I think people generally like to see themselves represented in a comedic way, so long as they're in on the joke and not just the butt of it.
My first serious girlfriend thought Peter Sellers' Indian accent in The Party was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. Granted it was more a poke at her parents (from India) than her (Indo-Canadian) but she never saw it as mean spirited at all.
In my view, you haven't transcended racism until a person from one group can make good natured fun of another group - precisely because of its otherness - without catching flak for it.
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