BET is one of the financiers of most of the films we’ve done. There are certainly a lot of Black filmmakers who have studio deals and are making movies - the only difference is that they don’t have ownership in them like our company has. No, it’s not the only way, but it’s the only one I found open to me. is in prison, and a black man is in the White House.Is the formation of an independent film company the only real avenue for people of color to achieve parity and control in the film industry?
The presence of the Obama family in the White House means that it can't be business as usual any more.Īmerica, black and white, won't be amused by humor that trades on the old stereotypes of interracial social encounters, impressions and fears. The aim was to get people to see, and to laugh at, the irony of racial attitudes in America.Īnd that's the challenge and the opportunity that comedy about race faces today. Race wasn't the punch line in our routines, it was the vehicle. We figured that if we were going to make comedy out of a black man and a white man sharing the same stage, it would have to be equal-opportunity comedy. When we quit our good jobs as businessmen to seek the comfort and security of lives in show business, we decided not to do a typical straight-man, funny-man act. The politically correct police would crucify us, or, even worse, post out-of-context snippets on YouTube for the blogosphere to go crazy over.
#Tim reid movies and tv shows how to#
And we did a lot of wacky things ourselves when we were traveling the country between 19, things we could never get away with today, such as the routine in which Tim taught Tom how to be black. What will the satirists do without Bush?Ĭomedians won't stop living on the edge, which is where the best ones have always existed.'WKRP' vet Reid, standup Dreesen's previous life.In this changing frontier, how will we construct the new bases for racial humor? We're entering an era in which racial comedy will have to deal with creative thought rather than relying on the casual repeated use of the F word, the N word and the rest of the slackers' alphabet. If the rappers want to continue dealing in it, that's one thing, but as a way to get automatic laughs? How long will it continue to work? See Tim Reid on D.L. The same is true about exaggerated black speech that is a staple of so many acts, the kind of "yo mama" shtick that has its roots in Amos and Andy. It's not how we are going to be represented any more"? Won't the very audiences they're trying to reach rebel and say, "Wait a minute - we're past that now. With a confident, eloquent black man in the White House, along with a beautiful, accomplished wife and two impossibly adorable children, can any young black comic possibly still do jokes about bitches and 'hos?
Obama's election represents a challenge to comedians who deal in racial humor. Jokes about race relations may never be the same. And we comedians are right there with them. Obama's election has caused many people to re-evaluate their attitudes about politics, race and every other aspect of American life.
Not that he's the only one who is surprised by Barack Obama becoming president, of course. One critic who liked our act and appreciated some of our edgiest routines said the concept of a black president was just too unbelievable. (CNN) - In the early 1970s, when we were the first black-and-white comedy team in the history of show business - and the last - we had a routine in which Tom would interview Tim, who had just been elected the first black president of the United States.
0 kommentar(er)
