New Website!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new year: 2014.  And with that, I give you my new personal website!

It's been a labor of love and any of you out there with thoughts about it, do let me know.  Life is fluid, and so is my image.  I'm interested in putting my best foot forward.

On a different note, here are some of the most amazing shows/films I've been watching:

ARROW
Holy moly, this is probably the best adaptation of comic format to screen format (of any size--sorry DC Universe).  Arrow has successfully maneuvered its way around nearly every obstacle that makes adaptations of masked hero stories so corny.  The acting is exceptional, the writing smart and playful, and Stephen Amell's lead performance is wholly inhabited, haunted, and nuanced.  The weaving of the multiple story lines is a thing of beauty and I haven't gotten tired of "the island's" mysteries being teased out way into the second season.  Can we still have flashbacks to the island next season, or even in perpetuity?  Doubt it.  But for now, it's all good.

TRUE DETECTIVE
My sister and I have soft spots for police procedurals so big they could be called soft zones.  The great thing about this one is the assured pace, McConaughey and Harrelson's incredible character work, and the examination of American poverty.  The show's structure plays with time, and both M and H give dual performances, one in the past and one fifteen years later, with the years in between as legible in their eyes as in their hair and makeup (which is pretty great, too).  There's not really an emphasis (yet) on the central murder as much as one on the growth of the detective's relationship over the course of time and how deeply the case's influence ripples through the rest of their lives.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY
I have got to give it up to this show.  Yes gory, yes campy, yes operatic, but also unparalleled weaving of socio-historical horrors within the flashy, season-specific horrors.  AHS:COVEN is about witches but also about race and female agency. AHS:ASYLUM was about a scary mental hospital and serial murder, but also about abuse of power, religious hypocrisy, race, and social oppression.  The first season was about ghosts but also the deterioration of a marriage and school shooting, etc.  The list goes on, it's a show with a very progressive conscience masquerading as pure entertainment.  And who else has the guts to cast so many actors who've been shut out of the mainstream glam?  The commitment to diverse casting on AHS is really unmatched with the exception of GLEE, also same producing team.  What America looks like really gets to be seen here.  Also, Jessica Lange is a goddamn genius.


I wrote little bits on twitter about the following films I had the privilege to see at AFI Fest:

OUR SUNHI
THE SELFISH GIANT
LA JAULA DE ORO
THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT
THE LUNCHBOX

These may or may not be in theaters near you anytime soon, but they were some of the best that world cinema has to offer.

LA Film Festival 2013: 7 DAY GIG

June was a huge month.  Kate's film 7 DAY GIG premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival as part of Project: Involve's shorts program to great acclaim, she won a cash award from the Barbara Boyle Scholarship, and she and I finally broke down and bought an air conditioner.  It was insanely hot for the past week (Ridiculous L.A. Heatwave '13) and our little apartment couldn't take it anymore.

I also got my new headshots up and running and they're working wonders for my call-in rate.  I always dread getting new pictures but I went with Joanna Brooks Photography and they were affordable and the end product is fantastic.  I love her style.  She's also tuned in to artists and performance craft and knows how to get something great out of you: your different looks, your presence in front of the camera, your vibe...I cannot recommend her highly enough.

7 DAY GIG was a tremendous experience for me because I was able to work on 5 different levels to get it made and assist Kate in executing her vision.  I was her assistant, her confidant, a PA, an administrator, a set dresser, and I got to have one of the plum roles of my career: "UPS Man." (Technically, I was "Delivery Man" due to copyright issues.)  I feel very lucky to have been able to give so much of myself to this film, and I'm really proud of the work everyone did on it, top to bottom.




I've also been going out a lot for the spanish-language market commercially.  I am finding my way, given that sometimes you get the copy in advance and sometimes you have to translate on the spot when you arrive at the audition and sometimes there's no copy at all and you have to improv in spanish.  Thanks to David Sajadi I have begun an excellent Spanish course based on his recommendation, and I feel like it's working wonders for my abilities.

New Reps!

I am very happy to announce that I have signed with Avalon Artists Group as my Commercial agency! I will be working with Stephany Burns, the head of the commercial division, and she's wonderful.  It has taken me some time to get used to L.A. and build up a head of steam, but the time has arrived for Spartacus to take his place in the arena and accept the mantle of Gladiator.*

I am Spartacus!  Champion!  Bringer of Rain!

