How is it that black people do not complain about Leon?
That idiot turns my stomach whenever I see him. Maybe the reason no black people complain is that no black person has ever watched "Curb"?
shareI hate him too. Not subtle. Not funny.
shareThe more I think about the character of Leon the more he seems like that old butler Rochester on the old Jack Benny radio show. A slow, dim-witted black guy around for comedy relief that the writers can do anything with and does not know he is being used or doesn't care. Larry David is a louse for including this as the most prominent character in this series - it is a throwback to segregation in a kind of convoluted way. Every time he appears on the screen it just means that is not going to be funny.
shareI disagree. Most of Leon’s behavior and dialogue is Ad-libbed is and not even written by Larry. Smoove, like every other actor on this show, contributes various aspects of his own personaliy through a lens of absurdity. Leon is a a representation of Smooves own interpretation of some very loose notes and directions.
shareI see you disagree, but I see no real counter-argument, just that you
apparently like him for some reason. That's cool, maybe he is your
BF, SO or son, who knows, but nothing you said really shows this guy
in any different of a light. He is not funny, nor does he seem to have
the comedic intellect to try for something a bit higher-level than funny.
He just acts as stupid and low-life as a low-life ghetto black guy can
act. I am not black but I feel insulted by his racism. He must think
he is awfully clever to make fun of the common n-words. It's not
that a character like that could not be an asset, comedy, dramatic
or otherwise ... it is that he isn't.
He is an idiot who cannot even spell his own name right. Maybe
the character needs more thought and scripting, because he makes
the show worse.
He's hilarious, but the stick up your butt prevents you from seeing it. What you don't get is that when white people put African-Americans in those positions it's racism. When they portray such characters themselves willingly, it's satire. Where it comes from makes a big, big difference.
Moreover, it seems you're the one who cannot spell his own name right, Mr. Brusque, and on board after board are the one whose ignorance is making moviechat.org worse.
Just because I have a different opinion than you does not mean I have a stick up my butt. I hope the rest of what looks like your pitiful existence is not spent making these kinds of stupid comments. What does it profit you to be such a jerk.
For example, you say, "When they portray such characters themselves willingly, it's satire."
This implies you are in the mind of the guy who plays Leon and understand why he is on the show. I assume you don't. I also see that somehow you have really worked yourself up to insulting me and calling me ignorant. Really ... is that you? What drives you to be like that?
Just because someone has a different opinion than you does not mean that they are guilty of this: "maybe he is your BF, SO or son, who knows"
You are a specific type of internet arguer. Anyone who doesn't like you being an asshole gets accused of being an asshole.
On the topic: The character is unsavory but also a good friend to Larry. It is eye-rolling territory to make his race a part of it.
I think you misunderstood my point and perhaps the format of the show. . I wasn’t trying to express affinity towards smoove. I was trying to say that the aspects of the Leon character that you find offensive have less to do with LD and more to do with smoove adlibbing. Leon is born of Smoove’s interpretations of the character. All the actors on the show are making up most of the dialogue and mannerisms on the spot. Curb does not use a script in the traditional sense.
My point is, if you find Leon racsist, than your conplaint would have more to do with smoove than LD.
That is like a guy playing someone from the South by putting on a ridiculous accent and acting retarded. I have been to the South working for a year, and that is what gives them the hatred of the rest of the country. Because while it is a stereotype and some people might find it funny, a lot of people are funny and hold a grudge about ... and it is not in most cases funny.
shareI’m from the south - born and raised. Obviously, there are many good and intelligent folks there. My experience (just mine, mind you. this is not a blanket statement) is that the south’s reputation as backwards and anti-intellectual is well deserved
shareI took a contract job in Alabama, and I thought really nothing of it. Moved there and found out just what you say. There are a lot of good people, but the overall culture is toxic and it is kept that way by these powerful SOBs.
shareYou're a white person, offended by a black character, played/created by a black person?
shareWas he created by a black person?
share"The plots and subplots of the episodes are established in an outline written by David, and the dialogue is largely improvised by the actors (a technique known as retroscripting)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_Your_Enthusiasm
Is that supposed to be some kind of response to my question .... "Was he created by a black person?"
It doesn't answer the question in the least.
"...the dialogue is largely improvised by the actors (a technique known as retroscripting)."
sharethe dialog .... after the character is visualized and created and given general lines and motivations ...
again, non-responsive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvisational_theatre#In_film_and_television
sharejust throwing urls out there for me to read doesn't make your point, besides the fact that I'm a student doing a reading assignment you jackass. it's not improvisation ... someone thought up the character and you just can't admit it was larry david.
shareWhat is that based on(LD created the character)?
shareMaybe you need to check IMDB for the writing credentials.
shareSo, "The plots and subplots of the episodes are established in an outline written by David, and the dialogue is largely improvised by the actors (a technique known as retroscripting)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_Your_Enthusiasm
Good god, you are so incredibly stupid, brux.
shareSilverman- I agree with you, I feel that Smoove's character "Leon" lends a huge contribution to the show. He is hilarious and has funny, outrageous takes on many of life's complexities, especially relationships. He also shares the "no filter" character flaw that makes Larry so unpredictable and hilarious.
shareLet's see .. the reasons black people would complain about Leon:
- A black man sharing 'main character' status with a rich white guy
- Everyone being shown a black man be funny on television
- A black actor adlibbing on TV and everyone being OK with it
- Black culture being showcased in a good way on television
- A black guy shown as a good guy we're supposed to root for in TV
- Black guy putting down white people humorously
- A black guy being shown to be an admired 'Sex God'
- Racial stereotypes being honestly explored with the blessing of a black man
- A successful black guy being shown in mainstream television
- Sympathy for black man about getting bad rap because of other black people's wrongful actions, and everyone being shown how the black man must feel when that happens
Yeah, SO MUCH to complain about!
> The more I think about the character of Leon the more he seems like that old butler Rochester on the old Jack Benny radio show.
I've only see Rochester and Jack on TV. You must be 70+ to hear it on radio.
Rochester was smarter than Jack a lot of the time. Pretty racist to call him "slow, dim-witted black guy"!
"like that old butler Rochester on the old Jack Benny radio show. A slow, dim-witted black guy around for comedy relief that the writers can do anything with and does not know he is being used or doesn't care."
The character Rochester van Jones (Eddie Anderson) in Jack Benny's radio and television programs, as well as some of his movies, was not a "slow, dim-witted black guy" who "does not know he is being used or doesn't care". The writers, with Benny's encouragement, usually made Rochester mentally quicker and wiser than Benny's character, and almost always gave him the funniest lines when the two were in a scene together. Rochester was beloved by the public, white and black, and made Anderson's career and fortune. Listening to "The Jack Benny Program" on radio or watching it on tv, one of the anticipated highlights was Rochester, not to be laughed at in derision, but to be laughed with as he commented wittily on Benny's quirks.
Satan2016: Benny's radio show has been available almost continuously on LP, cassette, CD, and You Tube. I was born about the time he switched permanently from radio to tv, yet I've been listening to the radio programs since I was a little kid. If you haven't heard them, check them out!
Thanks for adding that, and it is part of the evolution of black people in the history of the racist America ... but it is the 21st century now. Leon is the personification of all the negative stereotypes of blacks in one guy, and we are supposed to believe that Larry David, the producer, or the character, would want this guy living in his house with him?
The complexities of the Rochester character are not really so simple, and to claim he was superior to Jack Benny or smarter than him, or wiser ... that was what made it funny to people, the fact that even in cases where Rochester made Benny look silly, or stupid, it did not upset the social order, and it was more funny than an actual man in a situation where he was lesser in the eyes of the law at that time, and even somewhat today. It is a vast and confusing subject, so I think David leveraging that is kind of creepy, and it puts black people in a kind of fix where they cannot complain they are being represented negatively, because it's all just a joke in a not so post-racial America.
There were no great "complexities" intended in the Rochester character. Neither the Jack Benny program nor the Rochester character were intended to "upset the social order". They were intended to entertain, a goal at which they succeeded spectacularly. Rochester was not "lesser in the eyes" of anyone. I have no doubt that if Eddie Anderson were alive to read some of the overthought gas being expelled over the character he played, he would fall down laughing.
share> Rochester was not "lesser in the eyes" of anyone.
Only half the country.
> I have no doubt that if Eddie Anderson were alive to read some of the overthought gas being expelled over the character he played, he would fall down laughing.
I doubt that.