Sometimes it’s better if people who don’t usually discuss race and gender stay away from talking about topics like . . . race and gender. In a recent interview, Jerry Seinfeld was asked about the parade of white men in his web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee:”
“People think it’s the census or something. This has gotta represent the actual pie chart of America? Who cares? Funny is the world that I live in. You’re funny, I’m interested. You’re not funny, I’m not interested. I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that.”
And Seinfeld is certainly allowed his opinion–he’s a legendary comic. But his is an opinion that’s seeped in white privilege.
On today’s five hundredth episode, #TeamBlackness discusses the drug war double standard, how asking people to “go back to Africa” is still a thing, and how the RNC celebrates Black History Month.
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The Morning Crew discusses the Texas Textbook Review Board and its lack of teachers (18:45), Benedict Cumberbatch and his family’s history with slaves (27:30), abortion rates going down (37:45), and the new Minnesota Women’s Economic Security Act (44:50).
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muricafukyea
Wholy fuk. This post reeks of slow news day nothing to talk about….not that there is anything wrong with that.
Baud
I think the racial diversity on Seinfeld speaks for itself.
jl
You want a comic who really thinks, or thought, about stuff, you can talk to, or you could have talked to, people like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock.. . The list goes on and on. Even lunatics like Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams and even fricken Rodney Dangerfield, the very rare times when he was not doing his act.
Sorry, but IMHO Jerry Seinfeld does not appear high on the list of comics who really think about stuff.
Edit: And I forgot the ladies, Roseanne Barr, really thinks about stuff, for example.
Violet
Has TWIB discussed the “28 Days” video skit on SNL over the weekend? I found it pretty edgy for SNL. As I discussed here yesterday, I’m enjoying the addition of Sasheer (can’t remember her last name) and having three African-American cast members. They all seem to be getting more air time. Critical mass or something? Anyway, I loved the video. Thought it was great. Haven’t heard much about wingnut heads exploding from it though. Maybe the Coke commercial took all the attention.
shortstop
I love the “This isn’t a census!” argument, never once proffered by anyone not on a well-represented side. The other day some Einstein (here? Can’t remember) responded to somebody’s comment about there never having been a female president with a brilliant “So? We’ve never had a tetraplegic* president, either!”
They really have no idea how they sound.
*I think he used the old term “quadriplegic,” actually, adding to the inadvertent hilarity.
Chyron HR
M’kay.
If Seinfeld’s not supposed to answer the question he was asked, should he have stood up and walked out without saying anything, or just jumped on the interviewer and tried to bite their face off?
As long as we’re inferring racial animus from pop culture, any opinion about the African-American privilege inherent in expecting Macklemore to kowtow before Kendrick for permission to accept his Grammy for Best Rap Album, or is that just part of the natural order of things?
schrodinger's cat
He should have kept his trap shut but I don’t get the outrage, surely he can decide who to feature on his show.
MikeJ
@Violet: I thought that sketch was a perfect embodiment of “Ha ha only serious.”
Violet
@MikeJ: My jaw dropped that they were being that upfront about the issue. I thought it was great that they did, but I didn’t expect to see that on SNL. I liked the white guy who started to respond and the teacher told him to shut up. The whole thing was great. Like I said, having three African-American cast members seems to have shaken up the status quo for sure.
jl
@Chyron HR:
” any opinion about the African-American privilege inherent in expecting Macklemore to kowtow before Kendrick for permission to accept his Grammy for Best Rap Album, ”
I am not in the media loop enough to know whether that was really a common expectation among African-Americans.
I am a big Chuck D fan, and I have watched clips of him giving rap and hip hop clinics all over the world, including Australia, Eastern Europe and other unlikely places. Chuck D said he wants to be ambassador that spreads that music and wants to be a multicultural, permanent, presence in the musical world. Would Chuck D expect some kind of kow-towing? I don’t think so. So, maybe anyone who expects any kind of kow-towing by anybody is missing the point, no matter what race or ethnicity they are?
shortstop
@schrodinger’s cat: Of course he can decide for himself. Similarly, people can criticize him for his very male, very white choices and for the implication in his follow-up remark that women and non-black men aren’t funny.
