
gogol's wife
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Just what I was coming here to post. Well, I guess I’ve heard of her, but I had no idea. Eww.
peach flavored shampoo
I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate this Lisa chick. Saw about 60 seconds of her act on TV and couldn’t believe it. All about having sex with Black men. That’s her whole schtick. The whole schtick. Disgusting.
MeDrewNotYou
I’ve always hated Lisa Lampanelli; she’s painfully unfunny and ABL nails her whole shtick. The ‘I fuck black guys so I’m allowed to say nigger’ bit is just a variation on ‘I have black friends so I can’t possibly be racist.’ When you use that excuse, you automatically lose. And that’s before we even get to the flat out racist bit on Hispanics… She’d almost be a hit at CPAC if she could avoid the calls of being a ‘race traitor.’
Good post ABL.
Disco
This site is getting dangerously close to the non-stop bitchfest over at Daily Kos.
Drunken hausfrau
Is this the same woman who brags about getting her stomach removed so she could become skinny? We heard her on the radio, talking about weight and body Image issues, and my teenaged daighter said, “this woman is encouraging eating disorders, mom, change the station.”. I had never heard of her before …
I guess I should be glad she wasn’t talking about anything else.
Warren
Isn’t it hilarious — by which I mean pathetic and sad — that people still trot out the “Lena Dunham is sooooooooo privileged!” line because her parents are mildly successful artists? Especially when no one ever says “Nick Kroll is soooooooooooooooo privileged!” when he grew up as the son of Jules Kroll, the guy who started the third-largest bond ratings agency on Wall Street and is therefore literally a billionaire several times over?
Why is that?
Mandalay
@different-church-lady:
I’d never heard of her until this thread, but she certainly reminds me of Dice Clay. From one her youtube clips:
I bang a lots of black guys.
That’s my thing. That’s right son.
It ain’t by choice.
I just haven’t lost enough weight to get a white guy to fuck me.
That’s the problem!
HaHaha.
jrg
@Disco: No shit.
Seanindc
how do you know ABL’s is outraged? It’s a day that ends in Y
FlipYrWhig
@Ian: dude, that is both funny and wickedly insightful.
Hawes
Angry Black Lady is angry.
And rightfully so.
Similarly, I would point out that the amount of women I have had sex with (or paucity thereof) does not give me the right to make “little lady” comments or period jokes.
FlipYrWhig
@Warren: Does anyone like Nick Kroll or know who he is? I only recognize the name because Comedy Central has this tendency of hyping new shows by interchangeable unfunny weirdos during Stewart and Colbert.
James Gary
@Disco: Yeah, a bit. I’d never heard of Lisa Lampanelli before now, but she seems to be an obvious outrage troll. Why ABL decided to take the bait is beyond me.
Lord Jesus Perm
What’s with the trolls who only show up whenever ABL posts?
SatanicPanic
@MeDrewNotYou: This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine’s dentist converts to Judaism so that he can tell jokes about Jews.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Disco: There’s a cat post earlier if you don’t like this.
red dog
@Xecky Gilchrist: Me either. ABL just gave this chick the spotlight…why.
Some Guy
Here here, ABL. I have seen her routine a couple of times during the Comedy Roast and was always stunned at how awful she is. Not even close to funny. That antithesis of funny. Talentless hate-monger who calls racist nasty a “joke,” like the all do.
Which illustrates a common aspect about many talentless comedians: why is telling people you fuck from a different racial demographic a basis for any joke EXCEPT that you are trying to thinly veil racist shit? There is nothing inherently funny in the fact of fucking outside one’s demographic. Nothing whatsoever. Its only when situations become funny that sex is funny. Unless your 12. And/or a racist.
Cassidy
@FlipYrWhig: That was some deep digging for equivalence. I’m guessing his fingers smell like shit now.
Mandalay
@Disco:
In general you may have a point, but if you think this specific OP is nothing more than a bitchfest then you have completely missed its point.
Warren
@FlipYrWhig: Well, he’s starring on two different shows and appears regularly on shows like Parks and Recreation (recurring role as a former semiotics grad student who’s now a drive-time shock jock), so actually a lot more people know who he is than know who Lisa Lampanelli is.
So…literally a billionaire, never gets called privileged. I ask again, why is that?
Omnes Omnibus
@James Gary: Why does anyone ever feed a troll? Boredom, amusement, or because on this particular occasion the troll go under one’s skin. We all do it on occasion.
MBunge
“Especially when no one ever says “Nick Kroll is soooooooooooooooo privileged!””
If Nick Kroll ever gets a non-stop Lewinsky from the media for creating a TV show that gets its ass kicked in the ratings by Bar Rescue on Spike, to the point where he even make the cover of Rolling Stone, calling him “privileged” is the tamest criticism you’ll hear about him.
Mike
Cassidy
@Some Guy: What if I’m fucking a clown? Isn’t that inherently funny?
Some Guy
@Cassidy: Only if the clown dies.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Seen the movie, already know how it ends.
“And nothing of value was lost.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: No, it’s probably sad.
