7.22.2008

Esther Ku Not Funny

Offensive, sure, but not funny. The only people who think she's funny is white folks who feel good when they hear their racist humor spouted back at them by an Asian person and feel vindicated in not being racist.

Sunny Vergara, a former Asian American Studies professor at SF State and whom I've had the privilege to hang with on a few occasions writes this in the American Pop section of Asian Week:
When Chin writes that Ku’s schtick is “to playfully undermine Korean stereotypes”, it’s not immediately clear how these stereotypes are exactly “undermined” by her performance. The trouble is, she traffics in the most exhausted and obvious stereotypes, in chopsticks and slant eyes. That is, it’s not the kind of humor that comes from acute observation, or a comedy animated by outrage, but a stand-up routine that’s little more than a superficial enumeration of cliches, strung together without rhythm. Which does not comedy make.
Check out his blog and check out the rest of the article.

3 comments:

Niki Esko said...

No! I totally know your name is Jack. I don't know why I tried writing your last name. Jack Jack Jack attack. I knew that because the first time I met you I thought that was a cool name that I hadn't heard in a long while.

The LFS Retreat? I've been so out of the loop since I've been away from the computer and in Austin. I don't think I received those emails or at least I haven't read them. Do you have more information?

Anonymous said...

I somehow found myself watching Last Comic Standing, and I remember thinking exactly the same thing. Esther Ku's "humor" is basically just racism repackaged so white people can feel better about it. Puke.

The same episode saw a guy whose entire schtick was based on jokes about violence against women make it to the finals, and the two women who were chosen for the finals backstabbing/undermining each other while the dozen or so men (who were chosen by the all-male judges, no doubt because they were objectively so much funnier than any women who tried out) sat back and enjoyed the benefits.

I decided not to watch again.

Anonymous said...

"o playfully undermine Korean stereotypes"...........it also very super.......

by
Tamil Actor vijay