I met with founder and head agent Craig Holzberg at a workshop at The Actors Group in Burbank, and I was deeply moved by what he had to say about his commitment to his clients, Avalon's business ethos, and his simpatico with creative people.  He referred me to Stephany, I went in for a meeting, and here we are.  It's like a dream.  Like the man said, "Get them to sign on the line which is dotted."  Done and done.

So now it's on to new headshots, a commercial technique class, wardrobe investment, getting deeper into my Spanish skillset. . .

Yo soy Espartacus! Campeon! Portador de la lluvia!

The nice thing about commercial work is that you are rewarded for being a well-rounded person and how many other things you can do.  The list of all human skills is itemized on the internet actor directories to help Casting know if you know have experience they can work into a spot, but the list is so insane.

Can you ride a horse?
Can you juggle more than three balls?
Can you skydive?
Can you Tango?
Are you also a registered nurse?
Can you sail?

You never know what is going to be asked of you, and that's what makes commercials so magical and exciting.

If it please the court: Exhibit A.

I am going to work on being proficient in as many of these as I can, safely, to better my odds.

Some I won't, because even Espartacus has limits to what he will do for the roar of the crowd.**

On to the next horizon!

________________________________________________________________________________



* My sister and her boyfriend got me hooked on Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and with the help of some moral gymnastics, I was able to really enjoy it.  There is nothing like watching a whole season of that to get you pumped for meeting a new agent.

** "Rodeo: Bull Riding"?  Oh HELL no.

A New Year

It's not good when you fall behind on posting on your own blog.  Here is what happened today:

The sun rose on Day 3 of the L.A. Superflu-infected Paco Tolson.
I made myself a seltzer and aloe juice drink and took some advil.
I made a list of things to work on including emailing colleagues and friends I'd lost touch with since the holidays.
I did most of it, including meditating, so there's that.
I did some editing on my comedy reel, too, most prominently featuring the Doritos Crash The Superbowl commercial I shot at the end of December.
Theraflu, tea, coffee, water, airborne...

For late lunch I made trader joe's vegetable dumplings which Kate and I call "little babies".

Last year's immensity cannot yet be handled gracefully on these pages, so for now we'll just plow ahead.

Update 2012

Some seriously awesome new-year stuff to report!

In reverse order:

RODRIGO GARCIA WORKSHOP
On Thursday of this week I will be performing in a workshop at CalArts with Rodrigo Garcia, famed director of the Glenn Close vehicle Albert Nobbs.  He is doing a guest artist lecture for the Film Directing Program that includes scene study work with myself (and others) on material he's written. It's an amazing opportunity to work one-on-one with a director I really admire.  I thought Albert Nobbs was an exceptionally smart film filled with fully dimensional performances from everyone in it.  (Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, of course, in contention for Oscars.)

That's not Janet McTeer.

MASTER CLASS
Last week I took an incredibly informative Master Class with commercial casting director Chris Game.  I am still figuring out how to maximize my performance within a frame on film, and I was able to get some exciting tips from him that have already changed my approach for the better.  He was fast, smart, energetic, and gave it to us straight, which I appreciated.  It's always good to hear what life is like on the other side of the table in auditions; he pulled the curtain back on that mystique a lot.

ACTORS KEY
This dovetailed nicely with another commercial workshop I took with Stuart Stone at Actors Key in Burbank.  Super nice, very informative and right on with the re-direct.

THESIS IN FEBRUARY
After the holidays I met with CalArts film director Will Orellana who cast me as the lead in his (untitled) thesis film.  Will is someone who's work I've been watching develop for three years and I'm excited by his vision.  Getting to work with Kate's peers has been invaluable.  Shooting begins in Mid-February, but a lot of background research on my part has begun already.

WEB PRESENCE
Before that I created a personal YouTube Channel where I can consolidate clips of my work that have been floating the internet.  You can check it out at the link above; it includes Jon Hoche's Rehearsal Journals for the Vampire Cowboys shows we did together, some class projects Kate did with me for Film School as well as drafts of my acting reel.

HONEY BADGER COMMERCIAL
Also on the YouTube Channel is the commercial I did with director Harold Hyde for internet voiceover sensation Randall and his new Honey Badger App for the iPhone.  "Randall" is the genius comic entrepreneur who's made serious dividends from his viral video and the tag line, "Honey Badger don't give a shit."  An absolute blast to shoot and the app itself is a lot of fun, too.



The biggest news for last:

In January, right at the top of the new year, I shot my first national commercial!

That's actually all I can say about it until it airs, but it's been one of the best, most agonizing secrets to keep.  I can now join SAG and start setting the world on fire like a pro.  I will be a made man.

