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.

Dave Chapelle is an African American comedian who, like Silverman, has offended people through his comedy.

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

comedy.
A comedian’s persona can ultimately portray their underlying intentions within their comedy. Sarah Silverman made some jokes about midgets and African Americans which led Stott to say her “person is straightforwardly insensitive and not ‘edgy’ at all” (Stott 107). Here he is saying at this point, Silverman is not joking anymore but instead is being truthful about the way she feels towards these groups of people. On the other hand, Chapelle admitted that he was wrong for the jokes he made. This shows that Chapelle’s persona does not reveal how he truly feels about racism. It suggests that the reasons for his jokes were merely to draw attention to the subject opposed to adding to the problems. Other than persona, there was another reason Silverman’s racist remakes were much more offensive than Chapelle’s skits.
The Silverman incident was much more serious than Chapelle’s skits for one reason. Chapelle’s skits were poking fun at people of his own race while Silverman made jokes regarding people of different races. When comedians joke about their own race it is often seen as humorous, but when comedians make jokes about other races it is usually seen as offensive and racist. This is an important concept to understand when determining what is and is not acceptable in comedy. This principal does not only apply to race oriented jokes, but also applies to jokes about all sensitive topics.
Rape, disabilities, sexual orientation, divorce, illness, and race are all extremely subtle topics and should be joked about accordingly. Some people would argue that none of these topics should ever be joked about. However, there are some occasions when these topics can be used as comedy but they should be handled delicately. Some rape and cancer victims may use comedy as a way to cope with their struggles. For example, Tig Notaro is a female comedian who suffered from breast cancer. Instead of letting the cancer bring her down, she used it to her advantage and joked about it in some of her stand-up routines. Patricia Lockwood wrote The Rape Joke to help rape victims cope with their tragic experiences. This shows that joking about some sensitive topics can have a positive effect, but they should be joked about cautiously.
As we prepare for our comedy show, I believe we must be careful about what and who we joke about. The goal is to make people laugh and I believe that goal can be achieved without offending people. I believe that we should stray away from the sensitive topics such as rape, race, disabilities and sexual orientation. It is easier for well-known comedians to joke about sensitive topics, because they often share personal experiences with the crowd before they joke about a serious issue. However, for our comedy show I do not believe we will be sharing enough personal information with the audience for them to find ‘edgy’ jokes to be funny. I think there is a time and place in comedy for jokes about such topics but I do not believe our comedy show is one of those times.