More on Kramer

I just watched the you tube video of Michael Richards (Kramer) from last Friday in LA. He is really quite out of control. I somehow don’t really feel like this is going to end his comedy routine though. These comedians seemed to be easily forgiven because of the nature of their profession. Clearly he comes off as being exceptionally racist here, but he also seems to be pushing the limits of what comedy routines often do. That is, taking a specific group and making them the butt of a joke.
This particular rant doesn’t have the soft humor and sarcasm of racial jokes. It is Michael, losing control fully exercising his racist demons. The content however could be near to the same, said in a different manner, and taken with a laugh. This made me think about the boundary that comedians play on. I think that some people blogged about this in relation to Borat. (By the way my friends Grandma went to see this not knowing what it was and said to my friend, I quote, “I guess that is really what it is like in their country”.) Perhaps the Kazaki’s do have reason for concern. The Grandma’s of the world are all going to pass judgment.
It also made me think of a Muslim comedian that I have heard of who has been disowned by his family because he makes jokes about the Muslim, Western conflict. I guess comedy is about individual boundaries. There is sometimes when even just watching south park makes me cringe. I know that the material is funny, but at the same time I feel a conflict over whether or not I should be laughing about it.
If comedy however places you into a world in which saying the un pc remarks is ok, Micheal Richards did step out of this space. When he made his racist remarks he seemed to be doing so as an individual, not as a comedian. It is just interesting to think about how we would take his speech if said in a different light.