Apparently it's okay for MSNBC panels to sit around and tell race jokes on-air. Host Melissa Harris-Perry had her panel guests tell their "favorite race joke" or "best punch line" on race on her Sunday show and laughter ranged between nervous and uproarious. Harris-Perry capped it all off with a Jewish joke.
After discussing if the best way to give a "social critique" on race was through humor, Harris-Perry told her panel, "Okay, so give me your favorite race joke or your best punch line on it." If a Fox News panel sat around and told race jokes on the set, there would be an uproar and accusations of racism would be directed at the network. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Comedian Dean Obeidallah got the ball rolling by jesting about white people being a minority by 2040 and getting to celebrate "Whitey Week" with "celebrations of white people, like badminton and Utah and racial profiling."
"And white women will finally be exotic. It'll be great. Now everyone wants to date, you know, Latino, Asian women – there'll be now like – 'wow, white girl, where'd you meet her?' 'White Castle. That's where they make them.' 'I should have known that'," Obeidallah finished. "That's great. The white minority jokes. That's good. I like it," laughed Harris-Perry.
Political satirist Lizz Winstead cracked a Klan joke: "[I]t would have been kind of fun to see Herman Cain as the presidential nominee. Because there would have been mass suicides in the Klan."
Elon James White of ThisWeekInBlackness.com referenced a Dave Chappelle skit knocking the "social, economic issues" of an inner city ghetto community:
"He tells this joke about when he was being picked up by a limousine driver. And they brought him to the ghetto. And he wasn't prepared to go together. You have to be warned. He sits in the limo. And the guy gets a call. 'What happened? Who said what? I'm on my way.' And he just hangs up the phone. And he looks out the window, he says 'liquor store, liquor store, gun store, liquor store. Where the hell am I?!' And I'm like, it's so hilarious because he's starting to paint this whole picture of the community. And the social, economic issues. And he looked out the window at 3 a.m. and he saw a baby. And he's like, 'baby, what you doing outside?' He goes, 'I'm selling weed!' And it's one of the most hilarious things. He goes, 'you know you shouldn't sell weed.' He goes, 'I got kids to feed!' It's a baby. That's hilarious."
Professor Anthea Butler at the University of Pennsylvania quipped, "we always had this joke when I was broke in grad school that if a black person said they were broke, it meant that they had negative in their bank account. And if a white person said they were broke, we never believed them because they had $500.
Harris-Perry's "race joke for the day" was a Jewish joke:
"It's a young Jewish man, he brings three girls home to meet his mother. And he says mom, I'm going to marry one of these three girls. And I want you to chat with them for a bit and then you predict which one I'm going to marry. And so the mom sits and she chats with the three girls, and then she says – he says, mom, which one do you think I'm going to marry? And she says this one over here on the right. And he says mom, that's right, how did you know? And she says, I don't like her."
(H/T MediaIte)
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Melissa Harris-Perry on February 17 at 11:46 a.m. EST, is as follows:
MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: Okay, so give me your favorite race joke or your best punch line on it.
DEAN OBEIDALLAH, comedian: Well, I mean, it's probably the more – the newest one I'm doing about – and in fact they talked about it earlier in the segment. That white people will be a minority in America by 2040. And there's some white people freaking out. And I tell them, don't. There are some benefits. First, you get a month to celebrate your heritage. Black History Month – you'll get at least "Whitey Week." And celebrations of white people, like badminton and Utah and racial profiling. And white women will finally be exotic. It'll be great. Now everyone wants to date, you know, Latino, Asian women – there'll be now like – wow, white girl, where'd you meet her? White Castle. That's where they make them. I should have known that.
HARRIS-PERRY: (Laughing) That's great. The white minority jokes. That's good. I like it.
OBEIDALLAH: Just want to make fun of white people.
LIZZ WINSTEAD, political satirist: I have two. One is a joke of mine where I was – where the joke is basically simple. It's like – it would have been kind of fun to see Herman Cain as the presidential nominee. Because there would have been mass suicides in the Klan.
(Crosstalk)
WINSTEAD: One of my favorite jokes was, we did 100 years ago when I was working on the Daily Show. And it was when the Mars Corporation introduced this new ad campaign for the Three Musketeers candy bar. And they introduced a black musketeer. And it was really a success, and people were really glad they integrated the musketeers. So the joke that we did was the ad campaign was so successful, they decided to change the name of the 5th Avenue bar to Martin Luther King Boulevard.
ELON JAMES WHITE, ThisWeekInBlackness.com: Oh dear.
HARRIS-PERRY: I know.
WINSTEAD: I love it.
ELON JAMES WHITE, ThisWeekInBlackness.com: My favorite, it's maybe not – of my jokes, half of those I can't even tell here.
HARRIS-PERRY: We can get the delay button going if we need to.
WHITE: There might be a baby and, we don't want this in our lives right now. But the joke that I think about a lot when it comes to racial humor, it was a Dave Chappelle joke. He tells this joke about when he was being picked up by a limousine driver. And they brought him to the ghetto. And he wasn't prepared to go together. You have to be warned. He sits in the limo. And the guy gets a call. "What happened? Who said what? I'm on my way." And he just hangs up the phone. And he looks out the window, he says "liquor store, liquor store, gun store, liquor store. Where the hell am I?!" And I'm like, it's so hilarious because he's starting to paint this whole picture of the community. And the social, economic issues. And he looked out the window at 3 a.m. and he saw a baby. And he's like, "baby, what you doing outside?" He goes, "I'm selling weed!" And it's one of the most hilarious things. He goes, "you know you shouldn't sell weed." He goes, "I got kids to feed!" It's a baby. That's hilarious.
ANTHEA BUTLER, professor, University of Pennsylvania: Mine is two-fold. One is, we always had this joke when I was broke in grad school that if a black person said they were broke, it meant that they had negative in their bank account. And if a white person said they were broke, we never believed them because they had $500.
(Laughter)
BUTLER: And they don't know the meaning of being broke. And so that was the first thing. The second one is – and I'm going to ask everyone to forgive me, because I do love Michael Jackson – but during the time that everybody was sort of trying to figure out (Unintelligible), I would say Michael Jackson has taught me two things. You can do whatever you want and you don't have to be black.
(Laughter)
BUTLER: Even if you are black.
HARRIS-PERRY: Because that was always the thing. The only things you have to do is stay black and die.
BUTLER: Exactly. And you don't even have to be black anymore, because Michael Jackson fixed that for us. We don't even have to be black.
HARRIS-PERRY: All you have to do now is die. Well, there is that. So I have a joke, I don't know if I'm allowed to tell it. But it's – it's not, it's national television. But imagine – so here's my favorite race joke. It's a young Jewish man, he brings three girls home to meet his mother. And he says mom, I'm going to marry one of these three girls. And I want you to chat with them for a bit and then you predict which one I'm going to marry. And so the mom sits and she chats with the three girls, and then she says – he says, mom, which one do you think I'm going to marry? And she says this one over here on the right. And he says mom, that's right, how did you know? And she says, I don't like her.
(Laughter)
HARRIS-PERRY: All right. That's my race joke for the day. Okay, folks, I always appreciate having the humor and the insight. Thanks for coming and joining us.