Betty Cracker
@Chyron HR: I agree that there’s nothing wrong with Seinfeld answering the question he was asked, but his answer was crappy. Maybe that’s what EJW meant — stay away from the question if you don’t want to look like an asshole.
MikeJ
@Violet: I’m afraid it sailed over the heads of a lot of people though. The only thing they saw was “people who are still concerned about all that old stuff are silly.” And yes, self righteousness was an element of the humour, but it wasn’t any where near all of it.
Violet
From the article:
The white men are not just white and men but also all over 50. They’re Seinfeld’s peer group. Even Tina Fey and Sarah Silverman are over 40. How many comedians under 30 has he had on his car series? He’s an ageist too!
jl
@MikeJ: On the other hand, self absorbed people who entangle themselves in misery over nothing at all important was a theme of the Seinfeld show (which was appropriately full of not poor and not working class white people). If Seinfeld were an Andy Kaufman, or even a Jack Benny, might have a little ‘meta’ in the answer.
But as I said, I don’t think Seinfeld is the kind of comic who really thinks about stuff much. And an old Benny line comes to mind about “you would not dare to say that if my writers were here”.(though I think Seinfeld writes his own stuff, but not sure).
schrodinger's cat
@shortstop: Criticize away. Seinfeld’s comments are just pretty low on my outrage list, that’s all.
shortstop
@Violet: Well, except for that Shoshanna thing. ;)
jl
@schrodinger’s cat: I agree. I guess i couldn’t help vent my opinion of Seinfeld as a comic.
Edit: not saying he is a bad or not funny. But don’t expect insightful opinions from him, outside of gags and his usual schtick.
Violet
@shortstop: Sleeping with someone younger isn’t the same thing as hiring them.
dan
He likes comedians that have a certain type of thought process, comedic style and level of fame. He would (and did) have Chris Rock on. He probably would have Eddie Murphy or Tracy Morgan. Maybe Kevin Hart. Definitely not Katt Williams or Eddie Griffin.
Sly
@schrodinger’s cat:
Because the hyper-insularity needed to lecture people for thinking about race and gender can only be pulled off by white men who’ve never had to think about race and gender.
Until now, at least. And it’s totally unfair and ridiculous!
shortstop
@Violet: I was just making a leetle joke.
SatanicPanic
@Chyron HR: I took that as an admission by Macklemore that he probably just won (over a better and more highly respected rapper) because he was white.
SatanicPanic
What does Seinfeld know about being funny anyway? His standup routines on the show were Jay Leno level at best.
Keith G
@Violet: God darn it…Age-ist priviledge!! Just when I thought it was safe to go to the salad bar.
Bobby Thomson
@jl:
I’ll say it. The emperor was naked and his show sucked.
Keith G
@shortstop: No joking allowed…this is serious outrage bait.
MikeJ
@Bobby Thomson: The first couple seasons were ok. At least at the time they seemed fresh compared to the rest of TV. After a coupla years it was just more of the same.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Bobby Thomson:
I’ll third that one. People recently seem to have taken to saying that that TV show “doesn’t hold up well”, meaning that it doesn’t seem funny. I never know what to say, since to me the only mystery has always been why anyone ever thought it was.
I tried to watch a couple of times back in the day and it just seemed like the most stale, predictable sitcom gags imaginable.
jl
@Bobby Thomson: I wouldn’t go that far. I think there are different types of comics. Some are basically a special kind of comedic actor who mostly run off a script, others are much more off the cuff, ‘meta’ and extemporaneously original. Going back to very old school comics and comedians on the spectrum of, say, Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Groucho Marx, Seinfeld, is way way over towards Hope. He can’t (or won’t) do odd extemporaneous ‘meta’ like Benny, or think quick and cleverly like Marx.
Today, I guess on the spectrum of Leno, Rock and C.K. Louis (edit, or Louis C.K. never realized before I’m not sure how his name works), Seinfeld is way way over towards Leno.
KG
Jerry Seinfeld hasn’t been relevant since 1996 or so.
ulee
fiona apple across the universe. Wish I could paste it here but don’t know how.
BethanyAnne
You know who else had White Privilege?
chopper
so seinfeld created this web series thing with his friends fucking around being funny.
and apparently the dude doesn’t really have many black or female friends.
that’s about the extent of this, right?
