Comedy Compare And Contrast Silverman And Dave Chapelle

Comedy is a great form of self-expression, but it can be deemed offensive at times for a variety of reasons. Comedy pushes many boundaries to their limits including sexism, profanity, disability, sexual orientation, and racism. All of these topics are controversial by themselves and comedians tend to push them even further, which often ends in altercations. In Comedy, Andrew Stott discusses a number of comedic routines and jokes that have caused people to be outraged. Sarah Silverman and Dave Chapelle are both comedians who have offended many people with their racist humor.

Sarah Silverman is a white, middle aged female comedian who does not have a problem with using racial slurs. Stott refers to one incident when Sarah Silverman used the word ‘chink’ in a joke on a late night television show. This joke attracted the negative attention from the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, which eventually led to a heated debate between Silverman and Guy Aoki, the president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. This was not Silverman’s only encounter with However, Silverman is not the only comedian who has caused negative attention due to offensive material.

Chapelle was famous for his comedy routines portraying a variety of African American stereotypes. His original aim was to call attention to the racial discrimination present in today’s world. However, his routines seemed to steer away from those intentions which led to some problems. Stott writes, “Chapelle’s deep satire has caused some controversy, not least for its portrayal of Africa Americans” (Stott 121). Chapelle’s skits were seen as offensive opposed to informative. Eventually Chapelle revised his routines and told Oprah his skits were “socially irresponsible.” His remorse of his actions says a lot about his persona, which gives a deeper understanding into his