Mind of Monotony with Carlos Mencia

Last night I tried out the new Comedy Central show, Mind of Mencia... again. Since it's debut July 6th, I've subjected myself three times to the same watered-down laughs reminiscent of a hispanic Chappelle's Show without the wit. I think it's fair to say I've given the guy a shot.

Not for the Easily Offended

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This title of his comedy DVD released a couple of years ago is also the gimmick of the show. You'll know this because he will tell you *every five minutes* just before he moves on to broadcasting another tired stereotype to the audience they've long-since grown sick of hearing.

Feigning Indifference

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Adding insult to injury, Mencia's in-your-face flavor comes across as a desperate attempt to convince his audience that he doesn't care who he offends. Maybe he's trying too hard...

His politically-correct style of alotting nearly equal time to bashing each cultural identity appears to suspiciously reminiscent of a ploy of an entertainer afraid of losing his fan base. The action screams, "You can't get mad at me because I make fun of everyone, so you can't be mad because at least I'm being fair!" This has two problems:

1. It doesn't work.
   Some stereotypes are funnier than others. Why sacrifice the quality of his show for a strained montage of tag team culture-ribbing?
   
   If it comes down to offensiveness, Dave Chappelle's "The Niggars" skit of a 1950s white suburban family with the commons surname, "Niggar" is far more eyebrow-raising as Chappelle tests the limits of how often his audience can hear the word "Niggar" in casual conversation without cringing. It's gutsy, and hilarious.
   
   But then, Chappelle doesn't feel the need to p the Hindus, Arabs, Blacks, Mexicans, Jews and Homosexuals in every show.


2. It leaves no time to develop a joke.
   Mencia's show is 23 minutes long (taking comercials into account). With as many topics as Mencia hopes to cover, he's successful in getting across punchlines suggesting that Arabs are racially profiled as terrorists and Mexicans stigmatized as illegal aliens. Gee, thanks.

On a (Somewhat) Positive Note

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I'm being too harsh. It's not as if I never laughed. Mencia has a great deal of charisma that is extremely entertaining to watch. Hopefully, he explores his material a bit to find something fresh to present to his audience. As is, Dave did it first, Dave did it better.


-T.