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
I’ve watched a fair number of the episodes and it’s pretty much “Jerry and his friends go out for coffee.” As far as I can tell, they’re all people he already knows (and has known for years).
So, really, his answer probably should have been along the lines of, I’m friends with a lot of funny people and wanted to do a show about it. I never realized all of my friends were white until you guys pointed it out! I wonder if Chris Rock likes coffee.
Comrade Jake
I’m sorry but his show was hilarious. There really aren’t too many bad episodes. Some of them are as close to perfect as sitcom episodes can possibly be.
As for the above interview, Seinfeld was clearly defensive. I think what he was trying to say is that he doesn’t view funny through any kind of demographic lens. Is that a white privilege perspective? Perhaps. But this is also a guy who has said that the Mt. Rushmore of comedy would have Pryor and Cosby on it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I liked his sitcom, but everything suggests that what was funny and original came from Larry David and the supporting casts.
One of the worst things I ever saw on TV was when Michael Richards got caught in his racist outburst, and Seinfeld used his position to strong arm Letterman in to allowing Richards to attempt an apology.
kc
@Sly:
Come on, he wasn’t “lecturing,” he was answering a question.
Granted, he answered in a dickish way . . .
Cygil
He’s white, but he’s also Jewish, a pretty privileged group in America. So are you gonna have the guts to talk about Seinfeld’s “Jewish Privilege”? Didn’t think so. It’s only safe to grandstand over how awful us “whites” supposedly are.
am
@Violet:
Exactly, and he’s made it clear that this this is an encyclopedic series of only the people he finds funny. Anyone not included in it is right out.
Ash Can
Humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Seinfeld — the person and the sitcom — almost never made me laugh, but that’s just me. I did think that the main characters played very well off of each other. But, just like I wouldn’t make it a point to hang around and watch my co-workers working well together, I wouldn’t bother to watch the show.
As for the issue at hand, if a white person answers a question regarding race and non-white people aren’t comfortable with the answer, the proper response from us whites should be “Why aren’t you comfortable with that?” (and then shutting up and actually listening to the answer) rather than “Oh big deal; lighten up.”
Keith G
@jl: As often as not comics are so tied to their time and place, that they become prisoners of what made them get noticed in the first place. In the 70’s my Pop thought Milton Berle was the best. I did not. I worshipped Bob Hope, got to meet him, and still have his autograph (I was his bartender), but man are his jokes dated and so very sexist. Benny….well there was that whole Rochester thing….jeese.
Seinfeld was a revelation. In the late 70’s, his bits on everyday observations (an extension of somethings that Cosby had done) were amazing. They aren’t that funny now – actually sort of lame.
The Marx Brothers hold up. Rock holds up (no one works harder). Maron has evolved and he has changed the foundation of his sets and now is doing his best work.
Some folks like Steve Martin figure its best not to compete with their original breakthrough and just move on.
shortstop
@Cygil:
Well, we made it to comment 39.
Progress?
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Jack Benny fought to put Eddie “Rochester” Anderson on the radio in the 1930s when everyone else was using white guys to do “black” voices. They worked together for over 30 years. When Benny was told that a Missouri hotel would not allow Anderson to check in with the rest of the group, he threatened to cancel the scheduled live show entirely, making Anderson the first black man to stay at the Robidoux Hotel.
Watch some of the old Jack Benny episodes. They’re not nearly as embarrassing as you seem to think.
jl
@Keith G: You must be older than me. My earliest memories of Bob Hope are of this old kind of out of dude on talk shows often getting groans from the audience. I am a Benny fan, even though too young to have seen him doing anything in real time, but I am a fan, so can’t judge objectively
The Rochester things is probably dated now, but from what I’ve read was kind of edgy then since Rochester was actually played by an African-American, and talked back to his hapless out-of-it (edit WHITE MAN) boss. And from what I’ve read, this was a conscious decision on Benny’s part. He wanted to make a statement. But now it is probably dated, and might even come off the wrong way. So, in some ways I would include Benny in the list of comics who ‘really think about stuff’ when they do their work.
I don’t think the ‘meta’ aspect of Benny’s shows will age so badly. It was a show about a bunch of dysfunctional people trying to put on a show, and usually failing miserably. But conventions of the time make it goofy funny, not nearly as edgy as more recent ‘meta’ stuff.
