avuncular. black. comedy.

hi gayle,

i don't know if you read it, but i really enjoy the blog, stereohyped. i check it frequently, as it cuts down on any extra internet searching i'd have to do to get all upset about the world. anyway, i just checked the minority report, and apparently good ol' reverend jeremiah wright is at it again. according to the blog, what about our daughters, word on the street is that rev. wright has an "october surprise" for the obama campaign, and presumably, the rest of (goddamn) america. allegedly, wright will publish a book and go on tour just before the november election. now that's a crazy uncle for that ass!

i did some searching, and maybeprobablyapparently this is a dirty rumor, but i don't really care because it inspired a great idea. i've decided to write a treatment for a sitcom--because black life in america, if anything, is sitcom-worthy-- called, "that's my crazy uncle." here's the concept: an upwardly mobile black couple with two children (maybe two daughters, or a boy and a girl) have decided to take in the wife's aging uncle, a former minister, war veteran, etc.. he's recently had a stroke (a la my beloved sophia petrillo, r.i.p.), and shouldn't be left alone. he has no children, and refuses to go into a nursing home. since the couple is the most well-off of anyone else in the family, they've decided to take him in. the laughs mostly come from the interaction he has with the children, the well-meaning, liberal white neighbors and friends, and the husband--who, though black, didn't really grow up around other negroes (maybe he was adopted by a white family or something) and doesn't really code switch with the best of them. maybe the uncle, let's call him uncle tom, has a nickname for him, a version of george jefferson's "honky" or "zebras," but something more creative than "oreo." i'd suggest "nesquik," (br'er rabbit for that ass) or maybe even "ovaltine," but that might cause some legal issues.

i imagine the pilot episode might be called something like "the housewarming." the family has recently moved into a new neighborhood, and they've invited a few of their white neighbors over for dinner. say they serve, i dunno, baked chicken, and the uncle makes fried chicken jokes and such. though his niece suggests that baked chicken is more healthy, he complains. he says things like, "when white people come to black people's houses for dinner, they expect several things. among those things are fried chicken and the electric slide." maybe he pretends to be benson the whole night--we could constantly refer to other black sitcoms, in that quentin tarantino kind of way. do you see where i'm going with this? (oh, and there could be the episode where one of the children is doing a school project on u.s. history... or one where the son has to confront a bully at school...)

"that's my crazy uncle" could be the "dy-no-mite!" or the "whatchu talkin' 'bout, willis?" every black show has to have-- something catchy and not really funny that white people can say to each other while tailgating or talking to their black colleague at work. you know, it can be a line the the husband or wife says right before bed when they're chatting it up the way cliff and clair used to do back in the day.

is upn still in existence? i really don't want to pitch this to bet. i don't think they'd get it. though if donnie simpson would do a cameo during the first season, i'd totally go that route.

people may find it controversial, but i think this idea is way better than a sassy maid. what do you think, gayle?