I thought Carlin was funnier in his earlier career. Later it seemed as if his "message" was more important than the humor. Of course, it could be me. Eddie Murphy was seldom that funny to me, but I thought Richard Prior could be very funny. However, something about him always made me feel sorry for him. His expression seemed to say he was experiencing a lot of pain with his humor.

My favorite was Rodney Dangerfield.

I hate comedy that uses adult language just for an attempt at humor. That is never funny to me. It takes a lot to make me laugh!

 

I don't get no respect. Let me tell you about my wife.....

Rodney Dangerfield was head and shoulders above the rest.

 

Yep, if you saw him very often, it was surprising to find out he was a happily married guy with a wife of many years and a family man. His jokes more often than not, picked on his wife, or visa versa.

 

Yep Rodney also cracked me up. He was very funny in Caddyshack? (somebody step on a duck? ) Remember Jackie Gleason he was another guy that could MAKE me laugh. Most comedians dont MAKE me laugh....that is what they are supposed to be paid to do. I sometimes laugh at the foolishness but you are right about Richard Prior. He went out of his way to get you to laugh at him. His stupidity was funny to me sometimes but I have friends who will entertain me that way for free at my house.

Rarely do comedians make me laugh out loud....some here on this board do a better job.

 

Deleted, as I assumed they were rickrolling links. I did not check them for obvious reasons.

 

Old Dogg:

May I step off the cliff for a moment and say I very much enjoy the few posts where we have addressed each other directly.

I think you are pretty close to my age, and here we are, an old White guy and a fairly old Black guy discussing some fairly heavy subjects over the internet on a real time basis, something I never thought I would see.

And even though it is the internet, we are civil, if sometimes probing, and have what I think are interesting discussions or snippets of discussions.

So that you know me a little better, I was brought up as a Marine Corps Brat for the first 18 years of my life. A culture where what someone was capable of was the important thing, not one's color/race/ethnicity or place of birth.
I have been often told that the Marine Corps was the Service with the least prejudiced of all of the Services.

I lived in towns and bases in the North and the West, but most of my youth was spent in Va., NC., and SC. in the days of segregation. I'm not trying to blow my own horn here, but I hated segregation with all of my being. I constantly embarrassed my Officer father by insisting on drinking out of the "colored" water fountains, using the "colored" toilets and doing whatever else I could to show my contempt for the system. And...more than once got the crap beat out of me by local "Whiteys" my age for daring to buck the system.

Later in my life, I had the great good fortune to live as a normal citizen in Sweden, Peru and Canada for about two years each. This taught me even more about both sides of prejudice. In Sweden there were large amounts of immigrants from all over the world including Blacks from not only the US but everywhere else. They managed to get along just fine and the color of one's skin or where they came from didn't matter.

In Peru, there were very few blacks as they did not participate in the slave trade, but they had a terrible problem with prejudice against the indigenous Indian population and the mixed population, the "Chollos". Believe me when I say they were treated almost as badly as the slaves in the days of slavery here. They were more or less free, unless they worked on a farm where they were little more than sharecroppers, but they had no civil rights, no voting rights etc. etc.

Once again, not trying to make myself look like a saint, but we treated our two house servants extremely well, even sending the girl to night school while she worked for us. When we left Peru, we organized equipment for both of them to start their own businesses. The man was set up with a bicycle and all sorts of gardening equipment and the girl with enough stuff to start a small restaurant.

Canada is probably well known to all of us and other than a lot of jokes about Newfies and French Canadians, it is a very racially tolerant country and the place was a pleasure to live in.

To return to your comments about black comedians etc. yes, I am a child of the 60's and did a lot of wild things and pushed the envelope. One of the things I did was go to some of those black comedian shows that were popular in the time. Again, sort of an experiment if you will. I became sort of hooked on them because they were so much fun but more importantly, in my eyes, the comedian and the audience were also having so much fun.

I once again run the risk of seeming to be stereotyping people, but those audiences enjoyed their comedians a hell of a lot more than I see White audiences enjoying their comedians. There was, at that time at least, a complete merging or connection of the audience and the performer.
At the risk of sounding even more stereotypical, it was sort of like the difference between going to a Black Church and a White Church. One group goes for not only the Religious aspect but also to enjoy the experience. I don't attend Church anymore but when I did it seemed like everyone was there as a duty and it wasn't any fun. And, yes, I used to go to Black Church Services once in a while because I enjoyed being with folks who enjoyed the experience

Sorry to write a book but may I also say that I am no hippy/speed freak/tree hugging liberal Just an ordinary White guy that tries to get through life the best I can and get along the best I can with everybody I meet up with.

