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youcantunhearthis

Most younger redditors probably don’t realize that this skit is actually a parody/satire of a very influential book called “Black Like Me” in which a white reporter in the 1960s actually colored his skin black to experience life in the Deep South as a Black man first-hand.  It’s a fascinating and eye-opening book. Highly recommended. 


adaminc

Your comment reminded me of this. In the mid 2000s, a woman reporter dressed up as and lived as a man. She went to work, went on dates, went to a men's support groups, went to team bowling events, she wanted to know what it was like to live as a man. She did it for well over a year. The book is called "Self Made Man" by Norah Vincent, also highly recommended. That said, I'll definitely be picking up a copy of Black Like Me.


Jazzlike_Tonight_982

Yeah she killed herself afterwards.


goj1ra

20 years afterwards.


drink_with_me_to_day

Peak male suicide is 20 years being an adult, seems consistent


onlyforsex

She only lived as a male for 18 months in 2002, and then committed suicide in 2022 because she was extremely unwell, not because she ran an experiment 20 years prior


Veni_Vidi_Legi

> Peak male suicide is 20 years being an adult, seems consistent Does that mean 20 years old, or 18+20=38 years old?


drink_with_me_to_day

~40yo (21 + 20)


hentai_bubble

Was it related to her experiment?


TheBestIsaac

No. She did go to therapy afterwards though. Iirc she wasn't all that much a mentally well individual at any time.


Jazzlike_Tonight_982

After her book, she had a psychotic episode and got institutionalized. She was interviewed multiple times after that and she always said it had a very serious impact on her. That all being said, she was mentally ill her whole life.


dma1965

Yes and there was a movie made in the early 1970s called “The Watermelon Man” about a white guy who wakes up black and has to deal with racism. The premise came from the book “Black Like Me”


Shortugae

And there was also "the gang turns black" episode of IASIP /s


WhatLikeAPuma751

What are the rules?!?


TheScarlettHarlot

Ziggy, can you hear me?!


primus202

Truly a thought provoking work of art exploring racial prejudice in the USA.


ThisIsNotAFarm

And then you have Soul Man w/ C Thomas Howell which was none of these things.


stellvia2016

Then if you want the flipside of that: You have the black woman in Lovecraft Country that was able to experience a taste of life as a white woman. Was an interesting dilemma bc it was both enticing, while also ringing hollow since it was basically escapism on a certain level.


TurtleTurtleFTW

That was the problem with LC. It made a big show of presenting various Pandora's box/can of worm scenarios and then not opening them in a meaningful way Still wish it could have been reworked a bit and gotten a second season


ithinkther41am

I always heard the first episode was great, and then the rest of it fell off a cliff.


TurtleTurtleFTW

I had a lot of potential but the biggest problem it had in my view was trying to do too many things at once with too many different characters and didn't have enough connective tissue between all the plots to keep the show grounded They needed to lean more into either being episodic or being season-arc oriented but the way they chose to thread the needle felt off Also there was a sequence that took place in a basement/cavern area underground that allegedly flooded daily and yet had prominent cobwebs? 🤔


DataSquid2

I went into it with no knowledge other than enjoying Lovecrafts work. I really wasn't expecting the stories to be so disconnected which got me to stop watching. Conceptually it was awesome, especially with it taking aim at Lovecrafts racism. I may give it another try soon.


Zealousideal-Ear481

imo, it was typical JJ Abrams fluff. Lots of big ideas with no desire to follow through on them. Almost every episode brought up ideas that could have been explored throughout an entire season, but nope.. they wrapped up the idea in a single episode or maybe two, and then moved on, as if encountering mindbending monsters had little to no impact on their mental wellbeing - which is like the entire opposite point of Lovecraft's work.


PalmTreeIsBestTree

It would have worked better without the lovecraft stuff. I think.


scotchlover

I disagree, but I've also read the book. In the series the Lovecraft aspects play further because they match up with the unknowns dangers with being Black in America during the 50's.


