Why do African American actors hate themselves so much?

http://www.thegrio.com/entertainment/is-black-film-comedy-dying-in-drag.php# Read full post

Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy (trailer)

Dear friends,

It's really sad to hear Chris Rock give so much acclaim to Eddie Murphy. Yet, it's even sadder, because neither one of those guys has ever done anything but pander to "white" sentimentality, regardless of the colors of their audiences.

Red Foxx and Moms Mabley will far more responsible and showing dignity with their comedy… Meanwhile, Steve Harvey jokes: I know a girl so black that when she puts on a yellow dress, she looks like a traffic light. And Robert Townsend who produced and/or directed this one, and put out the beautiful movie "Hollywood Shuffle" did exactly that when he was given a TV program a few years back by ABC.

It's really sad to hear Chris Rock give so much acclaim to Eddie Murphy… It's even sadder, because neither one of those guys has ever done anything but pander to "white" sentimentality, regardless of the colors of their audiences.

All the Black comics these days are more or less cheap versions of Eddie Murphy, including Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle. That is, it's the same pandering mentality. Obviously, Dave Chapelle has far more integrity than Eddie and the rest of them, at least to me. However, the types of jokes that I hear from these guys makes me question just how many experiences they've had in life.

Many of the females, of course, have self-esteem issues as females that cloud their ability to be funny in an inspiring way. Unfortunately, almost all of the males share that same fate. If one has interacted with many types of people, under many types of circumstances then s/he will invariably find plenty of material about which to laugh. The problem is: for arts generally, African Americans must learn to distinguish art from pander, by gaining greater mental stamina so that they can think more deeply about what, why/what for, how, when, and with whom they want to share their thoughts.

Finally, for all of the pretentious comments being made about Black comedy on the link below, aside from the fact that too many people in this country, of all cultural groups, suffer from emotional despair that makes them need to be entertained as opposed to entertaining themselves through activities like, for example, simply sitting by themselves and enjoying their thoughts, reading, writing, singing, involving themselves in any variety of sports activities - be they mental like checkers and chess or physical like basketball or soccer,what over 99% of all of today's African American comics don't realize is: there is a huge difference between self-deprecation and self degradation. 

We must inform to inspire, in order to win the war. And the war is: to win the minds of Our people.

G. Djata Bumpus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEmGyRBmohI Read full post

Steoin Fetchit lives in most of today's Black Comics

Dear Friends,

It is interesting that Stepin Fetchit is now receiving accolades from the new generation of buffoons like Steve Harvey and Martin Lawrence. Worse yet, with all of the phony sentimentalism that is directed towards the late Trayvon Martin, very little analysis of the young man's murder, as it relates to how the negative images of African American people that the three aforementioned so-called "comics" and their ilk keep etched in both the collective conscience and unconsciousness of those who call themselves "white" helps create the George Zimmermans.

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLfxxgqg5ow Read full post

Russell Simmons attacks Harriet Tubman/Black people

"Once again, under the guise of being “comics”, some pathetic African Americans are mistaking self-deprecation for-self-degradation."



Dear friends,

I was channel surfing late Saturday night (8/17/13), when I stopped at a program called Comedy TV or something.

A young black male comic named Billy Dee Washington had just come on. At first, he actually sounded funny mimicking someone who told him that when they go to a comedy show they don’t want to think; rather, they just want a laugh. That was, apparently, supposed to be some type of prelude for what was coming. I should mention here that his audience was all European American.

At any rate, the aforementioned comic went on to say “I just found out that my great-grandfather was a runaway slave...he ran away because my great-grandmother was a bitch.”...The European-American audience halfheartedly laughed. In other words, even some of them found it offensive.

When I was talking with one of my daughters ,yesterday, she mentioned that Russell Simmons had come out with a tape call the Harriet Tubman sex tapes, and that Spike Lee and others were incensed..

Once again, under the guise of being “comics”, some pathetic African Americans are mistaking self-deprecation for-self-degradation. In this short interview below Russell Simmons tries to explain away his self-hatred and disgraceful lack of consideration for African American people, although he likes to collect our dollars.

Additionally , stirring people up by using controversy , for the sake of it , is a very negative , poisonous approach to creating union between people .

One Love!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnwDKcpc1RE
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Blacks and Comedy - a review of an NYC Comedy Show

Kareem Green and Hadiyah Robinson

Luigi

“What attempts to pass itself off as self-deprecation is really self-degradation. The two practices are not the same.”

