(1 Mar. 1974) Redd Foxx

I was age 16 when this aired, so you would think I would remember when people talked like this about race, but it seems like another age today.



Redd Foxx aka John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991)
Melvin Edward "Slappy" White (September 20, 1921 – November 7, 1995)
George Kirby (June 8, 1923 – September 30, 1995)
LaWanda Page (October 19, 1920 – September 14, 2002)
Isabel Sanford (August 29, 1917 – July 9, 2004)
Julius "Nipsey" Russell (September 15, 1918 – October 2, 2005)
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008)

Grady Demond Wilson (born October 13, 1946)

We thought this stuff was hilarious 40
years ago. Say any of it now, in private
or public, and you're a racist. Yet none
of the people saying it on this show
were racists. Try and figure that out.

If you look at life expectancy at birth during the years that these comedians were born, most nonwhites in this country didn't live to be middle aged.
1910, 35.6 for nonwhites;
1920, 45.3 for nonwhites;
1930, 48.1 for nonwhites;

So basically, life was fairly brutal if you weren't white and you born 90 years ago. Yet people could make jokes like that. The differential is much less today.

You still see similar jokes any time comedians of mixed races are together. Sometimes I see bits of it on the comedy shows that feature standups.

Obviously, not the same jokes. Not a single hip hop joke was told. Margaret Cho, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle all engage in racial humor. Those are just a few.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3RYrQSir7k&feature=player_detailpage#t=26

Quote: rxwine

Margaret Cho, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle all engage in racial humor.

On broadcast TV? Where?

Quote: rxwine

You still see similar jokes any time comedians of mixed races are together.

Well there is a major difference in tone in jokes differing by 40 years. Sarah Silverman is telling her joke knowing she is breaking a massive taboo. It has to be told in a taunting way, so that she is saying as if "come and get me".

"I want to be the first white comic to ___ on Martin Luthur King"-Sarah Silverman
"Redd packed more blacks under one roof, than a white landlord"-Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes is pulling off a racist joke in a matter of fact, casual sort of way, looking for a simple laugh. Sarah is looking for an uncomfortable laugh.

I am not saying one way is better than the other, I am just surprised at how much things have changed within my adult lifetime.

Quote: Pacomartin

I am just surprised at how much things have changed within my adult lifetime.

Agree. I can't get where this PC movement gained its traction. No one I know is hyper sensitive about all this crap but it seems like everyone else is.

The true racists were not funny people. They were the dour faced hotel managers that ordered swimming pools in Vegas drained because a beautiful black woman swam there.

The Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles entertainers would go to the black casinos after their performances because they had a good time there. More white people would follow because people follow celebrities. The thought of all this money going to the black casinos made the other casinos open there doors to black customers.