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Section Header
Troupe pushes limits

By Jeff Sklar
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday February 21, 2003

Comedy Corner integrates racial humor into shows

When a student comedy troupe tried some terrorism-related humor at one of its weekly performances, its members learned that topical jokes sometimes hit a nerve.

In the Comedy Corner sketch, a paranoid white man was sitting on a plane next to an Arab man. When the Arab man reached into his bag to pull out a Walkman, the other man became unnerved and distraught.

"I don't think anybody laughed the entire time," said Comedy Corner member Justin Thomas.

He thinks some people would laugh if they tried the sketch again today, but it may have crossed the line at the time ÷ just after Sept. 11, 2001.

In an often philosophical, often humorous discussion yesterday, Thomas, Comedy Corner director Zach Landis, local playwright Silviana Wood and Arizona Daily Star cartoonist David Fitzsimmons addressed racial humor, political correctness and their role in shaping society.

Speaking to an audience of about 40 people, the four panelists agreed that racially tinged humor can be appropriate, but that the ethnicity of the speaker matters in determining whether a joke is racist or simply funny.

"We can say it but we don't want anyone else to say it," said Wood, a UA graduate who stars in a Spanish comedy program where she offers advice.

The presentation opened with a series of clips of minority comedians joking about racial issues. From Chris Rock's comparisons between black people and "niggaz" to Latino comedian Juan Villareal's barbs about sleeping in until noon and barbecuing every weekend while on food stamps, the panelists agreed the clips were funny.

But had a white person made the same jokes, they might not have laughed.

"It's correct if we do it but it's not correct if someone does it on us," Wood said.

The Comedy Corner members agreed, saying they often have to tone down their humor because they fear it will offend too many people.

"If we offend a few people that's okay," Thomas said. "We usually like to do that."

Fitzsimmons said humorists need to be open to sensitivity, and the idea of political correctness shouldn't be tinged with negativity.

"Political correctness, I'm convinced, is a term coined by right-wing conservative reactionaries, probably in the 1970s, because they were afraid of diversity," he said.

Besides, Thomas said, sometimes white people are just more fun to make fun of.

"I don't think we could ever run out of things to make fun of white people for," he said.


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