Earlier this week, Amardeep introduced us to the hilarious Desi comedian Kumail Nanjiani. Little did I know till dinner conversation last night that Kumail had recently been comedy hijacked by the Accidental Racist (via Angry Asian Man).
The story goes like this – Kumail was scheduled to do a comedy set at the Slipper Room a couple weeks ago, when John Mayer (the musician) showed up unannounced to the show and jumped on the mic for an unscheduled five minute comedy performance… that turned into an awkward twenty minutes. Mayer’s comedy bit on the mic ate into Kumail’s scheduled performance time. Allright, fine. A famous musical douchebag takes the mic, and feels entitled to hog a comedy stage. To be expected, I guess. But then, he turned into a racist douchebag.
To hear Nanjiani tell the story, he was somewhat rattled after having had his set time cut by John Mayer, but things got awkward after Mayer referred to the Pakistan-born Kumail as “Kabul.” Whoops! Making matters even worse, Mayer apparently then began heckling Nanjiani onstage, telling him that “he looked like a brown guy but sounded like a white guy.” Double whoops! [vulture]
Check out an interview with Kumail below. They refer to John Mayer as the accidental racist at the 4:25 point.
Comedians say racist remarks all the time doing stand up. But I think what sets this apart is that, well frankly, Mayer isn’t a comedian and he hijacked a comedy set with pompous entitlement. Secondly, he interupted Kumail’s set to heckle him with racist comments.
In the words of Angry Asian Man, “Thinking you can be an actual standup comic is one thing, but interrupting another comic’s set, then making jokes about the Brown man? That’s racist! Stick to the music, Mayer (if you must).”
Desis be good to your hecklers Hecklers will joke like you do Musicians become comics who turn into douchebags So douchebags be good to your hecklers too
WTF? So, it’s ok for comedians to be racist, but not ok for other people to be racist?
I never said it was “okay” for comedians to be racist, just that it’s an expected part of their career. You can’t doubt that. I don’t think it’s ok for anyone to be racist, and I would walk out on a comedy set that was racist.
Will you call this guy racist (Chappelle show)? Comedians make fun of all the races that is what Taz meant I guess
let’s be honest here— if you are a comedian it is OK to make jokes about people of your own race (Margaret Cho?) and if you are minority, it is sometimes ok to make jokes about other minority groups in addition to your own race (Russell Peters?) but it is NOT OK for a majority race person (in this society, white) to joke about minority groups of people.
‘Coz that’t the way it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuX2uYOi4g
I wouldn’t consider Mayer’s demeanor racism.
Racism is used all too frequently in the West now.
Comedy is politically incorrect.
Being Mexican and Afghan, Carlos Mencia is denounced by Mexican American political activists because of his comedy routines which frequently lampoon Mexicans. Mencia is Central American.
Mayer made a reference to Kumail’s skin color but would that be considered racism in comedy. No, I wouldn’t consider it such.
In America, many upwardly mobile immigrants and their progeny adopt to the dominate Western European cultural mores of what it means to be “American.”
A “brown man sounding white,” well he speaks standard American English, he doesn’t speak some substandard form of American English!
I think this whole story is a little hypersensitive.
In America, South Asians are typically not perceived as “Asian” anyways by the casual John and Jane Doe.
Why is it “enlightening” to see that “real Indian” hair comes from India?? Are you “special”?
John Mayer was hilarious when he was talking crap about Perez Hilton.
However, it is cool that we have a Muslim comic from Pakistan.
Yourr baddddy is a wunderlund…..wait….wwaa—waaa-what?
But John Mayer’s statements don’t strike me as racist though. More like an attempt to make the audience laugh at the expense of Kumail.
Yo Taz, could you maybe not use the phrase douchebag?
Also — please note I am not condoning what Mayer did/said — Mayer fancies himself something of an amateur comic and has gotten in trouble before for making racist/racial jokes, I seem to recall. Must have been drunk? Probably. Should know better? Definitely.
I vaguely recall this one-off VH-1 special he did a few years ago and though I can hardly remember it, I think it was actually pretty funny. He’s also a not-bad blues guitarist, but yeah, his own music is awful (“I wanna run down the halls of my high school”? “I wanna scream at the top of my lungs”? High school?).
what sets this apart is that, well frankly, Mayer isn’t a comedian and he hijacked a comedy set with pompous entitlement. Secondly, he interupted Kumail’s set to heckle him with racist comments.
Word; To me what Mayer said was stupid and offensive…and since it is Mayer and not a KKK guy than maybe that makes it less threatening. How is Kumail supposed to sound – how do “brown” guys sound anyway? What an arrogant, racist statement – this could have been a joke, but the context of Mayer interrupting Kumail, and Mayer not being a comedian,, just didn’t make it a joke but a racist jibe. Kumail is funny and I’m glad he knows not to take Mayer’s shit too seriously but also knows it was uncalled for.
