Danny Hoch on Seinfeld
Here's a short segment from Danny Hoch's brilliant film "Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop." It details Hoch's experience with racial stereotypes when he was cast on the series "Seinfeld." Like a lot of people who saw the film (or the one-man show the film adapts), this was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the recent Michael Richards controversy. I'd say more, but it's better to let Hoch tell his own story.
Hoch is easily the most powerful solo performer I've ever seen. Spectacularly brilliant.
You can buy the film, which is amazing, from Amazon.
You can also buy it directly from Danny on his site.Here's an interview I did with Hoch a few years ago in RealAudio format.
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posted by Jesse Thorn at Wednesday, November 22, 2006
6 Comments:
Great clip, Jesse, thanks.
Hoch went on to star in the role of Orny Adams in Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedian."
yeah, that was fantastic. Makes me want to watch the whole thing, now.
amazing... i never got around to watching Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop but i need to do that as soon as possible!
The weird thing is, though, in the episode he was cast in... that pool boy character ended up being sorta close to what Hoch wanted to do with it. No accent at all in the final product.
Apperantly when Danny Hoch does a Latino in his one man show, it's a character. But in Seinfeld, it's a racial stereotype. And when Sacha Cohen does an ethnic stereotype, that's genius. But the Seinfeld people are bad, bad people. You guys are intellectually inconsistent on this. You most of all Jesse.
Anonymous -- I think it's disingenuous not to take responsibility for your statement by using your name.
That said...
Danny Hoch's Latino stage characters are, like his characters of all races, about as far from simple ethnic stereotyping as you can imagine. I don't know if you're actually familiar with his work, but the characters are as rich as any I've seen in one-person theater.
As far as his role on Seinfeld, it's a story not about how awful Seinfeld was, but how easy it is, in an all-white world like that show, to reduce a group to a stereotype. Hoch says he likes the show... he just felt weird being called in to do a broad impersonation of someone else's race.
I presume you're referring to Borat when you say "Cohen's ethnic stereotype?" I'd say that Cohen deliberately keeps Borat ethnically... nonsensical. I'd say the same about Ali G... some people say he's a satire of black culture, some of white culture that imitates black. I'd say he's a satire of the subjects who accept him as representative of "youth."
Where you see "inconsistency," I see nuance.
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