You can fool some of the people…

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on August 3rd, 2010

Strngelilblkgrl tweets:

Apparently, America likes its comedy white, male, & heterosexual #lastcomicstanding

Apparently?

It’s not apparent at all.

What is apparent is how frustrating it must be to produce a show like Last Comic Standing when there are morons like this in the viewing audience. This is why the producers shouldn’t even try to cast the show in attempt to be all things to all people.

We have a final five that contains Felipe Esparza and Roy Wood, Jr., and a viewer concludes that America likes its comedy “white.”

And among the final five, only one of them has been depicted in the Up Close and Personal reels as having a girlfriend– and he regularly makes jokes about how everyone thinks he’s gay. And three of the others were shown not with a girlfriend, but with their mothers… and the other one lives alone. So, if we were to indulge in some stereotyping, we might conclude that  all four are gay.  Yet, a viewer concludes that “America likes its comedy… heterosexual.”  So, our tweeting viewer is seeing what she wants to see.  (Disclaimer: We’re not saying that any or all of the final five are gay– not that there’s anything wrong with that– but we’re also not saying that there’s a preponderance of evidence that they’re straight. What we are saying is that strngelilblkgrl is making quite a leap in order to prove some sort of ridiculous point.)  We’re not sure just what exactly that sexual preference has to do with standup comedy.  But what can you say about someone who watches the show and concludes that all five remaining contestants are white?  (Or that sixty per cent is an unacceptable level of paleness for a competition that purports to find the funniest person in America.)  The show makes no claims as to diversity, only that it’s seeking to find the funniest person in America.

Sure, the final five are all males. But there were a good number of females in the semifinals. And there were two females among the top ten. So… until a few weeks ago, America liked its comedy just fine when it was seasoned with some estrogen.

Perhaps she meant Ron White… in which case, she should have capitalize the “W.”

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