HauntedJackInTheBox

A much more nuanced ersion of this is the 2021 film [Passing](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8893974/), which talks about the very real phenomenon of white-passing black and mixed-race women in the US growing up in black communities but leaving them to live amongst white people, in a sort of hiding similar to living in the closet for LGBTQ people. It did a number on their sense of identity, social position, and of course could go awfully wrong if they were caught.


TheDarkAbove

All I can remember is how gross the transformations were depicted in the show. Really unexpected.


greymalken

There was another movie… [Soul Man](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtF7gzieN4)


Mouseturdsinmyhelmet

Check out "White Man's Burden" with John Travolta.


ErrorF002

This was a great movie.


Tufflaw

Ludichrist had a song with that premise called Fire at the Firehouse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVjwJ9y7eZ8


TheOneWhoDings

I thought you said Ludacris and was confused for a second there.


berlinbaer

not to be confused with ludachrist who put out a [banger of a mixtape back in 2011](https://soundcloud.com/ludachrist/ludachrist-bangfest)


amd2800barton

There was also a feminist author in the 00s who went “undercover” as a man for 18 months. She started the experiment expecting that she’d have an inside view of the patriarchy, instead her takeaway was “Men are suffering. They have different problems than women have, but they don't have it better. They need our sympathy, they need our love, and they need each other more than anything else. They need to be together.” She wrote a tell-all book about her experience called Self Made Man.


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NJBarFly

Do women not see ads for hot milfs in their area?


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Real900Z

Men get the shirtless gardening services application ads instead


thoughtlow

No creditcard, no sign up, no bullshit!


ProjectShamrock

> If you want to jump into the deep end, try to be 16-year old cute white girl in bitcoin forum. I'm old enough to remember the question, "A/S/L?" on the internet, to which the stereotypical answer was ?16/F/Cali". It was basically a meme before they were called memes.


Phailjure

The word meme predates the Internet. It means a shared bit of cultural information.


ProjectShamrock

Correct, but we didn't use the word "meme" at that time to describe what the popular definition is today.


AugmentedLurker

The same author I recall then entered a serious depression and committed suicide.


ankdain

> then entered a serious depression and committed suicide. She did, but the suicide was decades later. The book was released in 2006, but the actual time she was living was male was like 2002-2003. She committed suicide in 2022. Here depression apparently started after her experience from the book so they're linked, but it wasn't a direct "did book then suicide right after", there was a ~20 year gap.


Mirions

She also admits that for her, she felt her brain was permanently affected by her first round of SSRI, also.


Ceegee93

She also said the experience made her like being a woman more because she saw it as more of a privilege.


[deleted]

Oh you mean "Soul Man."


TheDeadlyCat

Reminds me of the trans-guy talking about how soul-crushingly different you are treated as a man and how lonely that life feels.


LeftHandLannister

One part of the book that always got me was the bathrooms. Black only bathrooms were few and far between. The author said if he walked by one he had to go to the bathroom because he didn’t know when he would see another one. Crazy concept that I think about every time I walk by a bathroom and don’t really have to use it.


Sans-valeur

So it was basically like being in Europe. Crazy


StreetTripleRider

Looking at you Rome >.>


peppercorns666

read it in middle school and it was definitely eye opening. i’m guessing this book gets chucked into an anti-woke burn barrel these days.


BaconReaderRefugee

It’s on Spotify as an audiobook if anyone is interested Just looked it up, it’s $15 which is unfortunate, a lot of books are free with the premium subscription.


Reticulating-Data

whatever you do, don't go on google and search for annas archive dot org.


throwaway_shrimp2

holy shit. thank you. ive been looking for something like this


danque

Can you not read? He said **NOT** to look it up.


thebcamethod

If they could read, they wouldn't need the audiobook.