But Benny, like Dangerfield, and Colbert, almost never ever let himself slip out of character, so would never say things directly.
Nothing against Seinfeld. Everyone has their limitations. As I said, I think Seinfeld does Hope and Leno type, mostly scripted humor and does not have a lot interesting things to say or do outside his schtick. So, that is what he is. You like his act, go see his act. But don’t expect anything much more from him.
Keith G
@Mnemosyne: I see what you are saying, after all “Mammy” won an Oscar. Hattie McDaniel was very grateful for the work, but that part was seen by many as illustrative of a larger problem plaguing the achievements of minorities in entertainment.
Faux News
I never like Seinfeld. I always thought he was a self absorbed douchebag. I’m glad he hasn’t changed. Except for looking old and tired. i didn’t find his show funny either. Same with the show “Friends”. Funny how there were never Black or Latino or Asian people living in Manhattan on both those shows.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Again, watch the show instead of going by what you’ve heard about the show. Here’s a random episode that came up on YouTube, where Rochester beats Benny at gin rummy and Benny has to do Rochester’s work for the day.
And if you really don’t understand the difference between a character who’s portrayed as a happy slave in the antebellum South and a character who’s working for a living in the 1950s, then you have your head up your ass. As usual.
GregB
Driving Mr. Douchy.
WereBear
I found Seinfeld funny. And there was a tendency to use stand ups as one shot characters, and these would vary by race and gender. The script writers and some of the executives were women comics.
There’s also the fact that the three leads were seriously messed up
people. Should they have been minorities? In the 1980’s?
Bobby Thomson
@Cygil: You seem to have mistyped Stormfront, asshole.
mantooth
Congratulations, Jews! You’re white now!
catclub
“But his is an opinion that’s seeped in white privilege.”
Steeped. Although seeped kind of works, too.
and someone else also noted that Chris Rock was about the third one on the show.
Michael57
I don’t see anything wrong with what Seinfeld said. I believe that what he is saying that his tribe is Comedy, and race and gender are irrelevant in the tribe. There is no evidence that he is racist or that he takes advantage of white privilege any more than anyone else. The outrage over this interview is completely phony. It’s obviously just a slow news day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpcEietIoxk
Keith G
@Mnemosyne: Why thank you so very much.
I noted that I perceived a problem with a modern look at the portrayal of the character Rochester. – a character who behaves with stereotypic affectations of vocal language and body language. You implied that Rochester was happy to have that role written for him, I mentioned that Hattie Mcdaniel was happy to have a role that won her an Oscar. For that, you deem it necessary to be crude because you (once again) want to imagine you can know what I “understand”. Well, at least you have grown from passive aggressivity to plain old aggressiveness. Improvements are possible it seems.
Since you feel that McDaniel took a role that was so worthy of reproach, “a character who’s portrayed as a happy slave in the antebellum South”, I suggest that your problem is with her and not me. After all, they are both roles that, while they show persons with wit and agency, they rely on unpleasantly stereotypical and roundly scorned behaviors.
I am sure for some folks, there is a larger message that allows both roles to overcome the awkward feeling engendered by the aforementioned behaviors. For other’s, I imagine that what they see is just too much. That’s what I was noting before you found a soap box to mount to broadcast your vitriol.
As an aside, I love Fred Astaire movies. Yet there are a few that are nearly ruined for me as they include characters directly for the “scrape and shuffle” department of central casting – obsequious, big rolly eyes, affected speech, exaggerated fear response.
Is that okay that is bothers me or is it further evidence that I have my head up my gloriously wonderful ass?
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Vocal language? Possibly. Body language? Watch that video I linked to again. You did watch it, right, and are not just going by your vague memories of what you think Anderson’s acting was like?
No, I implied that Anderson was happy to work with an employer who respected him as an actor and went to great lengths to publicly display that respect. Not the same thing as Hattie McDaniel being hired for one role in a film where she didn’t even get to write her own acceptance speech.
So, again, in your opinion there is no difference between portraying a person with wit and agency who is a slave and a person with wit and agency who is a paid employee? Both portrayals are equally troublesome because you don’t like Anderson’s accent?
