Racism And That Thing Called Comedy

I’m a comic without a sense of humor for one thing—bigotry. I hate it in any form it takes and I see it take many forms through comedy. It’s almost never funny to those who are the target and it’s sadly funny to those who aren’t. It’s the “America’s Funniest Home Videos” of comedy. Witness someone get hurt. Not funny to me. I don’t get it.

I see a lot of bigotry, sadly, from comics. Some only include ‘light’ stuff in their standup, but follow them in social media; they’ll show their stripes. When they do, I invite you to do as I do—shun them. It’s an age-old technique that works wonderfully both online and in real life. They might think they’re hiding their views, cleverly, behind ‘funny’ memes, or through sharing seemingly well-written articles that promote bigotry. When they post something from a site, I suggest you do as I do: follow that link and look around. If I see they’ve posted something that originally comes from a White Supremacist or Nationalistic site, I know it, and know what that means. It means that they’re an idiot.

Through the idiots I’ve known, I’ve learned that some really, really don’t care for certain populations of people. They are idiots–ignorant, mean-spirited, selfish, uncaring people. They often group together in small little idiot groups supporting one another’s idiotic thoughts.

Idiots, don’t think that we, who you don’t like, don’t notice. As soon as we do, interacting with you becomes worthless, because, you know, you’re an idiot.
Support who you want, but when you support a bigot comic, you support a stage for bigotry. Look into your favorite comic and see who he or she essentially is—listen closely to his or her comedy, follow him or her on Facebook, follow the links around…then follow your conscience.

~Doug Max

First off, much respect to my boy Doug Max for telling it like it is!! #FUCKRACISM

Chatting with fellow comic and friend, Doug Max reminded me that I need to express how I feel on the topic of RACISM and oh yea, I have a website to do it on!

I’m usually acting a first class fool on here, but every now and again, I gotta get real. I know you’ve seen it blasted on social media a million times a day, but RACISM is STILL a big problem. As a black man in America, I see it all day – sometimes subtly and sometimes right to my face.

Even in comedy. As a comedian, I thought we were separated from the evils of the world and of like mind, but as usual, RACISM rears its ugly face.

Actually, I’m not that naive. I know how the world works. Hatred looms in every facet of life, even stand up comedy. I guess it’s just a little depressing to know that some of the very guys and girls I grace the stage with may secretly hate my ass. I get it. But seriously, why the hate? Why the separation? I know it’s cliche, but can’t we all just get along??

The truth is that the comedian is a special entity on this planet. We bring light to darkness and remind EVERYONE that we are all the same and have the same struggles. Remember?

When you listen to your favorite comic do you see their color or their content? I relate to every comedian on stage for one reason or another. Either the life they live is similar to mine (wife, kids, bills), the goals and aspirations are the same or they simply are as goofy as I am. I never see color as far as the content of the comic because it’s not important to me. This is not to say I don’t acknowledge the fact that the comic is (name any race), female, gay, handicapped, high or sober. I’m just saying I don’t dwell on that I focus on the jokes.

Look, racism is here forever, unfortunately. But for the life of me I don’t understand why, lol. Nor will I waste the time trying to figure it out. I just wanna say that RACISM is ignorance and limiting. Want to be a great comic? I think the key to being a great comic is incorporating as much of the world into your set as you possibly can. So the more differences of the world you hate, the more limiting your material. Thus, keeping you from being as great a comic as you can.

Meet different people, different cultures and different races. You’ll be surprised at what you learn and who may change your life. Hatred closes the world to you and keeps your mind one dimensional.

Travel. Explore. Interact. Reinvent yourself. It’s not all bad out there.