Season 2, Episode 1, Part 4: "The Joke"

Why isn't this part entitled "The Black Man's Cock"? Maybe they thought it would have been too offensive. But they did have "Large Inflatable Cock" in the first season, which was funny. Maybe the difference is that it was white and therefore more PC.

David comes up to some men who are standing around and talking. They're not facing him, but he gets their attention with a sad "Hi." He then sighs deep: "Ahhhh." Aww, he still looks so sad and disappointed. "Lunchtime gigs, their worst, aren't they." Hee! Ever the professional comedian. I don't think they do many lunchtime gigs at stand up clubs. David, of course, blames Neil for everything; he didn't warm them up enough: "He's not a professional comedian." And you are? It's awesome how he acts like Wernham Hogg is paying him to entertain, not to run the branch. "He was funny, though," says a male employee honestly. "Often an amateur will stitch out a professional," says David. And yeah, that's the complete opposite of what he said earlier about Neil not warming them up enough. He adjusts his tie in a nervous gesture. I should learn to read his tie-adjustments. "David has spoken"; "nervous and embarrassed"; "aren't I funny?" etc. It's like a baby's communication system: different cries for different purposes. David starts telling the black man's cock joke again. And he tells it wrong - dinner becomes lunch, and Charles and Philip change places. I don't think it really affects the unfunny punchline, but it's a nice touch. People tend to tell jokes differently from what they heard them, because we all remember a bit differently. I'm wondering if "Is it something I can put in my mouth" was a line Charles was supposed to say because it's Camilla who's thinking of the cock, but I don't wanna get too deep into it.

Just as David gets to "and the Queen goes, is it a bla...", a black guy walks in. It's Oliver, "the office black guy", as David will call him in the Christmas special. I don't know about this character. He's portrayed as smart and matter-of-fact, not having any particular black stereotypes... and yet I feel like his character is there only to emphasize how ignorant David is. Isn't it the same thing as having a black guy just to show how tolerant and non-racist every white character on a show is? As long as it's a peripheral character whose one dominant trait is black skin, I think it's just doing the same thing in reverse. Which is a shame. The same is true of Brenda, the woman with CP on Extras, and so forth. I was hoping Oliver would develop some sort of storyline or personality, but he's just there to be black, which is disappointing. It doesn't make the scenes with him any less funny though.

David says, "Hiya," but doesn't continue the joke. Oliver asks if he was telling the joke. "No, that was it," says David and just grins at the others. They're confused. "What did the Queen say?" asks a new guy with grey hair. I'm getting confused myself with all these anonymous new people. David shrugs. "Dunno," he says quickly with lips pursed to form an idiot's grin. Oliver gets curious about the story. Grey Hair But No Name tells him that it was about the royal family playing 20 questions. "It's not the black man's cock one, is it?" says Oliver. David, flustered: "It might be but... it's bad..." Dude, you were just telling it! You can't just say it's bad. You chose to tell it. He adjusts his tie, and I think this particular adjustment signals "embarrassed/busted". Oliver disagrees, though: "No, it's alright. It's funny." David relaxes: "Harmless. Well done." Well done?! Wtf does that mean? He's a good sport about the racism, so that's big of him? Maybe he shouldn't tell jokes that make him feel uncomfortable around black people. The "embarrassed" tie adjustment continues in slow motion as he tries to think of something else to say. And he manages to put his foot in his mouth again straight away: "Have you all met... this little lady.. this lady..?" he says and points at Brenda. Little lady? Wow, I'm sure she appreciates that particular introduction. Because it's endearing, not at all condescending. It's like he's thinking: "Little people, isn't that what they like to be called?" He grins inanely at Brenda in an attempt to be friendly to the poor wheelchair-bound little lady. Everyone's collectively embarrassed, so they all sip from their drinks. Sheila and Anonymous Female Employee With Curly Hair And Glasses just look down. That's not a good nickname. OK, Imdb identifies a female employee named Emma, but there is no picture. Let's agree that this woman's name is Emma, for the sake of the argument.

