SNL101

Nate Bargatze is "The Nicest Man in Stand-Up," and it shows in his SNL debut. We discuss Cultural Ownership and Authentic Blackness in "Chef's Show," Liberty, Logic, and American Exceptionalism in "Washington's Dream," and Commodifying Masculinity in the Please Don't Destroy video "Dawg Food." Suggested readings include Angela Davis' "Unfinished Lectures on Liberation," Charisse's article on the unprofitability of authentic Blackness, and a New York Times Magazine piece on why Americans stink at math.

Charisse and Luvell discuss dynamic and robust representations of Latino-ness in the opening monologue and throughout the episode, the complexity of satirizing cultural clashes in "Protective Mom 2" and "Telenovela", and disrupting stereotypes through normalization in "Enrique's Daughter". Suggested readings include Alcoff's Mestizo Identity and Mastro and Behm-Morawitz's Latino representation on primetime television, as well as work by the hosts.

Topics: Parody, Commodity Feminism, Misinterpretations of Blackness

In this inaugural episode, Charisse and Luvell discuss the premiere episode of Season 49, hosted by Pete Davidson (musical guest, Ice Spice). We describe how educators can use "I'm Just Pete," "Glamgina," and "The Original Princes of Comedy" (a video by Please Don't Destroy) in the classroom to discuss parody, commodity feminism, and misinterpretations of Blackness.