well, i think most people in the US know about Dave Chappelle, for those who don’t this and this might be of use. Basically, he’s this black comedian who had a rampantly hilarious show on Comedy Central. I mention that he’s black because of an interview he had once with Time, which I read.
This was long before I’d ever seen him. I’d heard about him at school a little, not much since my friends didn’t have cable (or at least the one who did never watched TV anyways, none of us did), and so I knew who he was, and what he did, but then I read this interview, which was very interesting because of one thing he mentioned.
I wish i could remember the exact quote, but the gist of it was that he said the difference between white comedians and black ones are the content. White people live better lives: they live in suburbs, and the kinds of things that concern white people are matching curtains and all that ultimately unimpactful crap. Black comedy tends to be darker, dealing with far more serious issues like drugs and racism. And Chappelle’s Show was a perfect example of this. Take the first few episodes alone, in which one sketch involved a crack addict visiting a school. It was funny as hell, no doubt. But it’s dark when the idea of the average black person is a crack addict shitting in corners and doing all sorts of messed up crap. Or take a different sketch, where they fictionally interview the greatest proponent of white power, which lo and behold, turns out to be a blind black man who was just never told he was black. The sketch is funny, but it deals with distinctly unhumourous material in any other sense, that is, racism. Or look at Chris Rock, with his sketch “How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police.” I don’t think any explanation about the content there is necessary. Compare this to a sketch by a white woman about trying to take a piss in the woods. It’s very, very different.

I think I’m wandering, but it’s an interesting thing to keep in mind. I think about that a lot whenever I’m laughing or joking or whatever. Laughter I’ve also read is our way of dealing with pain, suffering, and the terribleness in our world. I’ll use a simple example:
A man walks into a bar and says “ow!”

I think a lot about laughter, humour. Probably more than I should. It’s probably because humour is an amazing device, it runs so much. Laughter is a key way to connect to people, you heal them with it, heal in a way so little can do.

LoL