Acting Reel 2

New clips came in!  Here's some of what I've been up to last year in the West.

Acting Reel

Here is some footage from film and TV work I did back in New York.  Clips from my tenure in L.A. will be added as soon as I get my hands on it!  

Another Day at Work

In L.A., cars are king.  Obvious.  Okay.  So the normal outgrowth of that truism is that businesses are located off the highway.  So is mine:  “Pho Citi”, a Vietnamese noodle and soup place.  Trash is constantly swirling around in little tornadoes of cigarette wrappers, ancient plastic bags, and pigeon feathers.  Each passing car blows the detritus away and back, around and around, right in front of our door. 

Yesterday, a deliveryman left the door open to wheel in his handtruck of rice stick noodles and suddenly a fat, greasy road-pigeon was wreaking havoc inside the restaurant, launching itself into the low-hanging Ikea ceiling lamps and shitting on the tables.

Customers were screaming with surprise, fear, and disgust.  Every time the bewildered pigeon tried to escape it would fly head-first into the plate-glass windows that face the highway.  A sickening smack could be heard each time, feathers drifting down lazily behind it.

Some customers were yelling.  Some were trying to scare it in the direction of the open door.  Some used their hands to protect their bowls of steaming Vietnamese soup.  Nearly everyone had left their seats and stood in postures of readiness.

The pigeon was now seriously out of it.  Walking in circles, then hovering in the air, hitting the window, flapping its wings, molting all over.  A customer from a table in the corner began trying to chase it out from behind while someone from another table tried to chase it out from the front, resulting in the bird shooting straight up in the air and hitting a ceiling lamp.  Our ceiling lamps resemble the kind you might imagine would be in a police interrogation room and they were almost all swinging back and forth on their long cords in a sinister way. 

This had been going on for five minutes of pure adrenaline.  An ad-hoc peanut gallery began to form and shout orders at the intrepid pigeon-catchers.  The cook, Daniel, an 80-pound Chinese man from Vietnam, watched from behind his kitchen window with a bemused smile on his face.

It’s hard to describe how complicated my emotions were as this was going on.  On the one hand, this was the most exciting thing to happen in three months.  There was a truly pathetic comedy of errors unfolding and I was just as mesmerized by the goings on as everyone else.  On the other hand, I was the only staff on site besides Daniel. It was obvious he was not going to join the fray. He works seven days a week and has not had a day off in months.  Since I was the face of the restaurant for the time being, a part of me felt duty-bound to save the dignity of the Pho Citi brand and resolve the matter swiftly and without further embarrassment. 

But then I began to think of all the mistreatment I and the other staff had suffered under the mismanagement of the owner, Sandra. I would get a certain measure of revenge on her when reading about this encounter on customer review websites like Yelp and MenuPages.com.   This job had nearly crushed my soul, why should I do more than the minimum to save face for someone who clearly had no regard for me?  I wrestled with this silently for a time as the commotion continued.

At first I tried to contain the situation by grabbing an empty cardboard box from the stockroom and throwing it on top of the creature.  This was a disaster, and anyway the box was too small.  It had previously contained to-go soy sauce packets.  Scaring it out was clearly not working, covering it with a box was unsuccessful…I reasoned then that it would only leave if it wanted to.  I looked around for something like bird food that I could use to coax it out with.

The best I could do was a bright green slice of lime.

Hoping against hope with my back to the door, I crouched to the ground and made clicking noises in the back of my mouth with my tongue the way you would get a horse to eat a carrot or an apple: kick-kick-kick-kick. Kick-kick-kick-kick.  Kick-kick-kick-kick.

A purple eye turned towards me.  Then the whole head.  Suddenly, a hopping bird was advancing on me.  Maybe to see what horse I was talking to. I backed further and further away until I could feel the breeze from the road.  And then the pigeon was gone.  It spread its wings and flapped into the daylight, around the corner and out of sight.  I turned back into the restaurant, lime in hand.

People had already begun to sit down.  I looked around to see if any of the customers had been a reporter and if we would make the news.  No one was taking any damning notes and no one looked horrified anymore.  No one asked for my name or the name of the owner.  The deliveryman continued to bring in boxes of noodles.  One table had just finished eating when the pigeon had come in and now were ready to pay. Daniel rang his cook’s bell: another bowl of soup was ready to go out.

Things almost instantly returned to normal and my attention was returned to the work of running the place on my own. 

I never saw that pigeon again.