Cassidy
@Some Guy: Well that escalated quickly.
schrodinger's cat
@Cassidy: There is nothing remotely funny about clowns.
Some Guy
@Cassidy: Clowns are hyperbolic, what can I say.
Cassidy
Okay, so we’ve tapped into some clown phobia. If there is ever a meet up in my area, I’ll remember to put that costume on the “not a good idea” list.
pamelabrown53
@red dog: I think ABL gave her the spotlight so those of us who are not people of color could inoculate ourselves from her schtick.
NonyNony
@Cassidy:
No. Clowns are never funny.
Now if we’re talking mimes, that could be the start of a funny bit.
Some Guy
@Cassidy: Its a Simpsons reference from the John Waters episode, trying to explain “camp” to Homer:
John (John Waters): It’s camp! The tragically ludicrous? The ludicrously tragic?
Homer: Oh yeah. Like when a clown dies.
The Red Pen
@Warren:
The only Nick Kroll I’ve seen is his recurring character on Parks and Recreation.
The humor in that role is not — most decidedly not — centered on us giving a damn about his problems. I think there are a lot of people who can’t really relate to Dunham’s characters.
Cassidy
@Some Guy: Gotcha. I haven’t seen the Simpsons in ages.
ricky
“It’s not your word to use or reclaim”
Whose word is it?
Corner Stone
@NonyNony:
The problem with fucking a mime is you can’t get even a little kinky because of the whole “safe word” paradox.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: It is known.
kc
I can’t afford HBO. I’m pretty sick of all you privileged bastards complaining about a show I can’t even afford to watch.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: WIN. (Do people still say that?)
different-church-lady
@Disco:
Trust me, not even close.
Tonybrown74
Fer fuck’s sake!
Some of you with your white privilege are working my last black gay nerve!
Yes, it’s obvious that Ms. Lampinelli is a friggin’ troll. And sure, YOU may not have heard of her until now. But trust me: a lot of black people know who this woman is, and sometimes, just sometimes, the constant trolling gets on our damned nerves enough to talk, scream, and bitch about it.
I am glad there are so many of you that are above it all, and can ignore the constant drumbeat of racism.
However, as someone who actually belongs to a class of people that are constantly bombarded with blatant and subtle instances of racism almost every mother-fucking day, can we be allowed to vent every now and again??
Sheesh!
FlipYrWhig
@Warren: He’s privileged, but no one gives a shit about him, but they give a shit about Lena Dunham, because of the hype. Kind of the same reason why people criticized Seinfeld and Friends for lacking black characters but didn’t say the same thing about “Caroline in the City.”
Paul in KY
@Warren: I guess Nick Kroll is soooooooooo priviliged then too.
Had never heard of Kroll, had barely heard of the subject of this post.
Please make a list of people in Dunhams/Krolls situation & I’ll be glad to ‘give em the privilege’.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone: Plus the invisible handcuffs never really work…
Paul in KY
@Some Guy: ‘Demographic’ here should be the human race. Ain’t no problem or no one’s business what adult human you fuck.
different-church-lady
Based on some of the comments it appears black people are not allowed to blog about anything less important than world hunger and nuclear disarmament.
Corner Stone
Am I the only one who watched the segment on MHP this past weekend about comedy and race? BJ’s internet friend Elon James White was a contributor during that segment.
If you weren’t able to catch it I’m sure the interwebs have captured it, and IMO, it was a pretty good bit.
GregB
Using Lampinelli’s standard, Strom Thurmond is the moral equivalent of Morris Dees.
LanceThruster
I find some of her material funny and some of it not so much. That’s the way it is with any comic. I enjoy the roast format, of which she’s pretty good. I hesitate to fault comics too much as it’s not like they’re heads of state or something.
Name a comic you like and I’ll find something offensive they’e said too.
different-church-lady
@LanceThruster: Bob Newhart.
taylormattd
@Joey Maloney: Joey, you half-wit, that is literally in LL’s stand up routine, every single time. She talks every time about how she has fucked hundreds of black dudes.
ricky
@Tonybrown74: I’m with you. It’s enough to make me tear my last straight white hair out.
Jamey
@schrodinger’s cat: I’ve often said that there’s nothing funny about Laffy Taffy, either.
Tone in DC
@Lord Jesus Perm:
Funny how that works, huh?
different-church-lady
@Jamey: I’m not sure there’s much that taffy about it either.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Too many vowels for it to be Welsh.
Pope Bandar bin Turtle
But first … The Aristocrats!
Corner Stone
@Tone in DC: I’m glad you replied to that comment because it made me wonder. To the point where that comment was made at #45 could you please indicate who the one note trolls were in this thread?
The Red Pen
@LanceThruster:
Steven Wright.
Mandalay
@LanceThruster:
True, but as far as I can tell her schtick is to insult, denigrate and offend different demographics, and in particular she seems to relish targeting race.
I am happy to be corrected on that point, but if that’s the case doesn’t she invite (and deserve) criticism?