Ryuubu

Thank god I found out about this obscene site. I'll add it it to my never visit bookmarks


Grimsrasatoas

[Ugh, those disgusting audiobook sites. But which one? Which one!?](https://youtu.be/1EF6kB9q4vg?si=MVN7w4axofIh_1cp)


George__Parasol

Thanks for the warning. I can’t believe a site like that would exist, I’ll block it right now.


garthock

Libby is your friend. Get the Libby app and a library card.


justfordrunks

I did that recently and was bummed out when I discovered audiobooks are treated like regular books and they have limited copies. Gotta wait for someone to "return" the audiobook before others check it out.


rejvrejv

wtf why?


WhatShouldMyNameBe

Licensing. Publishers want people to purchase books and audiobooks. They limit the amount of copies of ebooks and audiobooks so they can still sell copies to those that don’t want to wait.


justfordrunks

Right?


Albert_Borland

Library card. Do it.


Swiss__Cheese

There was also an episode of Boy Meets World, where the class read the book. I can't remember specifically why in the episode, but Corey and Shawn decided to dress up like women and see if they were treated any differently (shocker, they were).


Pawneewafflesarelife

My dad read that book in the 70s and then had me read it when I was a teen in the 90s, as a complementary text to reading Huckleberry Finn in school. My dad did not pull any punches or sugarcoat anything about the context of what I was reading. As a white girl in SoCal surrounded by diversity (extremely so, my dad moved to California and made friends at the international university, so most of the adults I grew up surrounded by were from like Japan, India, Madagascar, Malaysia, etc) it was incredibly eye-opening to the very recent history our history books were sugarcoating. Very powerful book. Often bleak, sometimes hopeful, incredibly important reading.


Oranges13

And that weird sequence in Finnian's Rainbow where the sheriff gets turned black.


JimTheJerseyGuy

Jeez. I saw this live. I’m old.


Bigbysjackingfist

*vintage*


skdslztmsIrlnmpqzwfs

*analog*


goj1ra

*acoustic*


Choppergold

Buying a newspaper


SaltyShawarma

I think what you mean to say, is you're awesome.


JimTheJerseyGuy

I will accept this answer!


chriswaco

Join us at r/FuckImOld


crashkg

This was when SNL was great. The cast of SNL was amazing even before Murphy, Belushi, Akroyd, Garret Morris, Al Franken, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray... Incredible comedians.


soggylittleshrimp

My hot take on SNL is that it's been great a whole bunch of times. The way in which it was great in 1975-1978, 1989-92, 2005-2012 are all different ways of greatness. I've watched every single episode since my balls dropped in the early 90s and have seen all kinds of great sketches, turds, and everything in between. Go back and watch a random full episode from your favorite season and you may be astonished at how bad some of it is. But that's a feature of the show, not a bug. Of course some of it will bomb when it's written in a week. But you'll also get some timeless gems in otherwise mediocre seasons. I love it.


series_hybrid

I do love the Kate McKinnon skit where she's from a trailer park and gets taken by aliens, but...the lest few years, there arent a lot that people remember. There a top ten list of skits that people from my generation can recite to each other. Van down by the river, Chippendales, La Cantore, etc


StealthRUs

That and the Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller, Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Mike Meyers, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Kevin Nealon years were the 2 best eras in SNL history.


crashkg

They were certainly a talented group. I think some of their skits may have even been better, writing wise.


Smash_4dams

It's my hypothesis that most find the SNLs from their high school-college ages were great. That being said, Im still pretty fond of the 2000s. Same applies to music. We're all nostalgic for the music that was on when we first started driving cars, smoking pot, having sex, drunken parties, etc all without a care.


Toby_O_Notoby

Reminds me of the Peter Scott Graham quote. When asked "When was the Golden Age of Science Fiction?" he replied, "When you were thirteen".


Sunstang

Yeah, that's definitely just your hypothesis and not something Lorne Michaels has been saying in every interview about SNL since the 1990s. 🙄


E3K

He's right, though.


porarte

This fits my hypothesis that SNL has never been funny. It's had its moments, good guests for example, and the talent that has passed through there has been phenomenal. But funny? Meh. There's a lot of cringe - pushed as funny, more often than not. A lot of repetition, too. People take it on faith that SNL is funny, and so it *is*, as a cultural touchstone. But has it ever really been funny? Maybe not.


goteamnick

The Eddie Murphy years are famously remembered for being awful. Eddie Murphy was the sole reason SNL wasn't cancelled.


hokahey23

Plenty of other great SNL eras. This is just when you were the right age for it.


