6 Responses

1. Jon Lincoln says:

   January 9, 2009 at 3:08 pm

   I find niche showcases like these very insulting. It seems almost a tad racist. By having an “all asian” or “all indian” showcase its saying that the color of someones skin makes them somehow different. Isn’t that something America has been trying to eliminate? The reality is many asians, african americans and other races grow up in similar environments (suburban, urban etc.)… An asian guy who grew up in a white suburban town has no different viewpoints than a white guy from that same town.I would be more comfortable with an “Urban Showcase” where all the performers are from the inner cities…whether they are white, black, asian etc. Same goes for a “All Asia Show” where performers are, you know, from parts of asia. It would be especially great for them to find a white guy (if funny) that was born and raised in Japan with that viewpoint. Maybe a “European Show” with comics originating from europe.If they want to do a niche showcase that’s fine…but make it a proper niche. Not something that puts an entire race into a pigeon hole.This is the problem I’ve seen with alot of BET’s showcases. It makes people think ALL black comedians do similar material. If anything BET has made it MORE difficult for clean suburban black comedians to get work because they feature mostly “urban” comedy, but label is “black entertainment”. As if they are the authority over all black people.Even the names of the shows seem a tad racist…”SlantEd Comedy” for asians? “Indian Comedy Slam”??? They aren’t even indian…they’re native american. Haven’t Native Americans been trying to erase the name “indian” from their race for centuries?Just my two cents.

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2. Rick says:

   January 9, 2009 at 3:25 pm

   Jon,I agree with almost everything you say. There’s a movie coming out called “The Awkward Kings of Comedy” about self-called ‘nerdy’ black comedians. As for the name ‘Indian’, I used to work in a museum where there was an exhibit of Indian artifacts. I wondered the same thing, and was told that the museum worked with a Native American advocacy group and they were fine with the term ‘Indian’. I think it’s all in context.

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3. Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

   January 9, 2009 at 3:58 pm

   Mr. Lincoln says:“I find niche showcases like these very insulting. It seems almost a tad racist. By having an “all asian” or “all indian” showcase its saying that the color of someones skin makes them somehow different. Isn’t that something America has been trying to eliminate?”To which we reply:Mr. Ogata, who is in one of these “insulting” niche shows, has a sense of humor about the situation. If he’s all right with it, then we’re all right with it. We’re happy for him that he has scored yet another high-profile showcase on a major cable outlet and that, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, he can capitalize on that platform and turn it into a following.As for trying to eliminate such things, that was the old way. America, since the ’70s or so, has been all about Balkanizing the populace. Initially, it was for the purpose of instilling pride in various enclaves. Lately, however, it is more closely related to commerce– substitute the term “market segmentaion” for pigeonholing, if you wish. The purpose is to expose an ethnic group or a gender (or a specifically- gendered ethnic group) to the public, in order to demonstrate that (in this case) standup comedy is much more than just white males.We expounded on the phenomenon of market segmentation in an earlier post (which we can’t seem to locate!). Russell Simmons is the king of market segmentation and he became very rich and powerful doing it. (And with him so, too, did many comedians become rich and powerful.) He presented to the public a series of (mostly) black, (mostly) male comedians who eventually found themselves with an entirely separate circuit of clubs. Other shows/videos/showcases followed (Was that Latino show called “Que Loco?” How about Paula Poundstone’s video for Kellog’s?)We all know the reality– that “many Asians and other races grow up in similar environments, etc.” but the purpose of these niche shows is not to educate but to demonstrate one thing: That standup is not all about white males. That it is much more diverse than that. That we don’t have to “settle” for one Seinfeld clone after another. (If you’re having dejavu, that’s because the above description is, with slight variations, how the MSM described “Evening at the Improv” in countless, negative assessments of that show.)The TV utopia you envision– where a cable outlet or a network hires a very special person to ponder over who grew up where and whose experience trumps whose, and which country’s comedians fall under the category of Europe and which under Asia– is far too much trouble for any TV outlet to go to. The limited bandwidth they have to work with dictates that they concoct simple categories (pigeonholes, if you must be negative about it) and develop and cast those shows around those categories.As for the “problem” of folks thinking that ALL African-American comedians do similar material, well, like we said earlier, a significant number of Journo-Americans (and the folks who read their output) think that White Males are all either Seinfeld or Sam Kinison– they’re either bland observational comics or screaming, misogynistic homophobes.Is either one accurate? Certainly not. Are there people who buck these trends and go to comedy clubs and see for themselves? Yes, there are. And God bless them one and all.

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4. Jon Lincoln says:

   January 9, 2009 at 5:02 pm

   I guess the proof will be in the pudding. If the reason for Showtime to do this is “in order to demonstrate that standup comedy is much more than just white males” then I’m all for it. We’ll see what percentage of the comics on these shows don’t fall directly into the stereotypes that you would expect from their specific race.My point on BET was that on NUMEROUS occasions when I was booking shows at NACA I would be trying to promote a black comedian and schools would say “Our students don’t like Def Jam comedy”. Huh? The guy I’m promoting is a hilarious, suburban middle class, college educated comic…with dark skin. What you don’t like is “URBAN” comedy…not black comedians. I fear sometimes these “niche” showcases make it so people think all comedians from that niche do similar comedy. It seems every “All Gay Showcase” I’ve seen only showcases ‘flaming’ gay men and ‘dike-ish’ lesbian women…totally mis-representing the gay population. Thus…many gay comedians I know that aren’t like Jack from Will & Grace hide the fact they are gay not because of fear of coming out of the closet, but rather they don’t want bookers and the public to think if they see their show it will be a re-run of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.Obviously Showtime could be doing something different (although calling an all asian show “SlantEd” makes it suspect) and I totally agree with trying to let the world know that there is more than just white male comedians out there. I just think there is a better way of going about it.As for Paul Ogata. He is a great comedian. This isn’t meant to be an attack on him…but to say ” If he’s all right with it, then we’re all right with it” is nonsense. Getting on tv as a comedian is like catching lightning in a bottle. Even if he thought the showcase was bogus there’s a good chance he would still do the show for the tv exposure. The same reason comics do Last Comic Standing. They know its bogus. They know its not fair and extremely political, but if it gets you on tv and furthers your career you’ll do it.

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5. Paul Ogata says:

   January 9, 2009 at 8:24 pm

   To be fair, “SlantEd Comedy” is not Showtime’s creation. The series of live shows are the brainchild of Filipino-American comic Edwin San Juan. Hence, the “Ed” in “SlantED”.It is difficult enough to get booked at shows but even more so as an Asian-American. I have actually heard, “We already have an Asian on the show.” Really. SlantEd has been a great help in getting Asian-American comics stage time at the big clubs.I see this as a good thing: A major cable channel has decided to reward the hard work of one of my friends by giving him valuable air-time. It’s not bogus, and I’m all in.

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6. Lou says:

   February 22, 2010 at 4:56 pm

   The Sellout Comedy Tour has been “Taking the Hype out of Stereotypes” for the last 5 years.
   http://www.selloutcomedytour.com

   Louis Johnson

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