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It's Funny Cause He's Black!

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 30, 2009 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 30, 2009 |


Awesome show, brah! If you’ve felt that a lot of this season’s new shows, like “Modern Family,” have been neglecting you with all their nuance and well-thought out comedy, then “The Cleveland Show” is for you, folks! No reading in between the lines, here. You don’t have to work hard to understand the humor, either. You want to be challenged? Watch cable, motherfuckers. But if you want to laugh your ass off at cheap, lazy lowbrow humor, you’ve got to check out “The Cleveland Show,” the spin-off of comedic genius Seth MacFarlane’s, “Family Guy.” And if you love “The Family Guy,” you’re really going to love “The Cleveland Show,” especially if you’re black, because they’re practically the same show! Only this one has a lead black character, and — it’s a known fact — all black people love shows about other black people! Just ask my black friend!

“The Cleveland Show” follows the black friend in “The Family Guy,” Cleveland Brown (get it! Cause he’s African American!) and his son, as they leaves Quahog to move to California, where Cleveland can cash in his connection to Joe Torre to become a minor-league baseball scout. It’s a little far-fetched, but that’s only because there’s no such thing as a black baseball scout! I mean: Come on! Cleveland, however, gets sidetracked on his way, and ends up back in his Virginia hometown, where he runs into his old flame, Donna. She has a big ass, because black people LOVE big asses! There’s even a song about it.

Somehow, Cleveland — who likes to bathe at the same time in the same bathroom that his son is dropping a twosie (hahahahaha) — end up staying with Donna a few days, where the rest of the cast is introduced. Of course, there’s the very young precocious son, with the intellect of a much older welfare recipient (get it? Cause black people are all on welfare!); the older promiscuous daughter, who is dating a guy named Federline; a next-door neighbor who is a talking bear; and another redneck neighbor, who makes what some people might refer to as racist remarks, but that I think are just observations. Cause it’s true! Black people don’t get sad; “They just get more pissed off”! Don’t let me forget about Donna’s ex-husband, whose idea of a date is taking his lady to Woolworth’s to buy a grilled cheese and a parakeet! That’s racist and it makes no sense. Awesome!

I know, i know: Some people, especially touchy black people, tend to get all bent out of shape when it comes to off-hand racist remarks. Whatevs! This show is not like that, see. It’s satire, disguised as a blatantly racist sitcom! And while the major black characters are voiced by white voice actors, don’t worry — they’re really good at pretending to be black people. It’s so authentic! Also, it should be noted that, “The Cleveland Show” makes a few meta jokes about how it knows it’s racist, which completely absolves it of racism! She how that works! Seth MacFarlane: Genius.

Besides, black people shouldn’t get offended, cause “The Cleveland Show” makes fun of gays, too. Like this gem: “Gays are smart — just look how many lines Gene Hackman has been able to memorize over the years.” Although, to be fair, that’s not so much a joke as it is the simple truth. Gays are smart! And everybody knows Gene Hackman is gay. I mean, have you seen Hoosiers? Swisher! And I know for a fact that “chocolate peoples” do rob houses! Also, women LOVE to be referred to as “hot fur”! Just ask my wife, who let me sleep on the couch last night!

Indeed, the only thing I really found offensive in the entire episode was the crack about Kathleen Turner being fat. That just crosses the line. Fat jokes aren’t cool. Unless they’re about fat black people, cause in that case: Hilarious!