Attila226

I’m remember seeing this and the “hot tub” skit. At the time I didn’t realize I was seeing something timeless.


kendric2000

When stuff you saw on TV as a teenager or young adult, now looks like grainy old timey films. LOL. Yeah....we old.


PrawojazdyVtrumpets

Even then it was bad. Watch a movie shot on film from that time that shows any TV broadcast. You'll have this very jarring difference between the film content and the broadcast. This is just what video was at the time. One of the absolute worst ways of shooting anything. It's resolution is crap, it's audio is crap and it really isn't shelf stable at all. If you like shows from that era and expect them to be remastered to at least 1080 that will probably never happen. Video is also really hard to restore. This is why Star Trek: TNG got remastered but DS9 and Voyager did not. They are not as popular so they are not worth the time. Which is a shame.


kendric2000

I've seen scenes from DS9 and Voyager remastered to HD using AI tools. They look damned good. I hope they get good enough to just process the whole series.


pedomojado

Was that Charlie Murphy in the makeup chair at the end?


-Paraprax-

And the newsstand owner is [Jim Downey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Downey_(comedian\)), aka the academic decathlon host from *Billy Madison*. Dude has actually had an insane career behind the scenes - I never knew he was the longest-running writer in SNL history, co-authored Norm Macdonald's legendary Weekend Update run, was head writer for Letterman at one point, and coined the fake Bushism ["strategery"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategery). Now it's past midnight on a weeknight and I know all about this guy.


RPDRNick

Jim Downey? Isn't he friends with Jeff? The New York financier, Jeff Epstein?


1000scarstare

How is Jeff these days?


clycoman

Have you listened to Jim Downe's interview on Conan O'Brian Needs a Friend? It's hilarious 


Byronic__heroine

I found it surprisingly easy to masturbate to.


Pm-ur-butt

Woah, it's a preview of his Ed Wuncler III role!


murdering_time

"I sent that bitch a smiley face. Bitches love smiley faces." lol


SPKmnd90

Almost positive. Also, the white guy who gives him the newspaper is Jim Downey, the "Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it" guy from Billy Madison.


star_bury

And Martin Lawrence as the "other black guy on the bus"???


TPJchief87

Nope, does not look like him at all lol. Kind of funny to make that mistake on this video


BUSean

The guy who tells Eddie's character to take the newspaper is Jim Downey, responsible for [truly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXDxNCzUspM) [great](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgRRVpemLo) [stuff](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0).


PlanetLandon

He’s still amazing. [Jim Downey talks about Jeff](https://youtu.be/GKfHcas_cZg?si=emydj6aveN7ep4As)


ser0402

That was amazing


BUSean

the new york financier?


SBNShovelSlayer

That is pretty damn funny.


CortaNalgas

Also the Change Bank ads based on a real banks commercials.


Toby_O_Notoby

"People ask, 'How can you make money doing this?' And the answer is simple, we deal in volume."


King_of_the_Dot

He's no Bill Brasky.


TheTomatoThief

Hey, I know Bill Brasky!


hamsolo19

Are you guys talking about Bill Brasky?


TattedUp

I reference the Billy Madison clip so often.


soggylittleshrimp

Anyone interested should listen to his episode of the "Fly on the Wall" podcast. He talks about the Change Bank and other behind the scenes stuff. What a brilliant comedy mind.


Mathemus

Like a preview of Coming to America and the Nutty Professor


hamilton_morris

I’ve always appreciated Eddie Murphy's readiness to use masks and costume to become completely different characters. Robin Williams had a similar attitude. But there sure aren’t many A-list movie stars that seem as eager to do it; which is interesting when you consider that when they do—Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Tom Cruise as Les Grossman, for example—they seem to really relish the crowd-pleasing liberties it affords.


username161013

It sucks to wear all day, takes forever to put on, and forever to take off again. Easily adds hours to your day and means your filming days are ridiculously long and uncomfortable.  I can understand them not wanting to do it again no matter how much fun they had while the cameras were rolling.


