Negative Humor: Tastes Just Like Medicine

         Humor is a daily part of life; I personally find it impossible to go an entire day without laughing at something. Not all humor is positive, however. Negative humor can range from blond jokes to completely racist jokes; how they are perceived is completely related to each individual. My best friend could laugh at a joke for days, but I could find it offensive and refuse to laugh at it. Negative humor isn't the hardest thing to find. Once you go to YouTube, you're just a few clicks away from derogatory jokes, fail videos, and stand up comedians that are a little too big for their britches.
     The other day, one of my friends referenced a video that I had not seen called "Nail Salon" (Nail Salon Video). She could tell by my confused expression that I had yet to come across this gem on YouTube. She got excited and loaded the video; she watched to see my reaction to the "super funny and true" video that had over 33 million views. The woman talking is Anjelah Johnson, a stand up comedian; one I have never heard of before. She starts off by joking around with the men in the audience, asking how many of them go and get their nails done, specifically picking on one man in the front. Then she dives into her actual story; she paints the picture of a typical trip to the nail salon, including language barriers that are often encountered, extra charges for random things, and the stereotypical "are they talking about me in their native language?" feeling that a lot of people experience when they get their nails done.
    For almost everyone who gets their nails done, this video is extremely relatable. Since it is so relatable, it's easy to laugh at her impression of the nail artist, which includes Anjelah mimicking the accent of the nail artist. If you don't think much of her impressions, the video isn't offensive, just humorous. Really looking at what she is doing, however, the negative humor is more apparent. She is mocking their native language and is doing it in a not-so-tasteful manner.
   Her target audience was the people that attended the comedy club that night; this could include people from all walks of life since she wasn't the only comedian doing stand up that night. Looking at the comments on the video, there are mixed reviews. Some people say things like "Its funny cuz its TRUE," or "ITS NOT BEING RACIST ITS TRUE HAVE U EVERGONE TO A NAIL SALON ??" There are also a handful that mention that "this is pretty spot on Vietnamese accent." These comments clearly don't see the video as a source of negative humor, but there are some people that feel differently. Some comments that recognize the negative humor include "To me making fun of another race/accent is un-acceptable," and many comments along those lines. One comment that really shocked me was "comedy is the only place where racism is acceptable and hilarious!" Yeah, racism isn't quite acceptable in any situation, but it just goes to show how negative humor is perceived differently depending on who is hearing the joke.