Access and Inspiration

It is becoming more and more clear to me that on-camera work centers on the idea of access.  The camera's proximity provides unprecedented access to the inner workings of your mind, and the most minute thoughts play out on your face (without you having to put them there as a bit of "business" the way you would in theater).  A teacher once told me, "Emotion is the sweat produced by the work of pursuing your objective."  If you put attention on creating an emotion, you're not trying to get something from your scene partner, you're trying to get something from yourself and it takes you out of the game.

Take your breathing.  It happens naturally as part of the autonomic system of your body.  As soon as you put attention onto breathing it becomes a chore, and all you can think about is making yourself take a breath at the right time.  Putting attention on breathing disrupts the ease with which it comes out.  Emotions are autonomic, too.  Without working at all, the gears can be seen to be turning when someone looks into your eyes.  The face can be read with more clarity because the eyes are blown up to four feet across on a screen, and the eyes are what tell us everything.

This is something I need to hammer into my new consciousness because a great deal of who I am as a person is going to play out onscreen autonomically, without my permission, and who I am needs to be something more vulnerable and less guarded if I'm to have success in this field.

My natural inclination is towards humility, self-deprecation, and "letting the work speak for itself", but these things are all keeping me from engaging the camera (and thus, the viewer) with intimacy.  If you're up close but can't get inside, the whole enterprise is frustrated and the work becomes good, but not great.

Something else I've been thinking about is how to take ownership of myself and my career without being obnoxious or entitled; how to go after what I want and believe I deserve it; how to create an atmosphere around me that says, "I am in control, you can relax," rather than, "Do you like me?"

This is particularly hard in an industry town where everyone you meet seems to be in the same market as you and the prevailing attitude is that actors are a dime a dozen.  How can you hold your head up high and feel pride?

I think you need to hold on to the things that inspire you personally.  To believe in love and family and artistic passion and strive to make yourself better, to improve in such a way that you can say to yourself, "I am better than I was before; things are moving forward even if other areas of my life have stalled or are not on fire yet."  If your passion is acting, keep acting and taking classes and digging into what mystery is right outside your grasp.  If it's writing, keep churning out those drafts.  Keep taking inspiration from the outside world to find the characters that speak through you.

I am having a wonderful week because I just got more involved with the artistic side of my time here as opposed to the staying afloat side which took precedence for two months.  It's like a breath of fresh air to keep striving at what I want to be doing.  I'm fortunate that I have this time, and I'm going to spend it very wisely.

Secret Video

 This is the view from backstage of the game show I was on as an actor (playing a contestant).  The creators did a mock-up of the game for investors to try and sell it to networks.  I had been in two previous run-throughs as the main contestant, but suddenly when the money comes in, they wanted me as an alternate.  I got so mad I filmed this video just to break my non-disclosure agreement.  Then, of course, a guy didn't show up (classic LA flakiness) and I went on after all.  It's all in the past, but for those in the know, this was what it was like from the wings.  You may not be able to tell, but that figure at the bottom of the screen is eighty-thousand dollars.  The jackpot was 3.2 million.

Atmosphere

Here are some photos of the neighborhood and environs that I have just been able to put up.

Paco Taco

David and I went to this little treasure downtown last week. Mexicali Taco Co. It's some of the best mexican food I've had since I've been here.

This is the cachetada, which I had with chicken (their specialty), and I also had the famous vampiro which is like a garlic cheese quesadilla.  Both were superlative, although I thought the cachetada was better and I had two.  I can't believe I never had one of these before!


These guys are the best, highly honorable and great energy.  Very friendly and charismatic.

Discipline

I am finding it very hard to stay disciplined out here.  For the moment, no car and no job, so everything is a little easy-breezy and then you look at the clock and the whole day is gone.  It's difficult to believe it's not perpetual summer break.  I have to make lists every morning of what I need to do, and somehow those lists stay long no matter how many items I knock out.

Here's some big items I did knock out:

1.* Go to the Actor's Work Program and get help finding a job.  This is one of the best resources I have found and I wish I had known about it sooner.  The Actor's Fund (amazing in itself) has an offshoot that specializes in career development.  The operation in NYC is absolutely top notch, I can't say enough things about how professional and smart everyone was when I went a few months ago during the run of Agent G.  In LA, the rigor of the program remains to be seen, but I went to orientation and my first workshop, and I am underway.  In NYC, the AWP felt like a sanctuary in Times Square where you could go and it was open and friendly, people are buzzing around and there's a computer lab.  In LA, the offices are in the SAG building and the layout makes you feel really uncomfortable.  You have to wait in an anteroom and then you get shuttled into a conference room where you can't see anything but a secret, anonymous hallway.  Everything seems to be behind a closed door.  As if you don't spend enough time alone out here, brawp.