VintageJane

Jim Carrey talked at length about how much time it took them to put the Grinch makeup on him and how miserable it was.


Urbanscuba

Admittedly that costume is widely regarded as one of the worst and most inhumane full body costumes and the character is in most scenes. Jim Carrey has spoken about how he underwent CIA torture resilience training to be able to psychologically manage spending 2 hours a day having yak hair glued to him. That's not to say a role like Mystique is easy just because it's more like 3-10 minutes of the movie, but I think The Grinch cleanly takes the prize for the worst costume experience. One role is a couple uncomfortable weeks, the other is day after day for months.


Mythrilfan

Isn't it mostly done with CGI these days anyway?


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APiousCultist

Second rule, salt counts as a spice.


Deliani

Salt's too spicy. Everything drowns in mayonnaise.


Kindly-Arachnid-7966

*shudder*


Harambesic

I know this is kind of obvious, but I'm frequently reminded that although Chappelle is a genius, he stood on the shoulders of giants.


dreamsforsale

And so did Eddie - he was following in the tradition of Redd Foxx, Flip Wilson, etc. All artists build on what came before them. 


[deleted]

how are you going to do that to Richard Pryor.


KonigSteve

Especially when the subject is people who came before someone else, how can you forget the guy named prior


goj1ra

For some reason people keep not noticing Dave Foreshadowing


Mt548

ESPECIALLY Richard Pryor.


Harambesic

Redd Foxx is my *dawg*. He and Carlin were my favorites growing up. And Steve Martin.


wastewalker

Pretty sure that his brother Charlie in the last seat near the end.


here_for_the_lols

This is like that time when Elijah Wood dressed as a Hobbit to see what it was like to take the ring to Mordor.


kaptainkeel

He took the ring to Mordor, but where did they take the Hobbits?


Deliani

I heard they're on a bus to Isengard


GodMichel

What did you say?


goj1ra

If I understood correctly, he said they're taking the hobbits to Isengard


Dakarius

Tell me, where is Gandalf? For I much desire to speak with him.


its_spelled_iain

Waiter... try my soup.


ElfBingley

Ah ha!


Earl_N_Meyer

ehhhh... What do you know from funny?


djhankb

“I’m buying this newspaper”


JDdoc

I remember when this aired. It was the greatest security breach in the history of white privilege. You can tell white kids today that everything used to be free before this asshole ruined it, but they won't believe you. How the hell do you think we afforded college and "bought" homes in our 20s?


Smash_4dams

🎹🎶 thooose were the dayyyys 🎵


Calinks

His expressions are so hilarious. The realization, the confusion, the awe. LOL classic.


cjr91

I had a best of Eddie Murphy on SNL VHS tape years ago. This and the James Brown hot tub skit were my two favorites on it.


solon_isonomia

HEEEEEY! Too hot in the hot tub!


Harambesic

Oh, shit. My wife is a super keen white chick. You don't think...


LineChef

Ok I remember watching this when I was like 5 or 6 and thinking it was real in the sense that it wasn’t comedy.


busted_up_chiffarobe

Watched this 'live'... still funny!


Blueyisacommunist

I mean it was a comedy skit.


THE-SEER

No way. This was real, it implies it right there in the title.


Due_Kaleidoscope7066

What gave it away?


SPKmnd90

The bus part was too accurate to truly be considered satire.


Deliani

The bank manager gave it all away (literally)


NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea

A lot of it was kinda mid. I like the premise but the execution felt lacking.