David's office. Jennifer wants to have a talk with David. Neil and Gareth are also there. Note how Jennifer is standing by David's desk and Neil is sitting in a chair next to it, creating the feeling that they are the owners of the office, even if they're not sitting behind David's desk in his chair. David and Gareth sitting on the sofa seem like they're schoolboys in the principal's office. Jennifer, obviously unhappy to have to talk about this at all when there's a meet and greet going on, says: "I'm sorry this had to happen on Neil's first day, but I've just got a complaint from one of the new intake." David asks what the complaint was. Jennifer, standing with her arms crossed accusingly, says: "I can't believe that you think a way to welcome people is by telling racist jokes." David, who looks embarrassed to be scolded like this on camera, says: "Wrong." Hee, that will really make her see your point of view. "He'd heard it before, and he thought it was funny, so I dunno why he's complaining now..." "HE? It was a woman," says Jennifer. I'm sure she's especially sensitive to people using the generic "he", even if that isn't the case this time. David mutters: "I ... assumed it was the.." - and he motions painting his face or something! That's so inappropriate - "..new guy..." He can't even say black guy! What a racist. Even if he's not hateful, he's certainly not OK with Oliver's skin color. I've been to the UK and they have lots of black people there, at least in London (more Indians, though, which surprised me a bit), and you'd think a British person would be a bit used to ethnic variety, but obviously not. "Whoever it was... is wrong... cos it isn't racist..." Yeah, well, racism is subjective. Who decides if a joke is racist? The new black guy or a female employee who also heard it?

Jennifer asks to hear the joke. David says evasively that it won't be funny anymore, as if she just wants a good laugh. "I don't care. What's the content?" says Jennifer, like she's talking to a naughty schoolboy. OK, that sounded a bit dirty. David starts telling the joke again. When he says Camilla is thinking of a black man's cock, he shows a length between his thumb and forefinger. Gareth bursts out giggling because he said cock, tee hee. David laughs a bit too. Doesn't he realize that Gareth's giggling is childish and inappropriate? Jennifer looks disappointed and annoyed, while Neil looks uncomfortable that he has to deal with this on his first day. Gareth keeps nodding as David tells the joke, as if he's overseeing that his joke gets told in the right way - David still confuses Philip and Charles, but Gareth doesn't seem to notice - and at the end of the joke, he starts to giggle again. David joins in, saying: "And he's heard it before, so... that's the sort of..." David looks kinda proud of the joke, stupidly enough. Now, David, is the time to admit the joke is bad. Like you did when the black guy walked in? Jennifer and Neil look on incredulously as David and Gareth giggle on as if they can't control it. I think it's another case of the nervous laughter, because they can see they're in trouble.

"I can see how someone would find that offensive," says Jennifer. "It's not racist though, I didn't say anything BAD about black people," says David in a voice that sounds like: "God, you can't say anything nowadays!" Jennifer says incredulously: "It's about a black man's cock!" You might wanna elaborate on that, you're dealing with two morons here. David claims it could be a white man's cock just as well. "No, you're using the ethnic stereotype that all men have large penises, because you think that makes it funnier," says Jennifer. Thank you. David stares at her, furrowing his brows like he just doesn't get it. David claims it's more of a compliment than an insult, which is similar to Gareth's idea that Dutch women should be rewarded for having big boobs in season 1, episode 2. Jennifer is too smart to miss the condescending tone of David's remark, and she sounds quite offended by it when she replies: "So what you're saying is that black people should be flattered that their only achievement in this world is having oversized genitalia?" Jennifer is lightyears ahead of David in intellect, education, and tolerance. It's so obvious from all of their interactions on the show, but this scene is the most obvious example. Note how she says people instead of men, even if no one is claiming black women's genitalia is oversized. I think this is the second indication of gender-conscious thinking here - using 'people' instead of 'men' when referring to someone whose gender isn't specified. Except that in this case, it is. "I'm saying they shouldn't be ashamed of them!" says David in a voice that sounds a bit offended. He still sounds like there is no issue and he doesn't understand why anyone would complain. He holds his hand out around his crotch, a kinda inappropriate gesture.

"It's a MYTH," says Jennifer angrily. Gareth decides to butt in: "I don't know Jennifer, I could show you a magazine where literally..." and he holds out his hands so wide that I really can't and don't want to imagine a penis that big. I think he, like unfortunately many others, uses "literally" to signal emphasis, not that what he's saying is literally true. Which is the opposite of what the word means really. But I do think Gareth believes that black men literally have huge penises. "Could you?!" says Jennifer, getting even angrier. She looks at Gareth like she just now realized that he's a class A moron. However, she doesn't realize how much of a moron he really is, because she actually expects for him to pipe down. Gareth, who doesn't understand sarcasm, says, "Well, I haven't got it with me, but when are you next in?" And he's still holding his hands in that same position! Jennifer stares at him with her mouth open. Yeah, I guess she mostly deals with people slightly more intelligent than this. David suggests that he could tell it differently - "just say big cock", and he runs his hand along the imagined penis Gareth is still gesturing. That is so inappropriate, yet hilarious. And telling the joke with just a big cock... would still be offensive to the royal family and women in general, I think. There's a certain misogynistic vibe to it that David is missing, as usual. In fact, I doubt he knows what "misogynistic" means. "Well, you could, or you could save those jokes for your free time and not tell them in the work place," says Jennifer. Gareth puts his hands down, because even he can hear how annoyed Jennifer is with the joke. "It was his joke, he told me it," says David, which is perhaps the most childish thing he's done in front of Jennifer yet. Take responsibility for telling the joke in the wrong occasion, David, and in fact for telling it at all. Jennifer decides that there's no point in continuing this: "Whatever, David, you've heard my opinion of the matter. Now shall we go back outside?" She gets up to leave, because she's had enough, and if a 40-year-old guy doesn't understand that a joke about a black man's cock is offensive, she can't help him. Note how Neil didn't say a word throughout all this, but he heard every word, and I'm quite sure he began to see David's inadequacy for the job right then and there. Brilliant scene.

