The Daily Show: Ears Edition - CP Time: The Cinematic History of the “Magical Negro”

Episode Date: July 13, 2022

Roy Wood Jr. tackles the "The Magical Negro" throughout cinematic history and how in recent years, films have flipped the idea and started using "Magical White Negros."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ditch the other hiring sites and let zip recruiter find what you're looking for, the needle in the haystack. Four out of five employers who post on zip recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day Try it for free at this exclusive web address zip recruiter dot com slash zip zip recruder the smartest way to hire You're listening to comedy central Welcome to CP time. The only show that's for the culture. Today. You're listening to Comedy Central. Welcome to CP Time, the only show that's for the culture. Today we're going to discuss the magical negro, which ironically was my stage name when I was a magician back in the day. You see, instead of pulling rabbits out of hats, I pulled mine out of Tupperware.

Dead every time. The term magical negro is actually used to describe supporting black characters in movies whose only purpose in the film is to help the white hero. We've seen it many times in movies like, Fix my Golf Game, fix my penis, fix my dumbass kids. And my favorite, fix my daddy issues. Intellectuals have debated this for many years, but I think we all can conclude that Yoda was black. He lived in the raggedy as part of the galaxy. He had a pimp cane, and his car was broke down in the front yard on blocks.

The term magical Negro was popularized in 2001 by Spike Lee, but many scholars suggest that the magical Negro first appeared in Song of the South, a film where a black man nurses a little white boy back to health with bedtime stories, which is nonsense. Stories do not have magical healing powers. If they did, I'd be reading Cat in the Hat to my hemorrhoids. Now, if you're a Caucasian, you may be asking, why is the magical Negro character problematic? Well, I'll tell you what.

The magical Negro reinforces the idea that black people's only purpose is to help white people. Because think about it. Don't you find it just a little odd that the magical Negroes never use their expertise to help themselves? If Michael Clark Duncan was so magical, why didn't he just rub himself out of prison? Or if Will Smith was so good at golf, why didn't he just win the golf tournament himself? He could have told Matt Damon, how about you go Goodwill hunting for another sport, bitch? But despite this criticism,

movies continue to use the magical Negro stereotype and even get rewarded for them. Just last week, the Academy gave the best picture Oscar to the Green Book, a movie where a black man uses his magical piano powers to teach his Uber driver to not be racist. But the good news is, recent movies are now challenging the magical negro stereotype. And in fact, some are even using white magical negroes. For example, the movie Black Panther featured a magical white hobbit. And then, there's, of course, the two thi thi, the the the the the the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pia, thia, thi, thia, thi, their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi., thi., thi.a.a, thi.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a. And, black ta.a. And, black tha.a. And, black that, black that, black that, black that, black thi.a, black thes. For example, the movie Black Panther featured a magical white hobbit. And then there's of course the 2015 film Creed. Sylvester Stallone in this film used his magical powers

to give Michael B. Jordan the proper skills and training so that he too could get his ass whopped in the big match. Like a bitch. And it's not just limited to movies. There are now white people in real life who are using their magical white powers to support the black man's mission, which is why today, CP Time would like to honor one of those magical white negroes. It's with much pleasure that I award this year's CP Time Lifetime Achievement Award to Vice President Joe Biden for being Barack Obama's

magical white negro. He gave Obama good advice, he was the administration's comic relief and he always had his finger guns loaded and ready. Joe Biden has the soul of a black man and the gestures of someone that just had relations for the first time. So we say thank you, Joe Biden. Now, of course, Joe Biden is not here to accept this award, because he was not a way he was getting it. But I made several copies and left them in places where I think he will find them,

such as a men's warehouse or the dining car of an Amtrak train. Also, I left one in a Walgreens behind the Ben Gate. That's all the time we have for today. I'm Roywood Jr. And this has been CP time. And remember, for the culture, I'm gonna need need to to to to to to to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this thi thi thi the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the time. And remember, for the culture, I'm gonna need to get this back from Joe. I printed this on the back of my car title. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Ears Edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes anytime

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