Mnemosyne
@Warren:
Same reason people bitch and moan about Sofia Coppola supposedly riding on her dad’s coattails but never say a word about Jake Kasdan or Jason Reitman — sexism.
dr. luba
You want racism? This is racism: hospital administrators acquiesce to a Nazi father’s request:
Michissippi. Seriously.
Mandalay
@LanceThruster:
Victor Borge.
(But you do have a point….it’s not easy.)
ninja3000
The networks have been trying to make Lampanelli a star for years, but she’s a second-rate hack.
dr. luba
Also, too.
I am simply dumfounded. We’re talking about an inner city hospital. What sort of administrative morons thought this was a good idea?
Mnemosyne
@The Red Pen:
I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters on “Entourage” and yet I kept having to hear about what a fucking brilliant show it was.
So I’m afraid I have to stick with my “sexism” diagnosis here. Show about douchebag men that women can’t really relate to = brilliant, but show about douchebag women that men can’t really relate to = lame? Sexism, you’re soaking in it.
Please note: if you don’t find “Girls” funny or it’s not your cup of tea or it really bugs you that they magically live in an all-white New York City, that’s fine. Not everyone likes everything, and there are some valid criticisms to be made of the show.
It’s when the cries go up about how Dunham is totally untalented and used her parents’ artist privilege to leapfrog more deserving artists (who all just happen to be men) that I start to suspect some sexism rearing its ugly head.
Phoenix_rising
@different-church-lady: HIV orphans in sub-Saharan [that’s demographer-weasel for ‘the blackity-black part] Africa and inner-city gun violence are also approved topics for bloggers of higher melanin content to be outraged by. Because serious.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne: except that there are at least two categories getting blurred here: in essence, people who don’t like Dunham and use words like “privileged” alongside words like “slutty” and “ugly,” and people who don’t like Dunham and use words like “privileged” alongside ideas like “ignores the experiences of people of color.”
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: They are privileged too! Just as much, if not more, than Ms. Dunham.
Giive me some more, I can privilige em all day.
Phoenix_rising
@LanceThruster: Carroll Spinney.
…and the first one with the comment that Big Bird ain’t funny, how long have you had the prejudice against tall yellow folks?
The Red Pen
@Mnemosyne:
I get your point, but “Entourage” might not be the best example. All I ever heard was that it really, really sucked.
I was actually talking about women being unable to relate to Dunham’s characters. For example, my wife hates Lena Dunham almost more than she hates Penn Jillette — which is a lot. She might have an inexplicable level of hatred for “Girls” (right?) but she’s hardly the only woman who finds the show off-putting.
She doesn’t use the words “slutty” or “ugly,” either. She does tend to use a word starting with c that I will not repeat here.
Corner Stone
@Paul in KY:
Gotta admit, you’re pretty efficient. No wasted motion.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: The ‘privilige’ (IMO), and this applies to both sexes, is that she comes from a very wealthy family, so she can try stuff & be ‘arty’ and know that if she fails, she will not be out on the street roasting pigeons with a coat hanger.
She also is able to socialize with powerful people in the Arts (due to parents) and thus gets contacts & face-to-face with people she would never be able to get if she was Jane Schmo from Dubuque.
She is talented. However there are others who I’m sure are just as talented that never get the chance she did (helped by her & her parent’s connections). She is correct to use these connections, I would too if I had them. They should (IMO) be acknowledged by her & those dudes who benefit in the same manner.
Mnemosyne
@Paul in KY:
Of course they are, but when Jason Reitman was nominated for the Academy Award — twice — did we have to slog through dozens of blog posts about how he didn’t really deserve it because his father was a director who used his connections to advance his son’s career?
How many blog posts did you see dismissing Juno as a film because of who Reitman’s father is? Did people say they weren’t going to see Up In the Air because Reitman was just making movies about privileged white people like the ones he grew up with?
That’s where the sexism comes in — men who benefit from family connections are talented hard workers while women who benefit from family connections only got there because of who Daddy is.
Mnemosyne
@Paul in KY:
Hey, I have two film degrees and no family connections, which is why I’m working as a studio secretary and don’t have my own TV show, so I know better than most people here how much family connections and family wealth matter in Hollywood. The only person I know from my graduate screenwriting program who got a job on a TV show straight out of school was also the one who was able to live with her wealthy parents and take a full-time unpaid internship with the show that eventually hired her. (She also married one of the guys in Linkin Park, but he was her high school sweetheart, so that wasn’t quite the same thing. But, again, notice the successful musicians who come from wealthy families and can concentrate on their music rather than on making the rent every month.)
Still, I can’t help noticing that women who are children of privilege get a whole lot more shit for using their connections than men who are children of privilege do. No one assumes that Reitman or Kasdan are talentless hacks who used their privilege to get jobs, but there’s a large contingent who assume that about Coppola and Dunham.
Rafer Janders
@Mnemosyne:
There’s nothing magic about that. New York City as a whole is not all-white. But small local neighborhoods, streets, buildings, groups of friends, offices, are quite often all-white (or all-black, Chinese, Jewish, Dominican, Irish, Assyrian Orthodox, whatever).
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
Why… on… earth?