For the record, Rochester is the name of the character, not the actor. The actor started billing himself as Eddie “Rochester” Anderson because the role made him famous, but his last name was Anderson, not Rochester.
Mandalay
Seinfeld lobbed a few strawmen, but really gave himself away in the final five seconds of the clip: “It’s more about – you know – PC nonsense, than “are you making us laugh or not?”. WTF?
And what a repulsive, servile interviewer. If that’s how Seinfeld is accustomed to being treated then I wouldn’t be too surprised that he has a sense of privilege. Most people would.
Cassidy
@SatanicPanic: He won because he had a song about gay rights.
Ripley
Whitesplainin’ and Mansplainin’: On this thread, both sides do it.
Mike N.
Jerry has some reflective moments with Michael Richards – last episode of the 1st season. Not that he should necessarily be forgiven, but Richards seems pretty messed up over what he said.
Alison F
I am confident 2014 will be the year hollow terms like “white privilege” and “mansplainin” jump the shark. If we work hard together, we can make this happen.
Michael57
Seinfeld had his name on a series in which a black character ended up with 1998 Teri Hatcher. This series and this comedian by definition cannot be racist. I honestly rest my case. There is no rebuttal to this argument.
Keith G
@Mnemosyne: And yet McDaniel was vocally happy for the role, as unfortunate as it was written.
And yes, exaggerated facial expressions are a part of body language. I have now looked at half a dozen clips and my central observation from above still is pertinent:
Note that I am not telling you how you should feel. In my initial statement I was thinking aloud that there were actions given to the character Rochester (written by white men for the entertainment of predominantly white audiences) that are problematic for me – and possibly others. As I was not exhorting others on how they should feel, I failed to predict how controversial it would be to note how I found that such characters whom were given that type of stereotypic behavior not funny to me.
Live and learn
Mandalay
@Keith G:
You really should know better by now. You are attempting to have a reasonable and rational exchange of views with a type 4 (Never-Give-Up, Never-Surrender Troll) troll….
Just stop doing it. You will be happier.
Botsplainer
Clearly, Seinfeld needed to include a raw food vegan gay Muslim person of color in the mix to tell jokes from the unique perspective of .00003247 percent of the population in order to prove that he is concerned with True Progressive issues.
Fuck Mumia, I wanted him to die for his crimes….
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Yes, the answer here must that I find stereotypic characters funny, not that I think that Eddie Anderson in particular transcended the stereotype.
We are discussing one specific actor, not a faceless group of characters who were given stereotypic behavior. If you don’t feel that Anderson was able to overcome the stereotypes the same way that, say, Jack Benny transcended the stereotype of the penny-pinching Jew while still portraying a miserly character, then that’s a matter of taste, I suppose.
But I do feel that it’s very unfair to Anderson’s talent and Benny’s writers to lump Anderson in with actors like Stepin Fetchit who were not able to overcome the stereotyped roles they were given.
cleek
@Alison F:
sadly, i doubt it.
they make great shortcuts to actual thought. get ya right into that aggrieved state right-quick.
Paul in KY
@SatanicPanic: I think being white certainly helped Macklemore (and Ryan Lewis!) win and I think they know that & are a little chagrined by it.
Paul in KY
@jl: Saw Bob Hope in concert once in 1980. He was damned funny. Not X-rated, but alot more vulgar than what you saw on TV.
RP
Seinfeld also had Mario Joyner on CICGC, and Joyner was on a couple episodes of Seinfeld. In fact, there were a lot of black characters.
ben
Wait so saying “i don’t care what color or race someone is, if they are funny I will have them on my show” some how, in your world, makes him racist? “Steeped in white privilege?” Holy shit! Maybe it’s you that is racist, since no matter what a white person says it makes him an asshole.
Howlin Wolfe
@shortstop:
Greek, Latin , what’s the difference?
Howlin Wolfe
@WereBear: 3 leads? No Elaine? Julia Louis Dreyfuss was hilarious.
Howlin Wolfe
@Bill E Pilgrim:
it just seemed like the most stale, predictable sitcom gags imaginable.
Right, same old “Master of one’s domain” trope, eh? Wasn’t that on “Leave it to Beaver”?