I think it's also important to understand precisely how this story came out. Kevin Rogers, a fan of Tracy Morgan's, who happens to be gay, went to Morgan's show, was offended by his act, and via Facebook, posted a write-up of what he saw. Louis CK admits that "he didn't get the context," and is upset that "people hear this shit mostly third hand." But Rogers isn't reporting third-hand. He was there, saw the context and was offended. From the write-up:
The sad thing is that none of this rant was a joke. His entire demeanor changed during that portion of the night. He was truly filled with some hate towards us. As far as I could see 10 to 15 people walked out.
Now perhaps Rogers overreacted and missed the joke, but he was present for it.
WHAT JOKE? In all the coverage I've read of this, and it's been more than I've wanted to read because gah, basically, I have yet to read about anything approaching a joke. I've read things that sounded like threats and things that sounded like rants and things that sounded like shit your relatives say when they haven't figured out how to be enlightened human beings yet, but I haven't yet read a joke in any of this. So to pull this bullshit "all humor is inherently cruel" dodge just drives me nuts.
I mean, God almighty, when will douchebag comedians figure this one out? You can be incredibly offensive, so long as you are original and hilarious. Threatening to kill your own kid if he acts stereotypically gay or effeminate? Not original. Also not really all that hilarious. I'm about done with the "you can't take a joke" argument, because in order for people to take a joke, there HAS TO BE A JOKE.
Just being an asshole is not, in and of itself, a joke. This is the thing that people don't get, right now, and we see it every time somebody does something offensive and tries to make it amusing. Lenny Bruce wasn't funny because he cursed a lot, he was funny because he was funny, and he was making a point by cursing. Getting up on stage and yelling FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK doesn't make you Lenny Bruce, any more than yelling the N-word makes you Chris Rock.
Part of great humor is making your audience think. When George Carlin asked if anybody had ever noticed that most people who were against abortion were people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place, he wasn't just being ooh, controversial. He was talking about sexual hypocrisy and the inherent unattractiveness of somebody telling you you shouldn't control the very same body you're about to use to have sex with them. Louis CK says:
I've said to many audiences that I think you shouldn't rape someone unless you have a good reason, like you want to fuck them and they won't let you. That's worse than what he said! And I didn't wink and say, just kidding. I just said it.
Which, buddy, you're actually saying there is no good reason to rape anybody, ever, and that rape is never okay, and what makes you laugh is the absudity that anyone would ever say that, and then the whiplash realization that some people do, in fact, consider that a justification. I believe you can joke about a lot of things, but you have to be joking. I have yet to see anything that leads me to think Morgan was.
A.
One of the first blog-based books, the anthology Special Plans examines Feith's role in misleading America into war. Buy from 
It was the opposite of funny and I often think Morgan is funny. This was just pure bile. Gah, indeed.
Posted by: Adrastos | June 20, 2011 at 22:03
And here's something I'm sure Morgan knows: An attempt at humor has a much better chance of being funny when you punch up, not down. Going after the marginalized is not particularly hilarious. But like you said, that's assuming he was trying to be funny.
Posted by: Dan | June 21, 2011 at 03:56
Dan has a point - white people ripping on black people, for example, tends to be not very funny and mostly uncomfortable. The reverse, however, is a staple of minority comedy. And making fun of your own group - self deprecation - is also a staple (hell it's what my comic strip kind of runs on). But as soon as you start punching down rather than up, there's that moment of "not sure if serious" compounded by Poe's Law in some cases where... it just isn't funny anymore.
Posted by: Hobbes | June 21, 2011 at 08:50
Yeah because you know it's all so Funny! Right here in Madison yesterday...so funny:
--------------
MADISON, Wis. -- Madison police arrested four teens after an alleged hate crime on the city's north side Monday afternoon.
Police said the victim, a 17-year-old girl, was followed off a city bus from East Town on the 2000 block of Manley Street around 3:30 p.m. The four accused teens, two 16-year-old males and two 15-year-old females, followed the victim for several blocks, making derogatory comments questioning her sexual orientation, according to police. One of the males then knocked her down, kicked her several times and grabbed her backpack, all while continuing to make derogatory remarks, police said.
---------------
The four were arrested and the young woman's back pack was found. All 4 charged with robbery and onw with battery and hate crime enhancer.
Hey Tracy this is the shit that's happening. Is it really funny to you????? Is it really ok????
Posted by: scout | June 21, 2011 at 08:50
Link for above:
http://www.channel3000.com/news/28305496/detail.html
Posted by: scout | June 21, 2011 at 08:52
maybe he was off his meds.
Posted by: pansypoo | June 21, 2011 at 12:26
Best writing on the intertubes. Love you, Athenae
Posted by: noblejoanie | June 21, 2011 at 14:19
thanks for posting that. i was 1/2 of the lesbian couple in attendance that night at the ryman and it still pisses me off that people think we cannot take a joke. i told tracy exactly that to his face in the room next to the media before his 2 second media conference. anyway, i just had to vent. thanks for writing that.
Posted by: cynthia wagner | June 27, 2011 at 04:14