My take-home from this has been that un-funny people trying to be “edgy” just come off as morons.
Making a note of it.
Please stay on topic and coherent. This thread is ridiculous.
All off topic comments will be deleted – and people who don’t respect the rules of the blog will get banned. That means you Gustavo.
Damn, it sucks when someone whose song you liked turns out to be a douchebag.
I’m pretty sure something like 80% of the musicians I like are total douchebags in person. Either that or drug addicts.
I’ve been to comedy clubs in LA before and noticed signs posted about the heckling policy, namely hecklers would be removed. I would imagine this is the same in clubs in other cities.
I didn’t think too much of the policy until I saw a comedian heckled. The comedian didn’t miss a beat and was really giving it back to the heckler. Before the comedian’s set was over, the heckler and his party was told to leave. I was kind of surprised to see how strictly it was enforced, and the extent to which heckling is no laughing matter among comedians and the comedy community.
I guess Mayer had some sort of immunity from this rule.
Granted, I haven’t read every comment here but I’m often confused when the bloggers put up warnings about getting off topic or being offensive — were those comments already deleted, or are some still kept up? Looking at the last few, my own earlier one included, I don’t see them as particularly off-topic or … problematic. And, I don’t mean to pester you about this, or open up a minefield of truly ridiculous/offensive/immature comments from others, but it would make me feel better if you responded to that first part of my comment. That is, even if you don’t see a problem with it. Otherwise, even a simple, “Word,” would suffice.
There was a discussion about [redacted] and [redacted] and whatnot that was deleted.
Deleted. Look, there’s nothing confusing about it. Any comment that violates our rules, may be deleted. The rules are listed right above the comment box. “Requests for celebrities’ contact info or homework assistance; racist, abusive, illiterate, content-free or commercial comments; personal, non-issue-focused flames; intolerant or anti-secular comments; and long, obscure rants may be deleted.” We have millions of monkeys working hastily around the clock in the bunkers to make your sepia mutiny experience as little problematic as possible.
Back on topic please.
And if you could please explain why you would like me to not use the term douchebag (which is popular pop culture ref right now) I would be open to hear why. But I generally don’t like being told what to do without an explanation as to why.
Taz! you are hereby forbidden to whistle while eating popcorn. no explanations shall be provided. it is a diktat. It shall be done.
There are reports of Mayer using racist slurs in his “comedy” going back to 2007, maybe further. But it’s just like it says in the notice to people who post in this comment section: “unless they’re funny. it’s all good then.” But it’s get problematic when some people think race talk is funny, and others aren’t laughing. It’s even more problematic when the people who are laughing are white, and those who aren’t aren’t.
But whatever it is that Mayer is up to he’ll probably keep doing it until there are youtube vids of him dropping the n-bomb.
I think some White dudes have trouble understanding that the racist jokes that might get a chuckle in front of your handful of token “ethnic” friends from high-school aren’t really funny or appropriate in the company of people who aren’t your closest friends.
on another note, here’s one instance where one comic ripped another a new bunghole but it was warranted. well. sort of.
here’s a comment on a progressive science blog where the author is complaining about the whiteness of scienceblogs. a commenter notes: Sure Janne but the Britishiness subtracts a few minority points.
Then there’s the Scian dude.
Also, that razib guy is sort of tannish looking even though he sounds totally white.
And of course Greg. He’s like the Bill Clinton of ScienceBlogs, amirite?
http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescientist/2009/12/white_men_on_scienceblogs_and.php#comment-2122394
(as i note in the comments, i am considerably swarthier than “tannish” as those of you who have met me know, so that kind of bothered me more than the “sounds totally white” comment, since it seemed to be attempting to minimize my creds as a “person of color” or whatever)
The truth of the matter is underneath all this somewhere. It is pretty simple to define. We are talking about America. America pretends to be all happy and unracist on the outside, where it is actually a bomb ready to explode.
What does that mean? It means that most of the minority groups in America still feel slighted and angry. It is easy to get angry when you think someone is making a comment that could be racist because you are always thinking about it. And you are always thinking about it because it is underneath everything.
Comedy gives minority groups a humorous relief for all these tensions felt on a day-to-day basis, like a Bollywood movie.. Unless it is the white person making the joke. Then it just brings up the anger and defensiveness they feel normally, so it is the opposite of a humorous escape.