Mnemosyne
@The Red Pen:
It’s a long-running, critically-acclaimed show that won and was nominated for multiple awards, just like “Girls.” You may not have liked it, and your friends may not have liked it, but the two shows occupy the same position.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
It seemed like a good idea at the time? I did eventually find work with a Giant Evil entertainment conglomerate, so it doesn’t look like quite as bad of a decision as it did when I was still working random office temp jobs.
(And, speaking of privilege? My parents were able to pay my tuition for both degrees, so it’s not like I had to go into massive debt for them.)
cckids
Lisa Lampanelli has the dubious distinction of being the only person who’s ever made me feel sorry for Sarah Palin. She was making “jokes” about Palin having 5 kids, as though it was 19 or something, and said “When you get a retarded one, it’s God’s sign to close up shop”.
What a graceless, classless human being. Cannot imagine how people pay to see her.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: I see what you are saying. The only blog I go to is this one and Future Rock Legends. Used to go to Salon, but they fucked up my account & I can’t post comments or see anyone’s comments. Might be a FYWP issue, but they haven’t ever fixed it.
Also check in with Slate now & again, but I rarely read any comments (usually way too many) & I don’t read those recaps of Girls, because I don’t have HBO.
So I guess I’ve not been as immersed in this as you. I know it is easier being a dude here than it is to be a female.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: Good point about the parents. Mine paid for over half of my education. It sure helps :-)
ricky
Any one of the metric ton of black dudes who have fucked Lisa Laffaloney ever fess up to it?
The Red Pen
@Mnemosyne:
Are Reitman or Kasdam talentless hacks?
I don’t hear people attacking Drew Barrymore (a woman) because she comes from a dynasty because people like her work. Males I’ve heard criticized for riding family coat-tails: Jaden Pinkett Smith and Charlie Sheen because people haven’t really been crazy about their work.
Baron Elmo
I’ve never found Lisa Lampanelli even remotely funny, but I’m also inclined to cut comedians tons more slack than anyone for violating PC standards. Insults and mean-spirited behavior are two of the pillars of humor, after all.
Back in the Eighties, the Village Voice had a lesbian critic who ruled their comedy beat (can’t recall her name), and she judged everything by the PC yardstick. I still recall her dumping on a comic for telling a joke that “bashed stutterers,” and she once gave Bob Newhart holy hell for his classic routine about the driving instructor, simply because his student was female. This woman was the very definition of the word “killjoy,” draining the joy from comedy like it was in her job description.
Then there was the time that David Cross did a great routine about Trent Lott at a Howard Dean fundraiser and got roasted (not to mention chided onstage by Dean himself) for using the N-word in the bit. Cross later said:
I despise racism as much as a former Son of the South possibly can, but it seems to me more appropriate to dismiss the likes of Lampanelli as “NOT FUNNY” instead of tarring her with the “YOU’RE RACIST” brush. Certainly there are other areas where our outrage is needed more.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
Oh hell, in that case I would have done the same myself.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: The whole key (IMO) is the ability the wealth gives you to try new things & still know all the bills will be paid even if you fall flat on your face.
You know that even better than I, after reading one of your above posts.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Ted & Hellen:
You may have never heard of her, but you’re not everybody. If I’ve heard of her, she ain’t that obscure. And yeah, her act (at least last I heard it) is almost all race-baiting, or making fun of handicapped people, or just generally being a female version of Archie Bunker without the warmth or humor.
The #1 rule in comedy is that if it’s funny, then it isn’t in bad taste.
Almost everything Lampanelli says is in extremely bad taste.
Bonus, she has that grating voice that makes you long for the soothing sounds of cats fighting on a buzzsaw.
Then there’s Jackie Martling, who commits the unpardonable sin of laughing at his own lame racist jokes. Makes me want to reach through the radio speaker and throttle him.
The Red Pen
@Mnemosyne:
Entourage ran for 8 seasons, and Girls has been on for 3.
If “long-running, critically-acclaimed show that won and was nominated for multiple awards” is a basis to establish similarity, then isn’t Star Trek: The Next Generation a closer match to Entourage? If you want a show that centers on female characters, how about Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
I haven’t watched either “Girls” or “Entourage” so if you insist that they are somehow similar, I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.
Keith G
@Corner Stone: Maybe he’s an ONT.
sb
Looks an awful lot like the Jezebel post I read this morning, right down to the final line.
Mnemosyne
@The Red Pen:
Nope, but I’ve heard that phrase applied to both Sofia Coppola and Leah Dunham. Coppola is an actual Academy Award-winner at this point (for screenwriting), not just a nominee. Dunham wrote and directed a critically-acclaimed feature film and now is writing and directing a critically-acclaimed TV show.
So what makes Coppola and Dunham talentless hacks despite critical acclaim but Reitman and Kasdan talented new voices who deserve all of the accolades they get? The more I read the critical coverage of all of them, the more it seems like the difference is who has a pen!s and who doesn’t since all four of them are rich, white children of privilege but only two of them constantly have a stream of dismissive shit poured onto their work.
