How SNL's 'Black Jeopardy' Nailed Racial Commentary

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Edited by John Ivory
#T1J #SNL #BlackJeopardy

[dgcclan]

" Saturday night live is a sketch comedy show that airs live, Saturday night."

I laughed.

[invernapro]

I will always laugh at the Tom Hanks one with the question "Skinny women can do this" and the answer from Doug "What is, not a damn thing"

[ChefSandwichboy]

"Even though this white lady is clueless about everything, she still gets to win, even though she didn't learn anything...I see you, SNL" Gold. Absolute gold.

[shannonrosengarth]

"Often, those experiences we associate with black folks are just as much, if not more, a consequence of class than race." YUP

[fcon]

Hey, here's something every black, white, hispanic, and asian family from the same economic class can relate to - how many of us have the hard plastic cups from any fast food joint cleaned and sitting in their cup cabinet?

[RW]

As a poor to middle class white guy, a lot of the jokes landed for me too.

The "long ass wire", "the good chair" and the junk door with the random sauce packets, are all things I'm very familiar with.

[rogermonroe]

I admittedly don't get most of the jokes in black jeopardy, but that bland ass potatoe salad with raisins is soooo relatable lol.

[letmic]

The T’challa sketch was one of the funniest of all time. He will greatly be missed. REST IN POWER CHADWICK BOSEMAN 👑

[joshualogan]

Growing up poor and white, I've always found myself in circles of color and those circles to be more relatable to my life experience. I think you hit the nail on the head with your deconstruction of the 'Doug' episode. I STILL laugh HARD at topfoil and so many of the jokes based around the shared experience of class. The hard part (especially for me as an adult that has now distanced myself from much of my family) is when Doug is asked 'Lives that matter.' Speaking as a white guy that has dealt and deals with these sort of arguments with white people in predominantly white spaces, this hit me hard. I didn't laugh so much as, exhaled out of my nose a sense of dread. I remember watching this episode when it happened. Going to work Monday, sharing a laugh over the episode with coworkers (black and white) and the comment that ended the morning discussion coming from a white coworker being 'Yeah, but Doug has a point.'

Great synopsis man. I really appreciate your work!

[Whoo]

My all-time favorite part in Black Jeopardy:

“What is, to honor her as the foundation of the family.”

"Mm! That's really nice! It's wrong... but it's *really nice*!"

[Doodlebob]

What you said about class is so true. I'm a Native American who grew up very poor and a lot of the jokes in Black Jeopardy were relatable to me. In fact, growing up, a lot of media directed towards black people was relatable to me.

[anxez]

The thing I liked about the Tom Hanks episode most was that it's low key leftist as shit in a way that Left leaning voices nowadays so rarely touch.
It was a working class solidarity sketch, painting the absurdity that is the American political system, not separated by shared experiences, but separated by skin color.

[jsmith]

You should have mentioned that Louis C.K.'s character was not just a professor of African American Studies, but a professor of African American Studies at about the whitest school on the planet, the Mormon church owned Brigham Young University. The Mormon church and BYU have a long history of racism too, with anyone "with one drop of African blood" being denied full participation in the Mormon church, and whose doctrine still, to this day, teaches that dark skin is a curse from God (despite publicly disavowing this teaching, the doctrine is still codified in many places in Mormon scriptures). BYU was so racist that at one point in the 1970s, many athletic teams refused to play them due to Mormon church racist policies. Several black football players from the university of Wyoming lost their scholarships and were kicked out of college because they refused to play games agains BYU due to BYU's racist policies.

[Crick]

I think something often ignored that the skit shows rather well is the shared cultural values between the broader black community and the South as a whole. Culturally the black community is a variety of the Southern culture and the majority of black people still live in the South to this day. For hundreds of years customs, beliefs and habits have intermingled between black and white Americans in the South in a way that they did not in the North and West.

[stephss]

Most people don't even realize that AAVE is real.

[kneazleje]

Ahh this is a great analysis, I didn't realize why I liked black jeopardy so much until you broke it down

[Knightmessenger]

I feel like the best line from the Chadwick Boseman one is when he says he would offer to tell the police all he knows because "our ministers of law enforcement are only there to protect us." I can't believe you didn't mention that.
Highlighting why the police are not trusted in all communities, it tragically took on way more relevance in 2020. And as I write this, Boseman has sadly just passed away.

[katmatally]

I think part of the humor and heartbreak of the sketch with Doug [MAGA guy] was that, he and the Black players related on things that scared them both.

[MrBuch]

"And although I have never eaten potato salad..."
"Of course."
"I sense that this white woman does not season her food. Not even some paprika??"

[ellentheeducator]

I think the bit about Tom Hanks is a discussion of class reductionism. If you only think about class, you'll miss the clear racial divide between Doug and the other members, and as you noted, the point on "Lives That Matter" is the center of the skit.