Michael Richards (Kramer) loses it on stage

[Frogacuda]

So if he'd gone up there and done a routine where he denied the Holocaust in no uncertain terms and nothing remotely comedic, that wouldn't offend you either?
Even then, if you wouldn't, could you atleast understand others being offended and outraged?

That doesn't offend me, as much as it makes me think they're retarded. Richards didn't say anything blatantly untrue, he was just being a confrontational ass and using pejorative slurs (toward someone else who was already being a confrontational ass and using pejorative slurs before Richards ever started, btw). And again, I think Richards was attempting to be funny, he just sucks.

Firstly, you don't know if anyone in their families was lynched or not. Secondly, it doesn't matter. Richards was identifying them as a people who not only were lynched, but should be again. There's nothing silly about it, only hurtful and racist.

Honestly, the lynching line got a laugh from most of the audience. It was clearly a joke. He lost the audience when he started screaming nigger, for some reason.

This shows a definite lack of understanding on your part. That word has a lot deeper meaning behind it than just black, even if some in the black community act like it doesn't. It harkens back to a time when black people were less than human to the dominate culture in the United States, and every time it's used, especially when used to intentionally demean someone of color it is an insult.

Oh my god, shut the fuck up. I said the literal meaning is simply "black person". Its old redneck slang for negro. I understand it means more to people than that. That's exactly what I was saying.

Except one is clearly a joke, and the other is not a joke at all.

Again, I think Richards was clearly attempting humor, wether he was succeeding or not.

[cka]

kramer is truly an Adonis of comedy

edit: http://captainoftheussinevitable.ytmnsfw.com

[Drewbacca]

tnl isn't a race

it's a nation

retart

You say that as if you weren't talking cryptically about black people and mexicans. We know otherwise.

[Ashen Victor]

[...] the black and white cookie. I love the black and white. Two races of flavor living side by side. It's a wonderful thing isn't it?

The thing about eating the Black and White cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate And yet somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved.

[Tommy Tallarico]

The only thing worse in any discussion on this board than buttcheeks is anyone who actually tries to argue with him. For anyone that hasn't figured it out yet, here is every "discussion" he is a part of:

Poster 1: "The sun is yellow."

buttcheeks: "Well the sun definitely has a blue tint to it."

Poster 1: "No, it doesn't. Go outside and look at it. There's absolutely no blue whatsoever in the sun."

buttcheeks: "I'm not trying to say that there's blue in the sun, only that it looks blue sometimes."

Poster 1: "No, it never looks blue ever."

buttcheeks: "Do you people even read anything I say anymore? I never even said it looks blue. I said that it might look blue if you looked at it with blue tinted glasses"

So please, for all of our sakes, stop it.

[g0zen]

That doesn't offend me, as much as it makes me think they're retarded. Richards didn't say anything blatantly untrue, he was just being a confrontational ass and using pejorative slurs (toward someone else who was already being a confrontational ass and using pejorative slurs before Richards ever started, btw). And again, I think Richards was attempting to be funny, he just sucks.

He himself even said he wasn't joking, that he flew off the handle and lost control of himself, a la Mel Gibson on the sauce. I know none of us here are scholars of comedy like yourself, but I for one couldn't find any attempted humor in what he said, failed or not.

Honestly, the lynching line got a laugh from most of the audience. It was clearly a joke. He lost the audience when he started screaming nigger, for some reason.

I still say it wasn't a joke, and the audience's reaction was more due to the unexpectedness of a comic being so blatantly racist. And come on, you of all people should know that some people will laugh at anything a comic says with little to know comprehension of what was said because they have it in their heads that it's 'supposed' to be funny and they came there to laugh.

The same sort of situation occured when Richards tried to make his apology on Letterman. The audience laughed, why? He wasn't telling any jokes, but people go on Letterman to have a good time and they had to suffer through that Oprah confessional bullshit so they laughed inappropriately. At the club though you could tell that after it sunk in that he wasn't doing a bit that the mood of the room changed. The tipping point came when he started his pointing and screaming of "He's a nigger" and that's when people began filing out.