2.  Get Health Insurance.  There is a great blog I mentioned a while ago (that has been priceless) called New Yorker in LA which directed me to the ehealthinsurance.com website.  After a week of back and forth and researching, I am now on a Kaiser Permanente HMO plan that should work.  Big ups to Mom and Dad for helping with that.

3.  Get a Library Card.  This one I've wanted to do but was intimidated by the application requirements I saw online, when in fact they're super chill about giving you one.   I should have known.  There's two really nice library branches within walking distance, Cahuenga and Los Feliz.  Very excited to try them out.  Kate and I got our cards together and took out materials the same day.  She said, "I think I found my new favorite plaaaaaace," because there are so many crazy characters walking the stacks.  Absolutely fascinating, unusual people.  One was a guy who seemed to be talking to himself about the "order you had to go in", which was apparently Dog, Rabbit, Snake, Bear.  You could not go Snake, Bear, Rabbit, Dog.  Hmm.

*So get a job and get a car where the actual numbers one and two, but those are going to take a touch longer than I thought.  I remain optimistic.  I have a number of great people who came out here before I did who are in my corner and it's making a big difference.

There's a great line in Malick's The Thin Red Line (one of my all time favorite movies) where Nick Nolte says to John Cusack, "From now on you don't have to tell me that you agree with me or that you think I'm right.  Ever.  We'll just accept it as given."  Find acting work is kind of an uber-number one, or super-objective, so we'll take that goal as given.  It's running underneath everything else I do.

Back in the Saddle

Okay, everyone.  I am back in LA after appearing in one of the most successful shows of my theatrical career: The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G.  Time now to concentrate on camera work.  But before I move on, let me say a quick thank you.  Now that I am over the jetlag and the madness of the graduation ceremonies and screenings at CalArts, I can give a proper shout out to the people who materially supported my stay in NYC.

First and foremost, my parents and sister.

Next, the brave souls who let me stay with them at their apartments:
Adam Mazer, Dan Rogers, Natalie Eilbert and Matt
Brian Morvant and Samantha Mason
Aaron Weiner and Jamie Klassel
Alison and Bill Washabaugh
Temar Underwood and Andrea Smith
Amy Waschke

Next, those who took me under their wing:
Jon Hoche and Erica Swindell
Angel Desai

And those who got me side gigs to keep the cash flow flowing:
Julie Leedes and Chris Ceraso with MTC
Billie Levinson from The Actor's Work Program
(Jon Hoche, Brian Morvant, Kris Ayers: thanks for the leads!)

You guys all made it possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

ES&L II

Another punctuation and acting intersection from Lynne Truss:

But, as many classical actors will tell you, it can be just as effective to lower your voice for emphasis as to raise it.  Poets and writers know this too, which is where dashes and brackets come in.  Both of these marks ostensibly muffle your volume and flatten your tone; but, used carefully, they can do more to make a point than any page and a half of italics. 

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

I started Lynne Truss's book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" last night on loan from Aaron, and in the first twenty pages came across this absolute gem:

The reason it's worth standing up for punctuation is not that it's an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours when they see it misapplied.  The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.  Punctuation herds words together, keeps others apart.  Punctuation directs you how to read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play.  As we shall see in the chapter on commas, it was first used by Greek dramatists two thousand years ago to guide actors between breathing points...

AGENT G First Reviews

Jon and I at it again.
Photo: Jim Baldassare

Theatermania
The play's tone shifts after the battle, when its hero, Hung Tran (a robust and expertly calibrated turn from Paco Tolson) brings The Playwright (played with wryness and a certain sweet nerdiness by William Jackson Harper) to the stage. Hung, an incarnation of Nguyen's cousin, a Vietnamese refugee who survived a horrific journey in the China Sea, demands that Playwright tell his story truthfully, announcing "You're here to help turn this story out correct, playwright."  


I have to give mad props to Andy Propst from Theatermania, the guy has shown me so much critical love in NYC, and I am lucky to have someone so thoughtful in my corner.  


That Sounds Cool
After seeing Agent G, I'm not just a believer again, I'm a thoroughly obsessed fan: Nguyen's latest is not just a tale of Vietnam, filtered through war movies, noir drama, and spy flicks, but the tale of an artist daring to find his voice without compromising his aesthetic. 