End of the Stereotype Serenade.

Bill

 

My understanding of Jackie Gleason was that he could be a reall SOB to work for and to work with---a true perfectionist that could really be nasty---escpecially during rehearsals.

tSC

 

What exactly is not allowed about the Rick Astley video?
What makes it different from the other links to videos allowed? There is no cussing, no nudity. As opposed to videos of people getting stuck in mud and droppin f bombs. Videos of people cleary breaking speed limits and putting lives in danger. Videos of politcal news, causing controversy and arguements across the board.

The post that I made, which was deleted, was an explanation of what a Rick Roll was. There were many people in this thread asking. I cleary posted a warning that it would lead to rick astley's music video. I posted three links. Two of which did not contain any pop ups. Just a video. One of those links was a YouTube video. I just visited a YouTube link in another thread. The third link I put in bold that it had pop up of the lyrics. I was not rick rolling anyone.

Yall made it clear that no rick rolling should be taking place on this site. My post was not rick rolling. Here is a definition of rick roll.
If I say it is a rick astley video, it is not longer a rick roll. It is merely links to an awesome video.

 

This is very true. My Father was a huge fan...even resembled him with dark skin. He also behaved similar to what you describe X2
That and Gunsmoke were the only shows I could stay up late and spend quality time with him because he worked 2 jobs 6 days a week.

Gleason was funny for his era...maybe shaped my view of humor.

I dont understand. Can you demonstrate?

 

Ok, I apologize. I assumed it was a link to the one that will not close and you end up having to shut down to get rid of it. That causes people to lose anything they have worked on that is not saved. again, I apologize.

 

It's all good. I was just trying to educate. I have been rick rolled quite a few times, so it was something I actually knew something about. Just tryin to contribute.

 

blue -- I'd call this one a 'line skirter'.

 

I'm not sure at this point. Could be, but maybe he is sincere.

 

Hey Bill,
Your post was a good read. Please excuse the edit but at times I can get a bit long winded myself so I may need the word count for my own use.

It's strange to read your post and it's similarities as we are opposites in life.
It is true we saw the same past from different sides of the fence. I got many good whippings for wanting to not use but to just see why the "White" bathroom was different from the "Colored" one. I did taste the water from the whites water fountain to see if it tasted better (was the same just better maintained). I also didn't want to move or stand up on the bus and I got a whipping when I grumbled once when we had to get off and wait for another bus because there were no more seats. I also grumbled and got smacked about the head and face when I didn't get off the sidewalk fast enough to let whites pass.
I grew up in southeastern VA but many summers I visited family in LA and TX and got many lectures about how to and how not to behave to not draw attention or anger from whites. I think all that from my past made me somewhat of a rebel. I used to think, if I were a slave they would have killed me because I had problems playing the game. I would play physically but my mouth couldn't.
My parents were not apologist for whites or blacks. Their model was to get educated, duck your head down, work hard and don't expect anything you didn't earn. Prior to the civil rights era my Mother worked her way up to Vice President of a black bank. Back in those days of segregation whites frequently visited black friends and associates with no problems. Because of the bank my Mother had close Jewish, Greek and Italian friends who frequently visited. They were very affectionate and friendly with hugs and kisses. Very sincere. After MLK was killed and the riots all that changed. Whites moved far away and the neighborhood I grew up in that was segregated but allowed whites no longer existed. If you didn't go look for them you wouldn't see whites.
During the 70's when I joined the military it was a very unpopular move to my friends and family but it did teach me a few things. Though I was rebellious I could play in the group and follow instructions without question. I also learned that there was prejudice among members and among the services.
I had many Marine friends and since the marines are a branch of the navy, we went to school and sometimes trained together.
In my world travels I also learned that people hate because of differences and money everywhere. It gave me some perspective.

I always enjoy your post as they seem to come from the heart and well thought ideas....though the rebel still lives in me im no, "hippy/speed freak/tree hugging liberal" either to most who know me.
Here there are many pegged out on the right...some dont even know why.
My mind is always open. I just wish people understood the "why" of stereotypes they embraced...maybe understood the difference between a racist, racist statements and racism. Why 2 are mostly harmless and 1 is directly related to bigotry, prejudice and negative stereotypes.
In some things why is more important than what or at best why we got here in the first place. Cant fix the right thing if you don't understand why.

Peace and Respect!
Bill

 

Wasn't Bill Murray also in Caddyshack?