The Merits of a Fool: Contending with Race and Racism through Sketch Comedy from the 1960s to the 2000s

Abstract

Studying social movements is one way to understand social change. The historical timing of their appearance and the ways they are similar and different from previous social movements is an excellent method for capturing localized salient concerns and the course of societal responses to systems of inequality over time. Another social arena, often undervalued in traditional sociological studies on systems of inequality and their related societal responses, also exists built for the emergence of social confrontations with the status quo. Whether as a psychological release valve, as a method to strengthen positions of dominance, or as a social position to voice criticisms too hot for everyday interaction, the mutability of comedy serves to encourage the emergence of relegated perspectives. There is a great deal of truth to saying a joke is never just a joke. Of course not without consequences, the significance of comedic instances is tempered by its temporal nature and the inherent ambiguity of interpretation. Incidentally, both of these qualities are also what gives comedy freedom from operating social norms of decorum and also allows for opportunities to confront these social norms. It should not be surprising that totalitarian regimes outlaw any practice of comedy, while the most democratic of nations, still riddled with racism, can claim a rich history of comedic challenges to race ideology. It is most likely for this reason that recurring characters like Luther, President Obama¡¦s ¡§anger translator¡¨ on Key and Peele even exist. Luther is the President¡¦s alter ego who performs and personifies all of the emotions the first non-white president must presumably feel, but is prevented from expressing, especially in relation to the trappings of contemporary racial logic. The main point here is to take a closer look at these seemingly strange bedfellows ¡V comedy and race ¡V and to consider these humorous proclamations against race and racism as types of momentary, but constant, social protest. Using popular commentary as a measure of controversy that is widely known, the most controversial sketch comedy shows in each decade from the 1960s to the 2000s were selected and analyzed. Additionally, all other sketch comedy shows that aired at the same time for each show were analyzed, leading to a more complex depiction of racial politics in the U.S. over five decades. Examining race through comedy lends itself to seeing racial dynamics from the edge and through the lens of social critics who possess wider degrees of discursive and performative acceptability. The story they tell confirms their critical social importance and their unique encounter with prevailing issues of race and racism. This study examines contemporary "fools" and how they resist, challenge, and transform race ideology. In order to capture the landscape of each show and to identify variations across the show, basic demographic characteristics will be collected through pre-established categorical determinations. As the primary level of comparison, sketch comedy shows consistently linked to controversy or labeled as "controversial" by news and popular media sources were selected due to their notoriety and subsequent exposure and familiarity in wider societal and cultural consciousness. Following the logic that controversy may indicate moments of transgressive agitation, the most controversial shows in each decade were selected: The Smothers Brothers Show (1960s), The Richard Pryor Show (1970s), In Living Color (1990s), and Chappelle's Show (2000s) and Da Ali G Show (2000s). The first year of syndication for each show was analyzed in addition to all other sketch comedy shows that aired contemporaneously, for context and comparison. A total of 1,120 sketches from the 1960s to the 2000s were analyzed using both quantitative (crosstabulation) and qualitative content analysis. The qualitative analysis relied on several aspects: techniques of narrative (characterization and dominant story lines), discourse (characteristics of language and word use and connections to narrative), semiotic (deep structures, latent meanings, and signifying process via signs, codes, and binary oppositions) and interpretive analysis. Additionally, results from a case study of audience reception on one show, Chappelle's Show using focus groups are also a part of this analysis and discussion that aid in discovering emergent themes. These narrative accounts represent both individual and group narrative negotiation of the process of identification or resistance to the characters meant to represent the participants. In order to determine how racial identity shapes a viewer¡¦s interpretation and reception of comedic popular culture messages on race, there were three types of focus groups: one all white, another all black, and the last a mixture of white and black participants. A total of four focus groups (2 white, 1 mixed, and 1 black) were completed from 2007-2008 at the Institute for Survey Research with IRB approval at Temple University. The following research questions ultimately framed the application of quantitative, qualitative, or a combination of both, methodological approaches to data collection, analysis, and interpretation: To what extent does comedy serve as a successful cultural forum to challenge race ideology? What discursive and representational techniques do these transgressive moments and examples employ? What are the predominant narrative themes of transgressive comedic moments and how do they change over time? How do transgressive discourses and representations of race interface with other spheres of inequality like gender, class, and sexuality? I argue that: 1) racial discourses and representations in sketch comedy have increased since the 1960s, with the exception of the 1990s; 2) generally, transgressive discourses and representations contain low levels of racial performance except in cases where racial performance is enacted with a clear satirical purpose and is integral to the overall plot of sketch; 3) examples of transgressive racial discourses and representations, when evaluated using an intersectional lens, reveal fault lines between blacks and other non-whites (notably, Asians and Hispanics), and the reinforcement of hegemonic discourses and representations of gender and sexuality; 4) the clearest and consistent comedic environment for transgression contains both discursive and semiotic elements, including a wide array of racial perspectives, voices, stories, and renewed representations of subordinated groups; and 5) focus group data demonstrates that both black and white participants organize their interpretations around a negotiation of their laughter ¡V whites work to legitimize their laughter, by justifying their racist opinions or distancing themselves from other, "more" racist whites and blacks express the anxiety that accompanies their laughter, concerned about whether the mockery of racist stereotypy will confirm racist beliefs for whites and other non-black groups and while they laugh, their laughter is often accompanied by the pain and frustration experienced in their daily lives contending with racist ideology.