Who Killed "Sense of Humor?"

Redd Foxx ... Richard Pryor ... Paul Mooney ... Don Rickles ... Jackie Mason ... George Carlin.

These are just a few names that are considered royalty in comedy game. For decades, these men made us laugh damn near til we peed our pants. Hell ... these men are comedic gods! They exposed the underbelly of society; and we took it because good, bad, or ugly, we took it because ultimately they told the truth. I have always been one to say that at the root of every good lie & every good joke is a shred of truth.

Over the past several years, I've seen something very ugly take place. I have seen entertainers shunned and denigrated for their humor. I haven't heard much from Rickles or Mason; Foxx & Pryor are the personal jesters of the Almighty, but Mooney & Carlin are still going strong. Carlin is best at calling everyone on their B.S., and even though Mooney gave up the use of the word "nigger" after that whole Michael Richards episode, he can still verbally slit the throat of this country's racist history and make us all bleed out laughter.

However, as I sit here at my desk I find myself thinking ... Could Richard Pryor in his prime survive in this day and age? Actually, a lot of Pryor's prime material is tame by today's comedic standards. A better question would be, could an "early in the game" Eddie Murphy survive today? Twenty five years ago, a young up and coming comic clad in a leather suit got up on a stage and in recording his debut stand-up album Comedian (accompanied by the movie Delirious) said, "Are there any faggots in the room? No? Good ... Let's talk about them." The only uproar in the room was raucus laughter as he carried on his routine about homosexuals. He made you envision American icons like Ralph Kramden & Ed Naughton as lovers, and you laughed. He made you envision Mr. T as a homosexual, and you laughed even harder. Four years later in his next stand-up movie Raw, he joked about homosexuals on full-scale alert looking to get at him for making fun of them. Was there really anyone after him? No. Were there any protests? No. Did it make the news at all? You guessed it ... errr ... NOPE!

The greatest source of a great deal of comedy comes from the telling and even over-exaggeration of ethnic stereotypes, but tell a gay joke ... a black joke ... a chinese joke today ... and NOT actually be of that particular group and you could possibly very well kiss your standing in so-called civilized society goodbye! WHAT THE F ...?!

Who killed the "Sense of Humor?" When ... no ... WHY did people get so damn sensitive? Some stereotypes are just flat out funny, and the truth is, there are people who live up to them. No one just made these things up out of the blue. The fact of the matter is they're only foul when you try to apply them to an entire group. Even more of a fact ... every ethinc group has its trifling folk, and ultimately sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying.

I have enough sense to know the difference between when something said is meant to be humorous and when it's meant to be hurtful. It's a damn shame that society is sterilizing itself, but me ... I think I'm just going to watch Delirious & Raw and laugh my ass off!

What do you think?

H.