Hello, Aaron Riccio.  Aaron reviews everything under the sun and is always on point.  


nytheatre.com
The ensemble of five is superlative. Paco Tolson and Bonnie Sherman are spectacular as, respectively, Hung and three different (and very important) white women; Harper is funny and then moving as the beleaguered Playwright; Amy Kim Waschke breathes life into numerous stereotypes as, among others, a Vietnamese boy and a young Vietnamese woman who works as the housekeeper at a whorehouse. Stealing the show constantly is Jon Hoche, who plays seemingly a zillion different antagonists to Hung and/or The Playwright...


Martin Denton.  A living legend who works tirelessly to legitimaize the work we all do downtown.  Thanks as always, man.


ComicCritique.com

The ensemble matches this litter of intentions each with their own shuffled deck of attitudes and identities, particularly Bonnie Sherman and Amy Kim Waschke, who incarnate an extraordinary library of pop poses and genuine emotional textures, while tenacious comedians Paco Tolson and Jon Hoche screw their incalculable chops to the shticking place.

William Jackson Harper is nervously, exasperatedly masterful as the conflicted-nebbish Playwright who invokes Woody Allen’s and Kevin Smith’s self-referential models to hide behind, but in the last scene there’s nowhere to hide. 

Thanks, Adam McGovern!

Also check out friend of the company Jenn Kim's interview with Qui and I at Pink Ray Gun here.  She came to the show on her birthday.  Amazing.

Sucker Punch

This is an article/rant about the geek world vs. Zach Snyder and the reaction from fans of comic book material to adaptations/appropriations of it in pop culture.  Fascinating and well written.

Read it here.

AICN interview with Yuen Woo Ping

I liked this interview with fight choreography legend Yuen Woo Ping.  Here's my favorite part, as it's something I've been trying to ariculate for a long time regarding fights in movies these days.  You can read the whole thing here.

I’m not afraid of long takes, because long takes have more visual power. As you said, you can just sit there and watch the whole scene all together and it’s more enjoyable. The second reason is because it’s more realistic. It’s not fake. You can see very movement and every action in the fight through long takes. If it’s filmed with short takes, all you see is just the editing work, not the actual martial arts work. It’s just really important for you to see every movement is not fake. There definitely are a lot of difficulties with filming long takes, because you have to do it in sequence and all together, so the point is the actors must know martial arts. If they don’t know martial arts, I will train them to let them get into it.

Provocation and Racial Humor

 Theatre, in the main, deals with provocation.  It uses bodies and words to express thoughts and feelings very immediately.  Because it is dramatic it often deals with controversy and the underbelly of human relationships.  Therefore, to participate in watching it is an act of bravery and courage.  It is not easy to spend time in the underbelly, but that is where we learn the most about ourselves; from the areas we ignore for comfort's sake. 


People always say edgy racial humor has to be looked at from the perspective of the people behind it: what was their intention?  Is the joke coming from a place of love, hate, ignorance, thoughtlessness or keen attention?  Are they using comedy to shine a light or for an easy laugh?  I think Chris Rock is a genius comedian and he is clearly as smart as they come, but the jokes themselves could wound an audience in the wrong hands.

It's not always possible to know the intention of the artist.   So what then?  If you're watching something funny but think it might be offensive, or you think something is racist but is supposed to be funny...how can you tell whether or not the artist can get away with it?

What are the signals that let you know can trust the artist enough to allow them to transgress politeness and safety with you?

I don't know, actually.  Probably that the work is somehow a reflection of the artist as a person.  That's the big one.  Every race has an iteration of "I know, right?" comedy that skewers the culture they grew up in.

Another indicator is the emotional subtext.  Are the jokes mean-spirited?  Are the laughs cheap because they are based solely on an accent or underlining what makes X or Y different?  Is it mocking or well-articulated?  Is it a roast or a rant?

With a play, for example, is the joke delivery method being used this way for a reason? A lot of good clowning and comedy is based on creating goofy characters who speak funny, but are the jokes in the service of something more?

There really is no accounting for the feelings of all people, but most racism in comedy is cheap.  Usually you can tell whether the intentions of the creators are enlightened or not. 

Qui Nguyen's play The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G deals with race.  A lot.  It also deals with sex, class, war, and responsibility.  It deals with reconciling who you are with the American dream.  It deals with the collision between your own life and the life you give to your art.  It is hilariously irreverent and will likely ruffle a lot of feathers.  I know the artists and I know their intentions.  Come check it out for yourself.