@Paul in KY:
I’m kind of in the Hollywood middle, privilege-wise, so I can see both sides. There are enormously talented people who can’t afford to work for free and never really get anywhere because they need to keep a roof over their heads, but quite a few of the privileged people are also very talented and hard-working in addition to being privileged. Writing and directing a feature film isn’t as hard as digging ditches, but it’s harder than office work, for sure, and you really have to be a driven asshole to be able to get it done.
Mnemosyne
@The Red Pen:
Yeah, you may want to try and watch an episode of each before you decide that the tone and humor of “Girls” is more similar to “Star Trek” than it is to “Entourage.”
ruemara
Look. LL is not funny most of the time. Sometimes she is, at least she used to be. When she pulls this shit, she’s got a thin veneer of pretend humour over a lot bigoted bullshittery. And she’s not funny. Stop saying it’s just a joke. Don’t trot out discussions on race and humour as if that’s the end all be all. If you are looking at their examples of what’s funny regarding race and comedy, none of it amounts to saying a black woman having an abortion is a crime fighter. Jesus fucking Christ. White frat boys have been joking for years that they let black men have all the white fat chicks. Am I supposed to find it funny that a fat white woman says it? And implies that she’s accepting lesser men since she’s too fat for white guys? It’s not a lack of sense of humour that’s my problem, it’s a lack of tolerance for some serious stupid.
Nerull
The best joke is that people think a blog post is giving someone with regular TV appearances and constantly booked live shows attention.
wasabi gasp
There’s hardly any mystery about why some might find Lisa Lampanelli’s routine offensive. But why now? What is it about this particular tweet that sent you over the edge? Enough so, apparently, to instigate you to look her up on Wikipedia and copy/paste a couple of her jokes.
Midnight Marauder
@Baron Elmo:
Except that she is both not funny AND her material is flagrantly racist. As a comedian, this is the problem I have with people who discuss comedy. It matters a great deal if a comedian develops a reputation as having transparently racist material. That doesn’t get dismissed by their peers, and I don’t really understand why potential audience members think it can be waived away so easily.
And I think the outrage being focused here is remarkably on target. Just because there are other issues in need of outrage does not somehow negate that need in this situation.
HelloRochester
I like transgressive comedy. I think Dice started out as an act that was funny because he was lampooning guys who actually act like his character. And then that became his fan base and then the whole framing changed and it wasn’t funny any more. Much the same with Lisa Lampanelli- her act used to be interactive with the crowd and she’d latch onto every single thing she could to make jokes. And it’s funny when she’s pointing out everybody’s soft spots and prejudices by being prejudiced on stage but her act has gotten stale.
The Red Pen
@Mnemosyne:
I didn’t say it was. You compared the two shows based on length of run and number of awards, to which I noted that in those respects “Entourage” was closer to “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Try to read your own posts.
kc
@Mnemosyne:
What you said.
The Red Pen
@wasabi gasp:
She tweeted in the company of someone who is famous and popular.
LanceThruster
When I used to defend the vulgarity of Howard Stern, I’d mention that other comics do the same bits, just not as graphic.
Case in point – When Bob Hope would go, “Ann Margaret…RRrrrrrrr!” he meant that he wanted to ‘get physical’ with Ms. Margaret.
You’re right that I’d be hard pressed to find offensive material from any of those comics mentioned that I recognize (and I’d look up the one that I didn’t), but they also work a different audience.
Historically, the court jester was given free reign in order to ‘speak truth to power.’ I guess LL’s comment could be viewed in the context of, ‘punch up, not down.’
Mnemosyne
@The Red Pen:
Wevs, dude. If you haven’t watched TV since “Buffy” went off the air in 2003, there’s not much I can do to get you caught up on current shows.
Baron Elmo
@Midnight Marauder:
I’d say that with comedy, calling it “not funny,” or “boring and childish,” instead of “racist” or “sexist” cuts deeper anyhow, at least for the comic.
If people greeted Klan rallies and Westboro Baptist gatherings with yawns and amused mockery instead of outrage, such public displays would dwindle considerably. Anger and hatred are what these idiots feed on, what makes them stronger. Dennis Miller, Lisa Lampanelli and Michelle Malkin have careers because they piss people off. Why give them what they so desperately crave? I prefer to save my bile for them as truly deserve it. “Don’t feed the trolls,” is a maxim that works in more areas than blog comment threads.
(Granted, my viewpoint is that of a straight white male, so feel free to consume with a football-sized grain of salt.)
The Red Pen
@Mnemosyne:
Really?
I can see why Lena Dunham has a TV show and you don’t.
Mandalay
@ruemara:
You have nailed it right there. The idea that racist jokes are merely “jokes”, existing in hermetically sealed isolation to provoke pleasure and amusement for a few brief seconds before everyone resumes their normal lives, with no residual effect, is obviously absurd. If that was the case there would not be any advertising agencies on Madison Avenue.
Yet the eternal defense of the racist joke is that it is “just” a joke, and nothing more.
Mandalay
@Baron Elmo:
This is especially true in politics. You can be loathed and hated, but you only need 50.0001% of the vote to prevail.
