I don’t watch Last Coming Standing, but someone brought this to my attention and now she’s been drawing particular ire b/c of Esther Ku‘s “…Asian women are out of Asian men’s league” joke. I have to defend her on this, because there’s some truth to it — the fact that some women feel this way. And I actually laughed out loud — LOL-style! — when I heard that punchline.
(see @ approx. 1:30-2:10)
You can’t take a comedian’s material literally; that defeats the purpose of the entire art form (Yes, it’s actually an art form. We’re not assholes who wake up one day and say, “I’m just going to talk in front of strangers.”) A comedian’s bits, stories and jokes are based on truth but it’s being reflected through a fun-house mirror; it’s perverted, distorted, digested and shat out for your listening approval; the cheesecake of truth we eat at noon becomes the feces of humor by sundown. The end might bear only a faint resemblance to its beginning because the filtering process has taken its liberties. Does Esther Ku really think Asian guys aren’t worthy of Asian women? C’mon… use your fucking brain. She’s making commentary.
Being a comedian of sorts, I don’t like to judge another person’s material — it’s sort of an unspoken rule — but I will say this: I hear Black and Hispanic comedians do it ALL THE TIME. No one (White comedians) says shit. Turn on BET’s Comic View and tell me 90% of the material isn’t self conscious racial humor. But, hey now! The comedy police suddenly shuts the fuck up and hide behind their mommy’s skirts. Why don’t they criticize the Black comedians? I guess that’d be racist.
I’m not saying Esther Ku is the second coming. I’m saying if that’s her material, then that’s her material. Laugh or don’t. I do pedophile, rape, bestiality, incest, and midget-donkey-orgy jokes. It’s not for everyone and I apologize to no one. But if you’re going to criticize the subject matter of her material, then apply that criticism uniformly. Don’t say Asians have to stop doing Asian jokes but then conveniently avoid criticizing comedians of other races.
