4. "wow, i had to go look at it again after this reply" In response to Reply # 2
i looked at the picture at least 10 times already and every time i saw the word PUBLIC and laughed, even though i didn't get the reference to a Public Toupee...
now that i see it's PUBIC, I do find it more offensive than funny.
It's a low joke with a high concept. Delivered by a man behind a couch working a dog puppet -- who is an insult comic from the 1950's and works blue -- and that has prepared fake magazine covers with embarrassing/insulting names.
The joke is the there is a magazine/catalogue (note the extra "ue" denoting a fanciness) that sells toupees for your pubic hair.
?uestlove is the cover model - and it reads "Questlove shows off this Spring's hottest styles"
There's like 5 ways this jokes works.
1)Triumph is ostensibly letting Jack McBreyer be the center of attention by not talking. Instead he's drawing more attention to himself.
2)This is the third in a series (the third item in the list is always the "topper") that was preceeded with Jimmy on a magazine called "Could Have Banged Nicole Kidman Weekly" and Higgins on the cover of "Dead Weight Quarterly."
3)The idea of someone having to wear a wig on their pubic hair region is funny because it's not funny. It's a low joke.
4)To make the low joke even lower he got a stock photo of ?uest and made a ridiculous cover - one that any person would probably be ashamed to be on. Even if ?uest wore a Merkin he'd likely not agree to appear on the cover of Pubic Toupee Catalogue, Feb 2015. This makes it even a higher concept.
5)The ad for Allegiance on the back cover adds a little more spice to it. It's clearly just an Entertainment Weekly magazine with a cover pasted on - or it's a magazine for people who lack pubic hair that NBC bought the back cover to promote a new show.
5)He's doing it to people IN THE ROOM - so it's even more over the top.
There's no racial component - if he swapped Higgins on that cover and ?uest on the other it would still work on the level - except fat people would be like "Why he gotta put the fat guy on Dead Week Quarterly - that's "fattist."
It's not "Look at this guy's hair - it has to be pubic hair because he's black and black people's hair is pubic hair." Not at all.That's just stupid.
If you think that then you are wrong.
Low joke. Purposely offensive. Hack-ey as hell. High concept. Comedy gold.
12. "Did you really waste strokes trying to explain that joke to me?" In response to Reply # 11
And in all these key strokes you added absolutely nothing to refute that the joke was about having pubic hair on his head.
Now I'll allow that this joke may have been intended as a Merkin joke. It's possible.
But it wasn't my first take away from the attempt at humor. Because it looks and sounds like the more familiar black people hair looks like pubic hair joke. Which makes a lot of sense because the one thing that 15 is known for besides music is his hair.
It should also be noted that that my reading of the joke appears to be the reading of all the other black people in this post. So I am not making it up. Now you can dismiss us all as over sensitive people looking to pick a racial fight OR
You can admit that while you are familiar with Merkins, you weren't familiar with the black people have pubic hair on their heads joke.
But don't believe me. Do your own survey. Ask a bunch a friends, including your many black friends, what they think this joke is about.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're r
The joke's not on ?uestlove - it's a joke showing low Triumph is willing to go.
The series of magazine covers go in two directions simultaneously to illicit a shock. True-ish -> absurd High -> Low
The first cover is making fun of Jimmy and has *some* amount of truth to it. It's low, but pointed.
The second joke is on Higgins and it's just an insult - and plainly more absurd than the first.
The third joke is not about ?uestlove, or the hair on his head, but shows the depths Triumph is willing to go to insult someone. There's no truth to the joke , it's just showing how low Triumph will go. And a Merkin joke is low.
>It should also be noted that that my reading of the joke appears to be the reading of >all the other black people in this post. So I am not making it up. Now you can >dismiss us all as over sensitive people looking to pick a racial fight OR
>You can admit that while you are familiar with Merkins, you weren't familiar with the >black people have pubic hair on their heads joke.
I see it now - you thought Triumph was saying "That black man's head is full of pubes - and it's fake pubes to boot. HaHa."
That's even a lower joke - but *I* don't think that's what he was going for.
I guess it never occurred to me that black people's hair could be pubic hair. And I'm a Gen-Xer so I'm familiar with a lot of racism. You think that if black people's hair was pubic had - and they went bald - that they'd buy a wig made of pubic hair to replace it??? And the cover mentions"Itch-Free: the revolutionary breakthrough." So toupees for your head can itch?? Never occurred to me not even once.
So I see how it could be taken wrongly, but I didn't then.
Or maybe I'm completely wrong and it was racist joke.
Note: Smigel co-wrote "Don't Mess With The Zohan" that simultaneously had one of the only *serious* explorations of the Israel / Palestinian conflict AND doused a block of burning houses with a vat of Hummus to put the fire out. I didn't see that as racist - I saw that as absurd.
16. "PUBIC is obviously there to try to be EMBARRASSING and low" In response to Reply # 14
What would be a more embarrassing problem to have than lack of pubic hair? (For any color of person.)