Oh my god, shut the fuck up. I said the literal meaning is simply "black person". Its old redneck slang for negro. I understand it means more to people than that. That's exactly what I was saying.

Fuck you, shithead. You were being deliberately obtuse about it with an IronPlant-esque "What's the big deal, he was just saying they were black, and they are right?" statement and you got called out for it.

Again, I think Richards was clearly attempting humor, wether he was succeeding or not.

And I think he wasn't, I think he could tell he was bombing and he blamed the audience rather than his material. So, when he heard those hecklers he flew into a rage and decided to try and be as insulting and hurtful as he could by telling 'those people' what he really though about them.

[AstroBlue]

Stop this offtopic shit, and get to the important issues:

Seinfield was way better than Drew Carey. Drew Carey was formulaic bullshit.

[Fe 26]

I think the drew Carey show had a better opening song.

[Frogacuda]

He himself even said he wasn't joking, that he flew off the handle and lost control of himself, a la Mel Gibson on the sauce. I know none of us here are scholars of comedy like yourself, but I for one couldn't find any attempted humor in what he said, failed or not.

No, he didn't. His horrible attempt at an apology may have been damning, but he did make it clear that he was attempting to do something that didn't work.

I still say it wasn't a joke, and the audience's reaction was more due to the unexpectedness of a comic being so blatantly racist. And come on, you of all people should know that some people will laugh at anything a comic says with little to know comprehension of what was said because they have it in their heads that it's 'supposed' to be funny and they came there to laugh.

No, I've seen many comics eat their balls on stage. A lot of times (especially at pot luck shows like the one Richards was performing at) people who go to the shows have no idea who's performing that night and have probably never seen him perform before. As I understand it as told by others who were there that night, that guy was being an asshole and yelling shit through the entire set, and I'm sure a lot of people got a laugh at it, because they were happy to see Richard's call the guy out on being a dick and ruining everyone's fun. This has been my experience at many shows.

Sometimes comics will lash out at hecklers, and sometimes it's the best part of the show. That Bill Burr rant is a perfect example of a guy just lashing out and attacking everything that he could to piss off the people who were booing him (in that case Philadelphians) and the crowd fucking loved him for it. Patrice Oneal has gotten laughs by attacking people in the audience and making them cry. People like mean shit when it's called for.

And when you attack someone like that, you try to wound them. You try to say the shit that will piss them off the most, and that's why Richards did what he did, NOT because he thinks black people are niggers, but because he wanted to piss that one black person off and he knew that would do it. The delivery was hammy and over-the-top as well and he was trying to be shocking/provacative/funny, but he just came off like a lunatic.

The tipping point came when he started his pointing and screaming of "He's a nigger" and that's when people began filing out.

If that was in New York or Dallas, no one would have left. Whether or not they agreed with it, they'd probably enjoy watching a comedian have a meltdown.

Fuck you, shithead. You were being deliberately obtuse about it with an IronPlant-esque "What's the big deal, he was just saying they were black, and they are right?" statement and you got called out for it.

Don't tell me what I meant. I said it was the lack of meaning and connotation. I should have said it's the connotation and lack of meaning. What I said was worded slightly ambiguously, but I clearly explained what I meant afterwards.

I do not condone the use of the word in other contexts, but in discussion, performance, etc, it's different than saying it sincerely. I understand what the word means and the power it has, and I'm not trying to negate that. If he said it off stage with a straight face, it'd be different. But sometimes comedy is mean or offensive and that's ok.

I think he could tell he was bombing and he blamed the audience rather than his material.

This much is probably true. But silence says more than yelling shit at the stage. Hecklers in comedy clubs are attention seeking assholes, they are never EVER funny, and they deserve to be berated.

[Tommy Tallarico]

TLDR