They're the Tolkien white guys.
Okay, here’s my attempt:
Original Joke:
The only two white actors in Black Panther are Martin Freeman, who played Bilbo Baggins, and Andy Serkis who played Gollum.
They’re the Tolkien white guys.
Joke Poo: The Space Engineers
The only two actors who played main characters in Star Trek: The Original Series who also played main characters in Star Wars: A New Hope are Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, who had to act like an engineer to repair the hyperdrive, and James Doohan as Scotty, the Enterprise’s chief engineer, who had to act like a pilot to fly the Millenium Falcon in one shot.
They’re the Space Engineers.
Explanation of Changes:
- Characters/Roles: Instead of white actors in a movie, I focused on actors and character roles.
- Franchises: I swapped Black Panther and Tolkien with Star Trek and Star Wars.
- Core Assumption/Punchline: Instead of race, the joke relies on the crossover between Star Trek and Star Wars casting and the character roles they played, highlighting the “engineer” aspect. The surprise is that both actors had to temporarily play the other’s role in one shot.
- Comedic Structure: The format remains the same: a setup listing two seemingly disparate facts followed by a punchline that connects them in a humorous way.
Okay, let’s break down this joke:
Analysis:
- Premise: The joke hinges on the surprise/contrast of only two white actors appearing in the predominantly Black cast of Black Panther, and then pointing out their most famous roles.
- Punchline: The punchline, “They’re the Tolkien white guys,” derives humor from:
- Unexpected connection: Linking Black Panther to The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit.
- Absurdity: Emphasizing their roles in a different franchise (Tolkien’s world) makes their presence in Black Panther feel even more incongruous.
- Stereotype Play: Subtly plays on the stereotype (and reality in many films) that fantastical stories often default to white actors and characters. Black Panther subverts this, making their casting noticeable.
Key Elements:
- Black Panther (Marvel, representation, blockbuster)
- Martin Freeman/Bilbo Baggins (British actor, hobbit)
- Andy Serkis/Gollum (British actor, motion capture character)
- J.R.R. Tolkien (Author, fantasy world, Lord of the Rings)
- Contrast/Juxtaposition (Marvel vs. Tolkien)
Comedic Enrichment – Witty Observation/Did You Know:
Option 1: Playing on Motion Capture & Performance
“Did you know that Andy Serkis is such a master of motion capture that some Wakandans suspected he was also playing the vibranium mines? They said his on-set ‘preciousssss’ was getting a little too method.”
Analysis of New Humor:
- Builds on Serkis’s Gollum role.
- Combines it with the setting of Black Panther (Wakanda, Vibranium).
- Creates a humorous image of Serkis being too into his role, pushing the limits of motion capture believability.
- Subtly acknowledges Serkis’ range and talent, but in a comedic way.
Option 2: Playing on Tolkien vs. Wakanda
“I heard T’Challa tried to get Tolkien to write the history of Wakanda, but he kept describing it as ‘a fair land, marred only by the presence of… sméagol.'”
Analysis of New Humor:
- Directly compares the two universes.
- Creates a funny scenario where Tolkien’s writing style and characters are applied to Wakanda.
- Highlights the jarring difference between Wakanda’s Afrofuturism and Tolkien’s European-inspired fantasy.
- Underscores the contrast the original joke subtly sets up.
- Adds a slightly satirical tone regarding Tolkien’s potential approach to a non-European history.
Option 3: Joke in a similar structure:
“The only two actors to play a character in both Black Panther and Avatar are Laz Alonso (as one of the Na’vi) and Zoe Saldana (as Neytiri). They’re James Cameron’s blue people.”
Analysis of New Humor:
- Uses the same structure to provide a humorous comparison
- Notes the limited number of actors who have been in both Avatar and Black Panther
- Uses “blue people” as the punchline, in reference to the color of the Na’vi people in Avatar