But once you become an object of derision rather than hate, and people can’t take you seriously, you cannot get elected. Ask former Prime Minister John Major.
LanceThruster
Bob Newhart potentially “offensive’ material (by some, not by me) – But his satire was often biting, as in a routine about a would-be suicide coaxed off a building ledge (“this your first time?”).
Is suicide ever funny (I’d have to say, in context…yes)?
LanceThruster
Steven Wright – The biggest crowd reaction came after this joke: “A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but evidently it wasn’t for first place.”
So ugly women are comic fodder?
LanceThruster
@Mandalay:
Yes, it’s a stretch –
Santa Claus has the right idea … Visit people only once a year.
~ Victor Borge
i.e. people are too annoying to deserve more.
The flip side of Borge’s quip is to be more generous to people than people deserve.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~ Dalai Lama
Midnight Marauder
@Baron Elmo:
Except that it also elides the real issues that needs to be addressed: The comic is actually a racist and/or sexist asshole. And the audience they are cultivating is filled with people who not only seek out such garbage, but reward it. Again, as a person practicing in the craft for years, comedians hate when you call them sexist or racist and fall back on the “it’s just jokes” defense. So you can say “you’re not funny,” but then you get the response of “whatever, look at all these laughs I get.” And that’s why you have to drill down and say “you are not funny because your laughs are drawn from feeding racism to the lowest common denominator.”
Except Klan rallies and comedy shows are totally different animals and the comparison is kind of absurd. People go out of their way to attend comedy shows and “be offended.” Lisa Lampanelli has sustained a career of racist nonsense because that’s what her audience wants. It’s not about “don’t feed the trolls”; it’s about saying “I hate what you do because your ‘stage persona’ is a fucking racist, just like you clearly are in real life.”
Done.
The Red Pen
@LanceThruster:
No, just your mother. In fact, I have it on good authority that your mother is so ugly that when she walks into a bank, they turn off the surveillence cameras.
LanceThruster
@Phoenix_rising:
Well, there’s this – As Oscar, Spinney has written How to Be a Grouch, a Whitman Tell-A-Tale picture book. With J. Milligan, he wrote the 2003 book The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers
Oscar the Grouch tends to be a bit, shall we say, abrasive…so I imagine Mr. Spinney puts his abrasiveness in context.
Pococurante
Words have power when a minority reserves the right to inflict them.
Nigger is a Brit word for anyone not British. Just like “barbarian” once meant anyone not speaking Greek.
But by all means, show your inclusiveness by reserving words just for you and yours.
Like any word it loses its power to offend when it is watered down. Demagogues of course have other motives.
Mandalay
@LanceThruster:
Well you didn’t exactly win me over with the Borge quote, but you did with your Dali Lama quote. Just beautiful.
LanceThruster
@The Red Pen:
I have no problem deconstructing humor, but the dig was that the wife was not pretty enough to be a trophy wife. It’s a put down of looks and the mindset that this shallow person thought she *was* pretty enough to be a “trophy wife.”
The Red Pen
@LanceThruster:
And who looks foolish as a result? The wife or the husband?
Forum Transmitted Disease
So stop watching.
Last time I had a working TV was in 1999, not coincidentally the last time I had a roommate. Pre-flat panel. Those were the days!
Actually, I still have one. Flat panel, even. It sits on the wall. My wife bought it a few years before we got married. When we wed and got our house, I let her put it on the wall on the condition that we would never get cable.
Then the FCC killed analog broadcasting. So now it really just sits there, inert. Couldn’t use it if we wanted to.
Stop watching and all these bad people just…go away.
LanceThruster
@Mandalay:
I know it was a stretch but I was just trying to defend my blanket generalization.
Not that I don’t think LL’s comments were crude and offensive, just that the nature of comics and humor is such that I tend to give them a lot of leeway.
When Daniel Tosh got in trouble for his “Rape is *always* funny” quote, I thought of all the jokes about killing people (and yes, those can be hilarious).
Heard this from Anthony Jesselnik (sp?) the other night.
“I’ve been looking for my ex-girlfriend’s killer for two years now…but I still can’t find anyone to do it.”
Along those lines of humorous bitterness and mock violence, I offer you Jeffrey Ross’ poem, “I Miss Her Sometimes.”
I ran into my old girlfriend yesterday. / And I backed up and ran into her again. / I miss her sometimes.
LanceThruster
@The Red Pen:
That is not the issue. The issue is that someone was guilty of ‘lookism,’ no?
What’s different when one comments that someone has an ugly child?
LanceThruster
@The Red Pen:
My mother’s a ZOMBIE?!?
Mandalay
@Pococurante:
Having lived in England in the 80s, my (possibly mistaken) understanding is that at that time it referred to anyone who was not white, which would certainly include millions of British people. But I hardly ever heard the word because “coon” and “wog” were the terms of choice. A quick google revealed a riveting and chilling example of their usage:
To my astonishment, this was said by……..Eric Clapton. I’m still in shock.
Mandalay
@LanceThruster:
Hah! Reminds me of that awful C&W song with the great title “How can I miss you if you won’t leave?”.
