Brocket 99..... It wasn't me

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Yasa

Was this big news at the time? I've never heard of this until now.

Probably depends how old you were in the 80's. It was never "big news". It didn't have any mainstream play or anything. It was something older brothers had.

Teenage boys (myself included) thought it was funny at the time, but it's cringe-worthy now. Embarrassing. It is pretty much textbook racism and that's why nobody wants to take credit for it. It is 100% white people making fun of First Nations people.

Any comparison to the Trailer Park Boys is ridiculous.

[Schraderbrau]

Brocket 99 ranks right up there with girly mags hidden in your tree fort as a kid growing up in the late 80s early 90s. It was that tape that you or your friends big brother had and you always wanted to get your hands on it.

[getbak]

The guys who made it were fired for it. That has always been Mark's biggest defence that he had nothing to do with it, he didn't lose his job, where the other guys did.

[Rathji]

I had never heard of Brocket 99 until I did a segment on it in University about 4 years back.

It is blatant racism and was at that time as well, but it is a lot less socially acceptable these days.

[Thor]

Yeah remember it fondly as a teenager, but hearing it now you hear it very differently.

[brocoli]

All I can say is that in this area, Brocket99 is thought of fondly. People from Brocket and Pincher Creek still quote it a little bit and laugh. When there are people exactly like that in your town, it gives it an entirely new perspective. And yes, my friends in the area are Native and find it funny and quote it more than I ever could. They also choose to change the names in some of the skits to people that they know from the reserve.

[Buff]

I have a buddy from Brocket, and one day when we were going to Lethbridge College together we were going for lunch and in his car he plays the tape. I didn't know if I should laugh along with him or if he was trying to set me up. He loved it.

Months later we went to a party and they were playing the tape was we walked in. It was funny to see people tripping over themselves as everybody rushed to stop the tape.

I thought I heard that Mark Campbell had admitted to doing Brocket 99, but evidently not.

[btimbit]

Meh, I find it hilarious personally. My wife is half native, she has many members of her family that would fit right in with some of the characters from Brocket 99. We make fun of these family members quite often. As someone else said, I view it as observational comedy more-so than blatant racism (although I'm not naive enough to claim it's not racist)

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Meh, I find it hilarious personally. My wife is half native, she has many members of her family that would fit right in with some of the characters from Brocket 99. We make fun of these family members quite often. As someone else said, I view it as observational comedy more-so than blatant racism (although I'm not naive enough to claim it's not racist)

Btimbit, what seperates this as observational comedy vs blatant racism?

Could you expand on that?

[Engine09]

Pretty sure I still have the cassette tape copy I made years ago, maybe around 1993. Back then I was up north in Saskatchewan, small town with a ton of natives as were all of my friends. I don't remember a single person being offended or getting upset, it was a parody, meant to be comedy, no big deal.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Btimbit, what seperates this as observational comedy vs blatant racism?

Could you expand on that?

Doing it for a laugh vs "I absolutely hate this group of people"

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by Kryzsky

Pretty sure I still have the cassette tape copy I made years ago, maybe around 1993. Back then I was up north in Saskatchewan, small town with a ton of natives as were all of my friends. I don't remember a single person being offended or getting upset, it was a parody, meant to be comedy, no big deal.

I still have the MP3 versions on a hard drive somewhere.

I think I downloaded it using Napster...

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Doing it for a laugh vs "I absolutely hate this group of people"

It is often difficult for the topic and audience to differentiate which is which is which.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

It is often difficult for the topic and audience to differentiate which is which is which.

That's why I find it laughable for anyone to get upset about it. There was no audience. It was meant for a bit of fun between friends that ended up getting out.

It's like people that see a clip of a stand up comedy show on youtube and get offended by what is said in it. Guess what, you aren't the audience, you're just some guy that stumbled on it on the internet, it wasn't meant for you, your opinion means nothing.

The topic of reservations and native stereotypes is touchy in Canada, I get that, but from a strictly comedic standpoint if you're going to take it serious you're going to get offended. It's not serious, don't take it that way.

[Erick Estrada]

In the early 90's I had to take an AADAC course in Pincher Creek as part of the conditions of me getting my drivers license back and we all had to introduce ourselves and describe how we lost our license. The room was essentially me and a bunch of native Canadians from Brocket. My story was fairly normal for the offense in that I was pulled over for speeding, car smelled like booze, they had me blow, I fail, etc but the stories from the natives may have been right from Brocket 99 as it turned into a laugh fest due to the absurdness of how some of them were arrested including passing out at the wheel with the car running in the RCMP parking lot of all places, driving down main street Pincher taking all the side view mirrors off parked cars, etc. Kind of made me more ashamed of myself of what I committed out of association.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by btimbit

That's why I find it laughable for anyone to get upset about it. There was no audience. It was meant for a bit of fun between friends that ended up getting out.

It's like people that see a clip of a stand up comedy show on youtube and get offended by what is said in it. Guess what, you aren't the audience, you're just some guy that stumbled on it on the internet, it wasn't meant for you, your opinion means nothing.

The topic of reservations and native stereotypes is touchy in Canada, I get that, but from a strictly comedic standpoint if you're going to take it serious you're going to get offended. It's not serious, don't take it that way.

To be clear this isn't a shot at you.

I didn't know that the originals weren't for "public consumption". If that is the case and it is leaked it might be different.

I will say I don't agree with your stand comic show. That cleary is meant for public consumption.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by btimbit

It's like people that see a clip of a stand up comedy show on youtube and get offended by what is said in it. Guess what, you aren't the audience, you're just some guy that stumbled on it on the internet, it wasn't meant for you, your opinion means nothing.

This isn't aimed at you, but it is a typical white person attitude, and a typical white person is pretty stupid, so...

No offense.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

To be clear this isn't a shot at you.

I didn't know that the originals weren't for "public consumption". If that is the case and it is leaked it might be different.

I will say I don't agree with your stand comic show. That cleary is meant for public consumption.

Wasn't meant as a shot at you either, more-so a comment on the 'outrage culture', as someone else put it, that we seem to get so often these days.

All I was saying is that you can look at it from a comedic point of view or a literal point of view. I choose to take the comedic view, and in that sense, Brocket is gold. But if I, like others, choose to take it seriously then I agree, it'd be horrifying.

On the stand up show bit, I'll take a line from a comedian about this subject. Paraphrasing. "Just because you got offended by something, doesn't now suddenly mean that the comedian meant it and it wasn't just a joke." Like Brocket, context is important. A joke meant for a stand up club might not nessesarily work the same on TMZ or in your living room. In the case of Brocket, what was funny for a bunch of guys working at a radio station might not be funny for everyone else because it's not the same context. You haven't worked with and been around the people they're parodying, so already you're not in the right context to view it the same.

So I guess the bigger discussion here is the age old debate on whether or not jokes should be taken seriously, and where the line is drawn when it comes to comedy.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

This isn't aimed at you, but it is a typical white person attitude, and a typical white person is pretty stupid, so...

No offense.

Isn't that kind of racist lol?

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Isn't that kind of racist lol?

Not if you aren't the intended audience.