http://youtu.be/yQtFQjtKSj0?t=6m
I have to hand it to Alex Tichauer – his Jeremy Lin sketch on the University of Arizona’s “UA Tonight with Mike Brilliant” show manages to touch on almost every negative Asian American stereotype that I can think of. From “Asians look alike” and “Asian men have small penises” to “Asians eat dogs,” he is very thorough. I hate to give any free publicity to this show (the video had only 291 views when I started writing this), but this sketch is just too much.
When Asian Americans complain about sketches like the one above, they are at times labelled as hypersensitive or politically correct. Sometimes Asian Americans are trotted out to decry this hypersensitivity just to prove the point more emphatically. But if you change the context and use the same gags with a different ethnic group, the double standard becomes clear. Take for instance, the look alike gag. – Jeremy Lin, Vincent Chin, Japanese, Japanese Americans – all look the same. How funny (not). If some guy goes when to Arizona Hillel (a Jewish organization where Tichauer participates) with a camera crew and asks women there if they are Anne Frank because he has their diary, would people think that is funny? Asking an Asian girl to compare white and Asian penises – so hilarious. If someone went to a synagogue and asked women there to compare circumcised and uncircumcised penises on camera, would be that be so hilarious?
I wonder if the University of Arizona knows about the not so brilliant stuff that the Mike Brilliant show is producing. I suspect not, given how few views it originally had. As I mentioned, I have mixed feelings about giving it any more publicity. For a sketch that does touch on Jeremy Lin, stereotypes, and double standards, this SNL sketch is on the mark and much more funny.
(h/t Whit)