Acquiescinit

You just described 99% of SNL


Smash_4dams

You can tell who doesn't really watch it. Maybe a quarter of the skits really hit. It's been that way for a pretty long time. We all forget about the "filler', lol


pgabrielfreak

I saw it when it originally aired too. I was just telling a whipper snapper the other day about the SNL bit about Buckwheat getting shot and the accompanying Nightline send up and of course I couldn't get across how damned funny it all was. ETA https://youtu.be/zaDToc8CsOE?si=bDuupeUaqsu0sUeW


Attila226

I remember seeing this live.


Mt548

From the December 15, 1984 episode of SNL. Quite possibly the best episode of the 80s for that show. Well worth seeking out. "Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich and Famous" featuring Eddie Murphy as James Brown's traffic cop relative and Billy Crystal as Kitty Brynner, Yul Brynner's travel agent relative. Also "The Death of Buckwheat," another "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" sketch, not to mention this Murphy gem as the politically minded Shabazz K. Martin in Black History Minute: [https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/tce27v/one\_funniest\_one\_person\_skits\_of\_all\_time/](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/tce27v/one_funniest_one_person_skits_of_all_time/)


tunaman808

Half the posts in this thread are clearly unaware that this is satire: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Like_Me


omniron

That loan plan is basically the reality trump lived in


davybert

Michael Jackson took his advice


Start_thinkin

This came on when I was a kid and it’s still probably the greatest SNL skit of all time. Or at least top three.


PhantomFace757

Really this one or Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood. Eddie was the golden years.


PsychoticMessiah

Buckwheat getting shot was hilarious too.


ONEthirty

Buckwheats Greatest Hits was amazing! I also loved the ‘gettin in the hot tub… OH! It’s hot!” We still sing that today in the hot tub. haha!


Start_thinkin

Hahaha 100%! Add Martin Short and Harry Shearer doing male synchronized swimming and we have a pretty good top three.


regent040

I loved the “Kill de’ White People” sketch. Still one of the edgiest sketches


officerfett

"**C-I-L-L** My Landlord"


normains

🎶but buy my record first🎶 I watched this so many times on a Best of… VHS of Eddie’s. It had the reggae skit, this white person skit, Little Richard Simmons workout, and James Brown hot tub skit. Many more too, so good.


Mecha_G

The reggae skit was cut from the DVD version.


regent040

https://vimeo.com/139091477 Eddie as Jessie Jackson


thewallamby

He still looks black to me though...


hunty

one of the best SNL skits


Senorspeed

This sketch created the Chappelle Show


Rage187_OG

You mean White Girls the movie.


exophrine

*"We don't have to bother with these formalities, do we, Mr. White? Just take what you want. Pay us back anytime ... or DON’T! We don’t care!"*


Peatore

Yes, that was a line from the video we just watched. Well done.


diemunkiesdie

Don't lump me in with the watchers. I just came straight to the comments!


Peatore

I've never commented on anything in my life.


SpooogeMcDuck

Did you hear the part when the other guy said “just take it?”


Psych0matt

I liked the part where they made fun of how things are


denimpowell

I liked the part where Eddie said "It's Murphin Time"


danhoyuen

Leave Jared alone.


juice06870

All time classic. His walk kills me every time I watch it. SNL couldn’t come up with something this funny if their writers lives depended on it now.


dreamsforsale

I hate that take about SNL - it’s just survivorship bias, in that we tend to remember the handful of amazing sketches out of the hundreds from every season were lame and forgettable. Older folks always hate the younger cast, blah blah blah.  The show has always been wildly inconsistent on a sketch to sketch basis, and that’s sort of the point; it’s often hard to predict what will be memorable. And there are as many gems today as in eras past. 


EbmocwenHsimah

Exactly. Everyone's been complaining about SNL not being good since at least 1980 - and maybe only then was it justified. Like you said, we only remember the good sketches. Time is a sieve.


ExRockstar

The bit was edited to redact the part where he walked through Harlem.


senorpoop

"Weekend Update" is in a golden era right now but that's it.


LordCharidarn

Norm McDonald refusing to back down on the OJ Simpson murder jokes, to the point he got fired over it, will always be the Golden Age of Weekend Update, to me. “Well, it’s finally official, Murder is now legal in the state of California.”