Friday, December 14, 2007
O Brothers Al and Jesse, Where Art Thou?
I happened to catch of re-run of "The Daily Show" the other night -- of course, they're all re-runs during the writers' strike -- that featured a rant by Lewis Black, always my favorite segment. I hadn't seen it before, so I guess it wasn't a re-run for me, right?
Anyway, part of it was Black raging against the redesigns of U.S. paper money, and he zeroed in on the large purple 5 on the back of the new $5 bill. His punchline there was, "Now the $5 bill is as queer as the $3 bill."
A decent line, though not particularly one of his best gems of agitated wisdom, but it made me curious because it was potentially as offensive to gays as Don Imus's infamous lines were to the Rutgers women's basketball team, don't you imagine? So, I was prompted to ask myself, where were the Rev. Al and the Rev. Jesse the next morning when they should have been on Comedy Central's doorstep calling for Black's expulsion from the airwaves because he had irreparably insulted their gay brothers and sisters (see: Baldwin, James, to that guy in "The Crying Game" or all the way back to Little Richard)?
Strange indeed that Jesse's "rainbow coalition" would seem to have been missing a few shades, presumably of pink and purple hues. Or maybe they didn't want to attack a "Black" man? Or they don't stay up late enough to watch "The Daily Show"? Or the real answer, which I shouldn't have to spell out for you.
(For me, the bottom line in all of this is: Black's line was funny, Imus's wasn't. That's the only thing that should matter for comedians. Their only conceivable sin -- and you won't find this in the Bible, Rev. Al and Rev. Jesse -- is to not be funny. Either way, they should be able to say whatever they want, here in a nation of free speech, and the self-serving preachers be damned. In other words, F'em if they can't take a joke, even a bad one.)
Anyway, part of it was Black raging against the redesigns of U.S. paper money, and he zeroed in on the large purple 5 on the back of the new $5 bill. His punchline there was, "Now the $5 bill is as queer as the $3 bill."
A decent line, though not particularly one of his best gems of agitated wisdom, but it made me curious because it was potentially as offensive to gays as Don Imus's infamous lines were to the Rutgers women's basketball team, don't you imagine? So, I was prompted to ask myself, where were the Rev. Al and the Rev. Jesse the next morning when they should have been on Comedy Central's doorstep calling for Black's expulsion from the airwaves because he had irreparably insulted their gay brothers and sisters (see: Baldwin, James, to that guy in "The Crying Game" or all the way back to Little Richard)?
Strange indeed that Jesse's "rainbow coalition" would seem to have been missing a few shades, presumably of pink and purple hues. Or maybe they didn't want to attack a "Black" man? Or they don't stay up late enough to watch "The Daily Show"? Or the real answer, which I shouldn't have to spell out for you.
(For me, the bottom line in all of this is: Black's line was funny, Imus's wasn't. That's the only thing that should matter for comedians. Their only conceivable sin -- and you won't find this in the Bible, Rev. Al and Rev. Jesse -- is to not be funny. Either way, they should be able to say whatever they want, here in a nation of free speech, and the self-serving preachers be damned. In other words, F'em if they can't take a joke, even a bad one.)
