What makes a good race joke?

What makes a good race joke? by B.A. Parker and Gene Demby. They talked about how comedians of color view and deal with race when performing. This article was very interesting since it gave me a new perspective on something I’d never really thought about before. B.A. Parker and Gene Demby were able to provide three different perspectives on race in the comedy scene.

First of all, being Aparna Rancheria with the idea that being a colored person automatically leads the audience to expect something involving her race. Secondly, Brain Bahe talks about organizations starting to formally acknowledge indigenous lands just for the sake of checking certaincriterias and he thinks that almost any joke a colored person makes ends up being about race without even realizing it. Lastly, Maz Jobrani with how the people who committed the January 6th Insurrection believed they weren’t criminals and how he tries to steer away from stereotypical jokes to be a successful comedian.  

The Three Comedian Arguments

I completely agree with Aparna Rancheira’s claim that race will always play a part in a show produced by a person of color. Her reasoning makes sense to me since, in today’s society, anyone who attends a comedy night hosted by a person of color will anticipate hearing at least one racial joke referencing that person’s race.

Since I feel that people are more than just a part of one race and that with enough understanding, people can start viewing other people for more than just their race, I disagree with Brian Bahe’s claim that jokes made by colored people will eventually lead to something concerning race. I do however agree with him that organization will do whatever they can just to avoid any callouts from any minority groups or people in general.

I totally agree with Maz Jobrani’s argument of trying to steer away from race jokes and actually trying to entertain his audience with something new. I really like this perspective he has because it states how colored comedians are just comedians and shouldn’t be defined by their race. This can also be applied to any field of work with how people who achieve promotions or high ranking positions shouldn’t have race be a factor to their success and should just be treated the same as everyone else.

One thought on “What makes a good race joke?

  1. I did the same article and I also agree with comedians when they say that racial jokes are going to be included in shows, but I think that they will be included no matter the race of the comedian as I’ve seen plenty of videos of non-colored people making racial jokes, but they can still be successful with their jokes.

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