I tried, Tom, I really did, but I couldn't come up with a premise on which to disagree with you. Guess I need more coffee to really hit my stride.

I knew Richard Pryor cowrote "Blazing Saddles", one of the funniest movies of all time (I said that about "Spaceballs", too, didn't I? Credit Mel Brooks for that). Interesting example. Where "SB" was one Jewish joke after another, "BS" was one general ethnic joke after another. And Brooks used that humor to poke fun at racists. There weren't many jokes explicitly about white folk ("salt of the earth...morons"), but most of the ethnic humor (and plain racist insult) was a reflection on the person delivering it. The panache with which the sherrif (Levon Williams?) dealt with racism was really a class act.

It's hard to say whether Bill Dana bothered Latinos in his time. Something motivated Tom Wolfe to add that little byplay in "The Right Stuff" about the Mexican hospital attendant harassing Al Shepard over his Jose Jimenez impression. Retroactive PC or a genuine reflection of the times? Dunno.

Is Don Rickles ethnic? Funny, he doesn't look...never mind. I was dating a Jewish girl one time who had the funniest way of claiming damn near every comedian as Jewish. Later, Adam Sandler did that schtick on Saturday Night Live. There's a stereotype a lot of Jews endorse that their troubles over the centuries have given them a unique perspective on suffering, which, many maintain, is an essential ingredient of a lot of humor. No disputing that a sense of humor would help in the face of persecution and worse.

--Robert