So what is the truth? The truth is that America is not really handling race very well. Lot’s of white people are completely ignorant about other groups in the country, and even if not racist, many are AFRAID to sound racist, so either avoid people of other races or are self-censoring so they don’t accidentally sound racist. Many are too scared to be around minorities, not because they are racist, but because they are afraid of making a blunder that could be construed as racist. Not counting the actual racists of course.
Minority groups are feeling defensive and so feel more comfortable around other minority groups, who know what it feels like to be a minority. This is like taking paracetamol; it makes us feel safe and happy for a little while, but it wears off eventually and we have to face the reality, which can be stressful and frustrating.
So really, the U.S. is like a raging river rapids traveling underground. It sounds quiet and peaceful above unless you put your ear to the ground and you can hear the rushing.
And incidents like these white guys trying to be ‘funny’ while being racist bring them to the surface. At the same time, for the white guy, maybe saying this stuff to be ‘funny’ is like facing one’s own fears of ‘accidentally sounding racist’. Because minority people feel defensive and white people do too. Both are stressed out and afraid racism happening.
America is trying so hard to not LOOK racist, but really so much is buried beneath the surface. And comedy often addresses the things below the surface. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.
You heard this at a dinner party last night?
You could have just read one of the 8 total comments in the post Amardeep wrote about this guy and learned the same thing.
My problem is not a comdian talking about race, but the context in witch Mayer used race.
He wanted to get into some sort of “Funny off” with Kumail and he goes right after his race and this is just cheap and easy. Like a comedian making jokes about women shopping or the differences in the way white people walk and black people walk. He cant think of a reason to rip on Kumail besides his skin color and name.
So he goes after race and I bet the audience laughed at it. The audience was most likely white and Kumail is a minority, who wants white people to like him. He cant go after John’s race without offending people in his audience, so it is like fighting with one arm behind his back. John can make fun of Kumail’s race or perceived race, but Kumail cant go after John’s race without losing the audience.
Nobody handles race “very well” by the standards you’re setting up because living in a society with people who think differently from you is actually kind of hard to do. You don’t usually make friends with people unless you have something in common with each other.
This is further complicated by the fact that modern life means that our everyday lives are more frequently handled by bureaucratic institutions (governmental, corporate, and non-profit alike) rather than on an ad hoc basis and our public culture is increasingly dictated by centralized sources (radio, TV, film, etc. although the internet might be changing things.) Take, for example, the example in The Namesake where they have some issues with figuring out how to name their kid since the American hospital won’t let them leave without one but their tradition dictates they can’t name him until the letter from his grandmother arrives. Little stuff like this adds up to make “minorities” feel a little bit like outsiders, but recognize that at the same time it’s kind of annoying for the “majority” to have to bend and modify and write in exceptions to their rules and customs and ways of doing things to make room for the needs of each and every person who comes along.
On one hand it’s nice to be accommodating of other people. On the other hand it’s kind of annoying to have to write a 10,000 page list of exceptions and “special cases” to handle the hojillion little side-issues that might come up. We need to understand how it might get annoying for regular WASPs who just want to go about their business without caring about this stuff to be inundated with messages about the sensitivities of all these different groups and a bunch of activists telling them about all the stuff they need to be “aware” of.
TL,DR version: It’s hard to have different people living side by side without compromising on a lot of stuff and you will never get an outcome that leaves everyone totally happy. That’s part of life. While it’s worth it to minimize the egregious instances of invidious discrimination, in most cases we and Whitey alike should just learn to take our lumps and move on instead of acting like society owes it to us to make us feel happy and wholesome all the time.
“He cant go after John’s race without offending people in his audience, so it is like fighting with one arm behind his back. John can make fun of Kumail’s race or perceived race, but Kumail cant go after John’s race without losing the audience.”
Maybe not, but he can go after his music, his relationship with Jennifer Aniston. It’s not like the joke pickings are that slim when it comes to Mayer.
Taz — word. I guess I’ll go ahead and retract my request that you stop using it, because you are free to say what you like and it’s the end of the world (nor is it, admittedly, a particularly important/central issue to me), but I can tell you why I did in the first place, though perhaps you would have guessed that anyway. My reasoning is the standard idea that one shouldn’t use as an insult something that refers to women’s bodies/sexuality. Granted, by now, most people, myself included, likely don’t even associate the two in the first place — I first heard (and parroted) it as an insult before I even knew what it originally meant. So, there’s the idea that its usage has changed, but I suppose one could also put forth the “reclamation” argument, only doling out the phrase in special cases, particularly to those who are being offensive in a discriminatory way themselves, or the argument of irony, but even those seem pretty weak. Ultimately, though, you’re free to say what you like. I no longer say it myself, and it’s started to make me cringe a little when I read or hear it, is all. I just thought that you would be sensitive to readers’ feelings (I am totally setting myself up to be made fun of, I know) in that regard, though I recognize how, or at least that, you might defend it. Totally not being antagonistic and wasn’t expecting you to be, either. If this is absolutely frustrating you, though, I’m sorry — I think it’s a miscommunication and I blame the Internet.