LanceThruster
@Mandalay:
Wow! It certainly seems out of character (or at least what I’d presume to be the character of a white guitar artist getting rich off the blues).
LanceThruster
@Mandalay:
I like that. I’m also fond of the title, “If The Phone Doesn’t Ring, It’s Me.”
Lurking Canadian
@Another Halocene Human: I’m not at all sure there are any normal people on Girls.
The Red Pen
@LanceThruster:
And that person (the husband) was ultimately the butt of the joke. What’s the problem?
LanceThruster
@HelloRochester:
Interesting observation. Early Dice could be hilarious. Saw part of his latest (before I tuned out) and I was not amused enough to sit through any more.
LanceThruster
@The Red Pen:
You don’t get it. To make the dig at the husband, it had to be based on the looks of the wife as ‘lacking.’
Otherwise there’s no joke.
You want to make a supposedly funny dig at someone’s mother (mine, in fact), but my mother is dead (a suicide no less, before I turned 2 years old). The joke was OK, as far as ‘chop humor’ goes, but don’t overthink it.
I know I don’t.
The Red Pen
@LanceThruster:
But it isn’t presented as her failure, but his. I don’t particularly care what someone else’s wife looks like, but when it’s some jerk who planned to lord his wife’s looks over others, then it’s pretty funny.
Sorry about your mom. George Carlin has a bit where he talks about doing “the dozens” in the old neighborhood and they had a “no mothers” rule for the very reason that you would inevitably insult someone whose mother was dead. Figures I’d hit that on my first foray (I don’t usually traffic in “yo mama” jokes).
Mandalay
@LanceThruster: @The Red Pen:
A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but evidently it wasn’t for first place.
It’s interesting that such a simple (and clever) one liner can generate such different analysis from you two. I find myself being persuaded by whichever one of you two posted most recently.
Analyzing and understanding and humor is a very tricky business, though tbf Steven Wright is way more cerebral than most comedians.
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
@Pococurante:
“But by all means, show your inclusiveness by reserving words just for you and yours.”
I’m assuming that you yourself are British, and maybe you don’t altogether fathom what that word “nigger” is freighted with. I’m not trying to be condescending, and I’m sorry if it comes off that way, but if you are British, then it might be hard for you to truly understand how race has shaped, and still shapes, America.
There’s nothing in this country that race hasn’t somehow touched or affected. Nothing. There just isn’t. It’s all around us, all the time, everywhere, even if white people like me don’t always pick up on it. But, hell, I’ve never seen an atom, but I know they’re real all the same. Just because I haven’t seen something is no reason to think that there is no such thing.
Anyway, “nigger” is a weapon. It always has been. It’s something whites have used for hundreds of years to beat down those people. It is, needless to say, not the only weapon that whites have wielded, but it is one of the more persistent weapons, and it’s a democratic weapon; any white can swing it around freely; it costs nothing to use it, it’s something even the poorest and most helpless whites can slap an African American with, the same as if they were the rich and powerful.
I’m sure I’m somewhat off the mark here, since I’m a white guy, and I can never know that word as ABL or Melissa Harris-Perry or somebody else can. But I hope that I’ve gotten near enough to the target that maybe somebody else can take it from here and put it better. All the same, the thing to keep in mind is that with a history of systemic, institutional violence, dehumanization and marginalization that African Americans have had to live through for 400 years–and it’s still with us, even if it’s no longer socially approved–then that gives A.A.s a kind of moral authority that I can never have.
“Nigger” is their word to use or not use, as they see fit. They’ve earned the right to withold it from us whites if they want–and really, they aren’t even doing us that small “injustice”; we’re still free to slap somebody across the face with a hearty “Nigger!” whenever we feel like it. But what they are witholding is the right to speak that word and still be thought of as a “nice person”.
I really don’t understand, and I never have, why so many whites seem so damned put out that “Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle and so and so and so can say ‘nigger’ and I can’t! It isn’t fair!” It’s such a dumb thing to be pissed off about. And how can any white person not see that if that’s pretty much the extent of the fearsome oppression we whites chafe under at the hands of A.A.’, then we’re doing pretty fucking well. If that’s the worst that ABL can do to you or to me, then we’re in pretty good shape. And ask yourself this: How willing would you be to trade lives with a black dude to get social sanction to say “nigger” whenever you feel like it? How eager do you think most black dudes would be to trade with you, even if they had to give up their cherished right to say “nigger” and still be seen as nice people?
It floors me that so many whites seem so fixated on this Huge Injustice. It floors me that they can’t understand how picayune this is. You can still say nigger. Anybody can. You just can’t say it, if you’re white, without being an asshole. If that’s the worst thing you’ve ever lived through, then you’ve led a damned good life. And it floors me that so many people don’t understand that. It floors me that I even have to spell this out. And it floors me, and disgusts me, that some readers will take what I’ve written far more seriously than they would if ABL or some other A.A. had written it.
