The Funniest Christmas-Themed Bit Ever

"Six to Eight Black Men," by David Sedaris, in three parts

(It really does turn to Christmas about 4 minutes in)

Part I

Part II

Part III

10 comments:

Rileysowner said...

This is hilarious, especially for those who have Dutch background. I don't know about the 6-8 black men, but I know St Nicholas does travel with at least one black man, but it is probably 6-8. The rest I believe it true as well.

Ed de Blieck said...

Thanks for that!

Unknown said...

As a mother to a black child I am deeply offended.

Unknown said...

Ha ha.

I hope you know me better than that.

We saw this video last year and were laughing so hard we cried.

JPB said...

I actually worried about that first response a little. But I don't think in the end it's a racist video. I think it is a racist practice, but Europe is amazingly ... that way. Much more than we Americans would think of those "enlightened forward thinking, progressive continentals."

I have a former student who is in France who is shocked at their openly racist attitudes towards Arabs.

Eyes_Wide_Open said...

We watched this last year and I CRIED laughing...didn't JJ send it to you last year?

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day, which makes it funnier.

Our neighbors are from the Netherlands and they think it's funny that we celebrate the holiday. She said it's such a crazy, weird thing and didn't have a clue anyone here celebrated the day.

They were just in the Netherlands and came back bearing gifts for us. They brought us some traditional St. Nick candy and some chocolate.

I need to watch these videos again.

I was rather shocked. But our neighbor said they really do this. People paint their faces black and are St. Nic's "slaves" essentially.

Rileysowner said...

Actually the wiki on Sinterklaas says that Black Pete is supposed to be a Black child who was rescued by St. Nicholas who helps out of gratitude. I start to wonder if the slavery angle is something exported from the US.

Rileysowner said...

Here is a wiki on Black Pete who are not slaves:

'Zwarte Piet', Sinterklaas' helping hand Black Pete has a story found in the bishops past. Three small Moorish boys were to be sentenced to death for a crime they did not commit. The bishop intervened and they were saved. The boys stayed with Sinterklaas to help him as show of gratitude.

JPB said...

Here's a richer description of the Zwarte Pieten at wikipedia as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_Piet

Unknown said...

I don't think any of us here in the big mixing pot really understand the ethnic divisions of other countries.

I am sure in many ways it is more racist, but in some ways it is simply differences drawn with cultural associations.