Heh, meant it’s not the end of the world. Whoops.
Can I still call people assholes?
“Nobody handles race “very well” by the standards you’re setting up because living in a society with people who think differently from you is actually kind of hard to do. You don’t usually make friends with people unless you have something in common with each other.”
Yes. But I think America likes to think it is handling race well. Until situations like that happen, and then there is big blow-up.
We handle it better than those damn, cheese-eating, unwashed Europeans!
So it turns out /sarcasm tags don’t do anything. It was worth a shot.
Also, there is one more point to this “Nobody handles race “very well” by the standards you’re setting up because living in a society with people who think differently from you is actually kind of hard to do.”
That is true, but it is also true that isolation will keep things the same way. Also people sometimes can be friends with people of different places and find that interesting also. But if people are too scared to make blunders, they will be less likely to venture from their comfort zone.
I think this is why America is still so very segregated.
Absolutely, but even then you’re going to identify more with people from cultural backgrounds that are similar enough to yours that you can “appreciate” or “respect” them even if they are exotic. It’s easier to see yourself in their shoes.
Total isolation sure, but in reality we don’t live at the extremes. We have some people who travel around different groups and some people who don’t and those folks will also interact with each other.
Honestly, I’m not sure there is a fix to this. If we weren’t segregated racially we’d be segregated based on socio-economic status, religiosity, attractiveness, or whatever system people use to rank each other.
Whoa, Yoga Fire, pump the brakes. There is NO need to bring cheese into this. It’s delicious.
“It means that most of the minority groups in America still feel slighted and angry.”
This is true everywhere.
“But I think America likes to think it is handling race well.”
Which Americans like to think that?
Well if Americans did not like to think that racism is not here, than why do Americans get so upset when someone is so obviously racist. Is it coming as surprise?
america should be graded on a curve in some contexts. not so in others. we are all flawed individuals, groups, societies, species, etc. and most of us have a lot to be proud of. it gets tiresome when people are one note about how bad this nation is, or how teh awesome it is. all things equally i’m glad my father chose to go to grad school in the USA rather than the UK, but that doesn’t mean the USA is a paradise compared to the UK. it’s complicated.
as for mayer, douche seems more accurate than racist, but that’s just my perception. your mileage may differ.
That sucks that John Mayer had a douchebag moment. He shreds, though, so I’m going to blame it on the alcohol and forgive him.
Glad to see another post about how America is a evil and racist country. Glad to see many people leaving comments here and able to take there anger out at people like John Mayer.
I myself will rather be angry at people like Daood Gilani and those 5 young scumbags from Virgina who want on a little vacation to Pakistan last month, and who actions have hurt desi’s in the west alot more then John Mayer has.
yes, clearly because this behavior justifies mayer’s behavior.
moron.
That Mayer kid’s a hoot. Like “jokingly†telling a reporter that he’d like to sodomize her editor? Hi-larious. But for all the effort he puts in his jokes, his wuss-rock remains the prime source of comedy.
Thankfully, most people are not as limited as you, and can hold opinions about more than one thing in our heads at the same time, and not act as if life is a zero sum game between competing things.
premiumshlock (and Taz): This comment is probably contributing to a derail, so if the SP monkeys need to delete it, I understand.
Having said that, “douche” or “douchebag” is an insult we can all feel great about using — it is absolutely not anti-woman at all, since douching is actually really bad for women’s bodies. Women have been told they should douche to get rid of “odor” and feel “fresh” — it’s been pushed on women to make them feel ashamed of their bodies. The reality is that it’s unnecessary and dangerous.
Look, if you have an odor problem down there, you need a doctor, not a douche (which will just cover the odor up, not fix what’s causing it). Douching disrupts the healthy bacteria balance of your body, and can actually SPREAD infection.
The more you know: WomensHealth.gov: Douching
So in conclusion (and to tie this back into the post a bit):
John Mayer is a douchebag.
Dude is a comedian he was suppose to fry Mayer as soon as he started heckling him. Most comedians clown the hell out of hecklers.
I know how women feel when people use the word “douchebag”
I get so angry, to the point of wanting to cry, whenever I hear some one call somebody a “dickhead”
My penis is beautiful like a flower and should not be used to inslut another human being. If anything it should be a compliment.
“How do I look?”
“like a dickhead.”
“Thank you”