Comic's social tone

costs job, helps career

By: A. SCHARNHORST Arts & Entertainment Writer
Date: 08/20/93

Emery Emery's comedy strikes out against racism, sexism and narrowmindedness. Ironically, he was fired from a club last year for using a racial epithet.

In his routine, Emery tells a story about a Southern comedy club owner who encouraged him to incorporate some racist jokes into his act. Emery refused but offered to tell some redneck jokes instead. He uses the bit because it illustrates the pervasiveness of racism. A Washington state club owner fired Emery for telling that story, because the routine quotes the Southerner's racial slur directly. The word, the club owner contended, was offensive in any context.

Although it was humiliating to be fired, Emery says he stands behind his decision not to back away from the material. Titled "Moral Squalor," the act is a purposeful affront to societal sensibilities because Emery believes that's one way for society to examine its weaknesses.

Emery Emery hopes to show
absurdity of racial slurs

"I live in L.A. now. There are riots. People are beating up homosexuals. Women are miles from being equal still. It's 1993 and Rush Limbaugh has his own show on TV. I want to point those things out," Emery said this week, before opening a five-night stint at Stanford's in Overland Park. "That's what my show's about. " Emery will adapt his routine so he doesn't offend an audience simply because it's a matter of keeping bookings.

"There are so many other things for people to take offense with," he said. "I'm both blue and extremely controversial in regard to topic and politics."

Emery has dropped a piece that uses slang anatomical terms because the words were just too blunt. He compares the bit to one Lenny Bruce got away with doing- although the words Bruce used were just as offensive to audiences then as Emery's slang is today. Such things, however, don't work in today's atmosphere of political correctness, he said.

Eventually Emery thinks he'll be able to bring the piece back. It may take several years for audiences to loosen up again, however.

"Those who fear the word will not win," he said. "They will be verbally beaten up by those who don't fear words.

" Richard Pryor often used the same racial slur that Emery used to make a point about racism, Emery said. As a child, Pryor's routines "had a profound effect on me personally," he said.

The controversy, ironically, has focused welcome attention on his comedy, Emery said. "The best thing he could have done was fire me," Emery said.

"(Another comic) informed me that this is the best thing that could have happened to my career. I thought he was psycho. But within days, I found out he was right. "