Now imagine you purchase a toupee for it - how that could be embarrassing. (Think adult diapers - that's a real medical problem that people have to deal with - and they're still embarrassed by it.)
Now imagine you are on the cover of a magazine being, presumably one that you signed a release for and sat for a photo and agree to do a photo spread about it.
Now imagine none of that's true but some asshole dog mocked one up to try to embarrass you.
See how ridiculous that makes the dog look?
See how that's a joke? (I don't think you do.)
I Googled the net, and yes seems like there's a string of "n****r jokes" about pubic hair that I was completely unaware of. I guess I need to talk to people at the truck stop more.
The only way this is racist is if you think he meant to make a very racist joke on purpose - which is your right to think so.
24. "Or if u had any black friends" In response to Reply # 16
Sutten tells me u don't
>I Googled the net, and yes seems like there's a string of >"n****r jokes" about pubic hair that I was completely unaware >of. I guess I need to talk to people at the truck stop more.
>The only way this is racist is if you think he meant to make a >very racist joke on purpose - which is your right to think >so. > >It's not how I saw it.
Of course u didn't cause u were unaware of the context to begin with
I'm not trying to dog pile but ur handling this horribly
White-'splaining The paternalistic lecture given by Whites toward a person of color defining what should and shouldn't be considered racist, while obliviously exhibiting their own racism.
You don't have to break down your version of the joke. I'm a lawyer who by trade analyzes language AND a comedy writer. I get your version of the joke, I just don't think that was the intended joke. Again, 15 is known for his hair. I can't see how this joke is not a reference to his famous hair.
And you haven't offered any solid proof that the joke is clearly intended your way and not the way almost all black people would interpret it or anyone who is familiar with the racist joke. Please google "black people" and "pubic hair" and educate yourself instead of trying to school me.
Again, don't believe though. Just ask people what they think the joke is about.
It's interesting that while I can allow the joke may have been intended your way but you can't acknowledge that maybe you got it wrong.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're r
20. "As a comedy writer you took the joke the other way?" In response to Reply # 19
This joke is a litmus test I guess.
I came into the joke with the life-experience/world-view of "Merkins are funny things" side of it.
You came to it on the life-experience/world-view of "People historically have made jokes about pubic hair and nappy hair being the same."
(I'm assuming a racist would also come in from that perspective too -just with the additional thought of "And that's funny!")
Starting from there we took the joke in a different way.
Now, you want "proof" that ROBERT SMIGEL meant the joke in the way you didn't take it?
I remember that from comedy - the rule of three, the call-back, and the always submit "proof' of your intended point of view and make it clear enough to be used as "proof" on the Internet.
There's a racial sensitivity I didn't realize until you "black-'splained" it to me. (hey, did that sound as condensing as "white-'splaining? If so - then I'm sorry.)
The way I see it now could be taken this way:
1)There's along tradition of accusing black people for having pubic hair on their head. 2)?uestlove is bald. 3)?uestlove wears a toupee made of pubic hair to replace the pubic hair he's missing on his head, because of item 1.
Seen from that perspective it is not funny, and disgustingly racist.
31. "You're still missing it...." In response to Reply # 20
>3)?uestlove wears a toupee made of pubic hair to replace the >pubic hair he's missing on his head, because of item 1.
The joke is that ?uest has a large afro and that he makes merkins out of it. Hence the Spring's hottest styles.
I don't care one way or the other. Smigel's Triumph schtick is that he's an insult comic. So it's supposed to be insulting. But how can you not see the joke here?
8. "Thought it said Public. Which was random and unfunny" In response to Reply # 0
But it says Pubic, which I found mildly offensive. I believe if you're gonna make an offensive joke, it has to be really funny. This wasn't even good imo. Surprised this is the joke you are enthusiastically upping for feedback.
41. "The joke can go three ways. " In response to Reply # 40
1. He has pubic hair on his head as a wig. 2. He sports a pubic wig (in his pubic area). 3. He makes pubic wigs from the hair on his head.
I doubt it's number 2 because Questlove is famous for his hair, so it seems natural that this joke is about his hair.
Maybe it's a completely random joke about pubic toupees but it would seem strange to me that his afro didn't cross anyone's mind while coming up with this joke.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're r
37. "Clearly we have two different ideas of what a "pubic wig" is. " In response to Reply # 36
A. A wig worn on your pubic area.
B. A wig worn on your head made of pubic hair.
The disconnect is that it seems very few people are aware that merkins are a thing. However, black people are familiar with the joke that black people hair looks like pubic hair.
I can't see how this joke isn't about Questlove's hair which he is very well known for.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're r
46. "A joke about needing to cover your pubes with a toupee, makes no sense" In response to Reply # 0
It only works if it's known that the person does not have pubic hair. His name is Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, of course he's going to insult him something he is famous for.
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