Dear friends, 

 This past Friday (May 31, 2013), I arrived in New York City to see a friend who was visiting from outside the country for a week. On the agenda for that evening first was to catch one of NYC’s veteran comics, Hadiyah Robinson.

While I’d seen videos of her, this would be the first live performance I’d seen. My friend and I were both more than pleased that we’d gone to the show, which was at a very nice, Yuppie-ish place called the One & One Pub, in Lower Manhattan. (btw, being held every first and ever last Friday of the month) 

 In any case, the very pretty and witty Hadiyah, who was also the host/emcee of the show, was joined by two equally funny and thoughtful comedians, Kareem Green and a brother who simply goes by the name Luigi. All three were hilarious! And all three were well-seasoned vets, with Luigi doing a skit where he impersonated Mike Tyson incredibly well and in a way that would have had the legendary prizefighter both smiling and laughing with approval.  By the way, any cultural group will enjoy the three aforementioned comics' presentations.

 Yet, there was also a little downside to the show, unfortunately, because three novices were generously given the microphone, even though not a single one of the trio deserved, much less earned, it - a heavyset fellow named Jamal, a young woman (Kali ?) who spent too much time claiming to be Dominican, and a buffoon named Jay “the singing comic” who, apparently, forgot that he was on stage and not on a street corner amusing his wino buddies. In their amateurish effort to use the comedic technique of self-deprecation, the thoughtless drivel of each of  these three was laced with the pejorative term "Niggaz" throughout their insulting sets. And this was in front of an audience that was equally mixed with both African- and European-Americans.

 The three who I just mentioned above remind me of some words from a piece that was written by an old and dear friend of mine, legendary Philadelphia journalist Elmer Smith, when he paid homage to the great Richard Pryor, after the latter’s passing, back in late 2006. It goes, in part, “…he may have been the funniest man who ever told the truth for comic effect…Problem is that his success has spawned a legion of foul-mouthed imitators whose mindless musings haven't evolved since they were class cut-ups in junior high school…You can turn on the television any day of the week and hear the uncouth utterances of some street-corner comic whose idea of comedy is to see how many "mf's" he or she can sprinkle on a half-baked monologue that tries to raise low-life to high art…It has become the staple of a crew of stand-ups who got some of the style and none of the substance that distinguished Pryor's comedy… Pryor offered insights. The other blue comics offer only stereotypes…But I can't understand how someone who hopes to make a living at something doesn't care enough about his (or her) craft to even examine it closely… His comedy came from his struggle to understand a society where he saw himself as an alien in his native land… the crude comics who have followed him can decipher all of the words but none of the meaning of what they heard.” (Elmer Smith | Pryor's message was more than the profanity, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 16, 2006) 

Of course, on a side note, when he was just starting to really get big, back in the early-Seventies, I went to catch Pryor at a small nightclub called Paul's Mall on Boylston St, in Boston (today, almost exactly where the Boston Marathon Bombing occurred). I still remember, as he got out of the limo and walked towards the front door, folks standing in a line that was a block or so long were asking him for his autograph. Then suddenly a guy yelled out "Hey Richard!...Will you autograph this blank check?". At that, Pryor and everyone else cracked up, as he entered the venue.

 Finally, to me, one of the most damning criticisms that I have of wannabe comics like Jamal, (Kari ?), and Jay mentioned above  is: Like so many of today’s Black “comics” of whom my brother Elm spoke above is: What attempts to pass itself off as self-deprecation, in order to get a cheap laugh, is really self-degradation. Obviously, the two concepts are not the same. 

Still, I look forward to seeing Hadiyah, Kareem, and Luigi again. Cheers!

 G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/opinion/15iht-edjackson.html?_r=1 Read full post

9 minutes-long George Carlin video gives us some real Religion

Dear friends,

On the link below, is a thought-provoking message from the late, great comic George Carlin. However, please excuse the foul language in advance. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IRxpjEZveQ Read full post

Senator Obama Roasting Senator McCain

Humor as a way of understanding life's contradictions can be any combination of information, entertainment, or empowerment..

Dear friends,

Here's a clip (if you have not seen it yet) from "You Tube" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk5YJkhizRs that you can also catch on "Comedy Secrets" at http://www.comedysecrets.blogspot.com/ ( a link that also shows McCain roasting Obama at the same dinner program in New York City), it is really funny stuff. :-)

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
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