At the door, David tells Neil in a low voice: "You might wanna be careful, because some of them might be a little sensitive. So..." Neil asks: "Sorry, who can?" David says: "Some.. some people might take things the wrong way." I'm almost sure he means some women who are oversensitive to discrimination, and I think he also means Jennifer. "Oh! As an actor said to a bishop!" he continues in his dumb 'gay' voice. Neil doesn't laugh. David gets defensive: "And that's not a gay sterotype." Isn't it? "I'm not saying it's the wrong way, I'm saying it's a way." You are saying it's the wrong way! That's how you came up with it. "Some women like it the wrong way, and they're straight!" Eww, so he means anal sex? I didn't even get it from the 'joke'. Maybe I'm just so innocent. Neil rubs his neck uncomfortably. Yeah, I don't think he wanted to have a conversation about anal sex first thing at his new job. "It doesn't matter if you're straight or gay," David continues his 'I'm so tolerant' speech. "One in ten, apparently. I mean, that seems a bit high, isn't it?" Oh, so you think there should be less gays? "But I mean... you might be g... if you are.. .good luck to you! Just make sure it's legal and be safe. OK?" Neil is wisely silent as they walk out and David puts his hand on his shoulder. He is so condescending. "Just make sure it's legal and be safe", as if he cares, or it's any of his business! This scene proves that David hasn't learned anything from the talk with Jennifer. He still thinks you're only a racist if you openly say "go home n***ers" or something similar, not for harboring prejudices about other ethnicities. And as long as you say "I'm not a racist", as long as you don't mean anything by it, you're not a racist. And this right here is the problem with all prejucides: people never realize they're prejudiced until they truly hurt someone, and even then their first defense is usually denying it all. More intelligent people than David do this - in fact, I think we all have - but he's just more obvious because he doesn't realize this at all.

Gareth interviews about "what words are acceptable and what words aren't", something he says people can't keep up with. And yeah, he's an idiot for thinking the words are just interchangealbe and don't carry different implications, but it's a real problem. You can't just re-badge things and make them more widely accepted. Every time someone calls me "big-boned", I get offended, because why would they even say that if they didn't think being fat is a bad thing? It's like making a bad thing sound ever-so-slightly more acceptable, but at the same time you are implying you find it negative. However, the point that both Gareth and David are missing is that there's a difference between political correctness and tolerance. They both seem to think that the bad thing is getting caught using the wrong words, not what you're implying with them.

"Take my Dad, for example. He's not as cosmopolitan or as educated as me..." I can never watch this without laughing. Those are perhaps the two words that describe Gareth the least. Cosmopolitan? He lives in Slough! I doubt he's even been very far from there, to be honest. And educated? Yeah, whatever. Having a job is not education per se. "It can be embarrassing," says Gareth. I find it hard to believe that he can actually get embarrassed for somebody else. His Dad must be an older, even dumber and more prejudiced version of him. "He doesn't understand the new trendy words." Oh, so now it's just a trend, not even an issue of tolerance. Yeah, maybe this whole equality trend is gonna go out of style soon. With any luck, we should have public gay burnings and black slaves again in another twenty years. Can't wait! Gareth lists some of the mistakes his father makes with the terms: "He'll say 'puffs' instead of 'gays', 'birds' instead of 'women', 'darkies' instead of 'coloreds'..." That last one sounds pretty shocking to me, but it must be quite common over there. Gareth is left thinking of more names his Dad might confuse with the trendy PC terms as we go back to the party.

