So I’m sitting here hoping beyond hope that I don’t get a call to do a consult for Neurology, when I happened upon an article on CNNSI about the recently released book by NBA journeyman Paul Shirley, "Can I Keep My Jersey".  I got hipped to Paul Shirley through the Boston Sports Guy, as I do most things sports/pop culture related.  Shirley kept a blog on NBA.com which was decidedly self-depreciating, so you know I dug it as self-depreciating/self-loathing is my bag.

As I read through the article I started to think about some of my heroes in the cult of self-loath.  The earliest memory I can recall is seeing Richard Lewis perform some routine or the other.  I was a pretty young guy, but I recall thinking he was pretty hilarious.  He showed me that not only is it okay to laugh at yourself, but you can actually go a long way in comedy making OTHER people laugh at you, especially if they are going to laugh at you anyway, you might as well focus it right?

Then came George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander on Seinfeld).  George took self-loathing mainstream in a big, big way.  He toyed the line between painfully funny and painfully awkward beautifully.  Some of the things George would say and do made even me cringe, but he pushed the envelope far enough for a guy like me to do and say some of the things I can do.  Of course, George was a fictional character….or so we thought.

We soon found out that George was just a caricature of Larry David, creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm.  It’s no coincidence that my level of self-depreciation increased exponentially with the debut of Curb.  If Richard Lewis is the grandfather of self-loathing humor, Larry David is the godfather, and Curb would be "The Payback" .

It’s funny though, I can’t think of a black comedian whose schtick is self-depreciation.  Maybe my boy Jordan Carlos, but he’s as close as it gets.  Most of our comedy is aimed at making as much fun of others as we can.  We don’t really point the finger at ourselves as much.  Dave Chappelle used to do it, but still his was infused with a bit of bravado, it was rarely ever REALLY self-depreciatory and surely not self-loathing.

Black folk are really sensitive by nature.  We take slights (real and percieved) personally and it kind of gives our comedy it’s distinguishing character.  Watch the Original Kings of Comedy, especially Steve Harvey and D.L. Hughley’s sets to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Anyway I’m going to check out Paul Shirley’s book because I know I’ll enjoy it.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be inspired by it to come out with my own missive that will probably be as poorly read as this entry.

Oh, I almost forgot, go vote if you haven’t already: