Nick Cannon has been a family name in my home since Nickelodeon, but after watching his first stand-up special, he's lost some of my respect. I try to watch every comedian once with an open mind, and this policy has allowed me to enjoy a wide variety of comedians. Here is a short list of some of my favorites in order to give you an idea of who I will laugh at: Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart, D.L. Hughley, Ralphie May, DeRay Davis, Maz Jobrani, Dane Cook, Katt Williams, Gabriel Iglesias, Jim Carry, Felipe Esparza, Mike Birbiglia.
Pros: Nick Cannon does some decent impressions. He tells a couple funny stories about growing up in the projects. There are some stories about his current life as Mr. Shobiz (or Mariah Carey's husband). I laughed out loud once, but the joke wasn't funny enough for me to remember. Lastly, he's great on stage because he has so much charisma.
Cons: A large portion of his show is targeting whites, which usually makes for great comedy. However, his racial jokes feel like they come from a genuine dislike of whites. It could just be me, but I eat up white racial humor.
For example, Katt Williams is notorious for ripping whites a new one, and it's almost always funny. His generalizations are usually pretty common amongst white's and Katt's good about balancing this with some jokes about himself and other races, leaving everyone in the audience with stuff to laugh at about other races and their own. All the comedians listed above are notorious for saying whatever they want about race and it's almost always funny. They can successfully bash any race while simultaneously expressing a love for the very race that they are picking on. In effect, these comedians are capable of forging new love between races by acknowledging our differences and encouraging us to embrace those differences through comedy.
Nick Cannon doesn't do that. Instead of encouraging us to embrace our differences, it feels like he's trying to remind everyone how much better life is when you're white. Some people have that opinion, and that's okay. I just think his humor is a bit stale for a comedy show.
Normally, I love it when comedians pick on individuals in the audience; however, he targets a white couple in the front row during the whole show and it feels a bit ill-humored. The couple handles it exceptionally well throughout the show, and Nick Cannon apologizes to them at the end after giving a speech about racial equality. Nothing about it felt natural. The audience even seemed a bit turned off by the whole bit.
(Is it just me, or does it seem wrong to attack somebody in the front row? Everyone in the front row must be pretty big fans if they are willing to pay for those seats.)
Lastly, he talked about a dispute he had with Eminem, and it felt like he was doing damage control. To what dispute he was referring, I don't know, but he should leave that nonsense for TMZ. It seemed like he wasn't proud of the way he behaved and he was looking for forgiveness from the audience. Either way, that whole spiel wasn't comedy.