Rachel is shown talking to a guy and Gareth looks at her piningly from another side of the room. Seeing him from the side, his hairdo is really funny-looking. It's got two layers, the top one shorter than the bottom one, and the top layer is cut in this weird pattern that rises at one point in a way that makes you wonder if he cut it all by himself. It's like a little boy's hairdo. Rachel gets more snacks and Tim comes to the snack table. Keith is staring into space with a glass in his hand, but he says: "Alright, Tim?" without looking at him. "Yes, thanks, Keith," says Tim. He accidentally pushes Rachel a bit and apologizes: "You haven't got a t-shirt that says 'pop my pink' on it". It's a pink shirt, but I must admit I don't get the joke. "Play snooker?" asks Rachel, and Tim stammers: "Not like that..." and Rachel seems to realize she implied something dirty, but I totally don't get it. I'm just too innocent. "So it's Rachel...?" Tim says. "Tim," says Rachel and points at him. "Gareth Keenan," says Gareth and stretches his hand to her, so she's forced to wipe it on her pants and shake his hand. Can I just say that I detest the way she licks her fingers and then takes more snacks from the common bowl? She's getting her germs in there! I'm not a germophobe or anything, but it grosses me out. Keith suddenly says, "Keith" in a loud voice. They all turn to look at him. I've seen this scene many times, and it seems like a faux pas and I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it's because he was absolutely quiet until now and didn't even seem to notice the others, and now he's suddenly chiming in. Or maybe it's the dull lifeless tone of his voice that makes him seem a bit robot-like.

Jennifer is talking to the same group of people David was telling the joke to earlier. "Thanks very much, good luck," she says warmly. See, this is why I like Jennifer's character - she's not a typical ballbreaker at all, which shows that the writers actually respect female bosses. It's subtle things like this that make Jennifer human. "Heyyy," says David, grinning stupidly once again. "So you've met Oliver?" "Yes," says Jennifer and looks down, knowing where this is going. "Good lad," says David. Really? They only just met. "We were having a laugh earlier, weren't we?" Ooo, he's having a laugh! OK, that phrase is forever ruined for me after seeing season 2 of Extras. Oliver has to think a bit, but then he remembers it. "Did you like that joke I told about the royal family?" "Well, yeah, it was funny." You can see Jennifer working hard to not yell at David. She purses her lips and closes her eyes for a moment. "David, we've talked about this. Now I think I've made myself perfectly clear," she says in her matter-of-fact tone. "I'll see you later. Goodbye!" she says to the other men and walks away quickly so that she doesn't blow up in front of everyone. That's showing good self discipline. David just doesn't get it. He already established that Oliver wasn't offended by the joke, but it. Is. Still. Racist.

As Jennifer leaves, David, who feels like he's been humiliated in front of other guys by a woman boss scolding him, starts joking about her now: "She should chill out a bit more, shouldn't she?" He makes smoking gestures: "Maybe a little bit of the old ganja." He even makes sucking sounds. Nobody's laughing and the guys look uncomfortable. David really needs to learn how to read a room. He's one of those guys who continue the joke until you laugh, so he goes on with a lame impression: "Yes, David, I've called this meeting, cos I want you to go to the 24-hour garage and get me some Hob-Nobs!" He starts giggling like a schoolboy again. His giggling seems to be inversely related to how much people laugh at his jokes. "Munches," he says and shows the imaginary joint again. He doubles over laughing as the guys look down and Oliver smiles at him with the friendly, patient smile of a parent whose child just told the dumbest fart joke in the world and can't stop laughing. He continues with stuff about Scooby-Doo, and I must admit I never watched it, but still: "Scooby-Doo has those Scooby snacks, cos he's got the munchies... Scooby-Doo, dooby-dooby-doo..." He pretends to inhale again and makes an idiotic impression of a cartoon voice. He's so childish.

Cut straight to the camera looking into David's office through the Venetian blinds (which he never seems to close, so they present the perfect opportunity for camera espionage). He's alone with Jennifer and Neil now, and he's standing against his desk in a defensive position, while Jennifer and Neil are standing close to him, crowding up on him. "I was not advocating the use of drugs!" David says, really offended and annoyed now. "I was talking to someone on their level, cos I can communicate with people from all walks of life." Right, so you weren't showing your own drug opinions, just agreeing with what you assume are the liberal drug stands of your employees. That's an offense to the employees, really. Are they all pot-smokers in his eyes? It's not a college, it's a bunch of mid-30's and early 40's guys in an office. They're more likely to be caffeine addicts. The scene ends here, because the point was really made earlier. It's just a funny little reminder that David has learned nothing and that he will continue making inappropriate jokes. I wonder if the person who complained mentioned that the joke was actually about Jennifer. We only see Jennifer from the back here, while Neil is resting his hand on his chin, with his forefinger leaning on his forehead. It looks like he's making a mental note to put David under observation.