It only counts if a white person says it. If an A.A. says it, then, well, they’re just being… Well, that’s just the way they are, they’re never satisfied with anything we do for them, nothing’s ever good enough for them. Have they forgotten that we fought a war to free them? Jeez. Ingrates…
Now, I know I’ve gone on a rant here, and I don’t mean to attack you personally. It’s just that the kind of thing you wrote always sets me off, since it’s so deaf to American history. I’m sorry if I’m out of line, but, shit, it’s time white people really opened our eyes and ears and listened to what A.A.s have to say. I’m not saying that they’ll always be right about everything, and whites are always wrong. Everybody’s wrong sometimes. But too few whites even bother to listen to what A.A.s have to say, especially about racism. We’re too quick to wave it away and just one of them being whiny or over-sensitive, or not being able to take a joke, or looking for some grievance they can use to get an unfair advantage.
I’m sure that there have been times that this or that A.A. did willfully take something the wrong way, or look for something to whine about or get something for nothing. Nobody’s perfect, right? But, damn, A.A.s have a pretty keen ear for what’s racist and what isn’t. If somebody tells you not to say “nigger”, even if they do it in what might strike you as a needlessly proprietary way, and they claim it as their “own” word and that strikes you as presumptuous, well, listen anyway. And if they want to keep that word for themselves, if they want us to stop saying it–presumably this doesn’t hold when we’re talking about the word, and I hope it does, or I’m a big old asshole–then go along with it. They’ve earned it.
Baron Elmo
I do get where you’re coming from, believe me… guess the difference between us is a matter of temperament: I can’t get exercised about a comedian saying offensive shit because idiots laugh and applaud. Offensive shit is a product that will always have a buyer, and a peddler of same like Lisa Lampanelli seems more like an annoyance than a menace to this lover of laughs.
Of course, you’re toiling out there in the comedy trenches, so I freely admit that my perspective has less validity than yours.
different-church-lady
Jesus fuck people: the damn joke is that even in the world of pretty people there are sub divisions of rankings.
Christ, it’s a fuckin’ joke about our social brains do this obsessive relative ranking thing, not about “ugly women”.
Hell, it’s not even a joke about that — it’s mostly just absurdist wordplay.
Study this and don’t come back until you can say something intelligent about it.
Darkrose
@Baron Elmo: Despite popular belief, black people can, in fact, multitask. It’s entirely possible for me to think Lisa Lampanelli is a racist asshat and still be outraged about “real problems”, however you define those.
Mandalay
@different-church-lady:
You manage to change your mind about what the joke is about within your own post, yet you order everyone else to go away and study your link so that we can say something intelligent?
Physician heal thyself.
machine
Let’s wrap this up. Have we, as a group, assuaged ABL’s indignation du jour?
different-church-lady
@Mandalay: YOU TAKE SHIT TOO SERIOUSLY!
No, wait… I take shit too seriously…
different-church-lady
@machine:
Maybe, but whether we did or we didn’t, that still doesn’t solve the problem of Lisa Lampanelli being an unfunny racist asshole.
LanceThruster
I think my examples made my point. There’s always something to be offended by depending on how you look at it. And I’m not dismissing ABL’s dislike of LL’s verbiage, just that comics operate on a different plane. What of Lenny Bruce’s famous tally of audience members? Npot everyone’s cup of tea but look at how outraged certain people were over his humor. And I also agree, everyone IS free to grouse about LL.
Joeyess
Prejudice.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw
wasabi gasp
You didn’t come back to the thread.
I’ll leave it with this, I think there’s something good in having somebody make armpit fart sounds with things best left unsaid.
Baron Elmo
I never insinuated otherwise. By the way, the outrage expressed in this thread is hardly limited to any one skin color.
xian
@Joey Maloney: no, that’s basically her act.
xian
@Warren: who is Nick Kroll?
xian
@FlipYrWhig: or ignores the experiences she has not experienced and writes about the experiences she is familiar with like, well, most writers ever, especially when young and still plumbing their own depths.
xian
@Paul in KY: very wealthy? cite please.
she is being singled out. she’s hardly the only young artist to benefit from connections.
xian
@The Red Pen: stop digging
Thymezone
Uh, this whole thread was a practical joke, right? Heh.
Right? What? No?
Damn. Black dick, white dick …. Who knew that dick had a color?
I just did not know that. Being a straight white guy does have its disadvantages, there is so little I really know about all the dick out there. I guess this is what blogs are for.
StarStorm
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
Ahahahaha no. Get off your high horse.
I’m glad your high and mighty self could shut it off and pretend it all goes away, but that is not the way culture or society works.
Just because *YOU* shut it off doesn’t mean others have, and just because *YOU* think it’s gone away doesn’t mean it’s not influencing others, including those around you.
Tonybrown74
@machine:
It will be the same time you gently and lovingly fuck yourself with a rusty chainsaw …
LAC
God, I am so glad I do not follow this woman. Is she even funny?
Paul in KY
@Mandalay: Is that line still ‘funny’ if the wife is objectively a complete stunner?
Paul in KY
@xian: ‘Very wealthy’ compared to average American family. Look up her parents & figure out what kind of dough they have (where they live, etc, etc,).