flannery

Do Not Watch Mind of Mencia
From our member D.H. Miller

It's not that becuase Carlos Mencia is crude, offensive and annoying (he is) that I want his show ("Mind of Mencia" on Comedy Central) off of the air; it is instead because it is both not funny and completely false advertising.

I would have expected more from the network that brings us great shows such as Reno 911, The Daily Show, South Park and Chappelle's Show (R.I.P.), but I guess Viacom needed a new hit so badly that they decided to get a no-name like Menica to host a show eerily similar in format and structure to Dave Chappelle's masterpiece.

Carlos Mencia, as IMDB.com will tell you, is not, as he would lead you to believe, Mexican. Carlos Mencia is actually half-Honduran and half-German, therefore making him NOT a "beaner" and eliminating the five 5 minutes of his show's premiere. In fact, his real name is not even 'Carlos Mencia,' it's Ned Holness! It turns out (and I'm not making this up, although it sounds like something out of a Chappelle's Show sketch) that the owner of the Comedy Store (located in Los Angeles) decided that Ned's name needed to (and I quote) "sound more Mexican," so he came up with a new name for poor Ned, the fake-Mexican, half-German, horrible comedian.

It is one thing to be offensive, I have no problem with people being offensive. Daniel Tosh is one of my favorite comedians and I'm surprised how successfull he has been since his entire act alienates most of the audience at one point or another. Ned "Carlos Mencia" Holness is offensive for the sake of being offensive and never seems to back it up with any decent jokes or observations. His comparing the present racial tensions with Arabs in America to Blacks in America could have been insightful if he didn't constantly use the name "Achmed" and describe the situation with the analogy "it's like a game of tag!" No, racism is not a game of tag "Carlos" and no joke should last more than 1 minute, let alone 5!!! When Dave Chappelle commented on racism, he did it cleverly and inventively, when Ned "Carlos Mencia" Holness does it, he rocks around like a drunked frat boy and describes how much he dislikes "Achmed" with a disturbingly glazed look in his eye.

The jab at Chappelle's show in the opening scene would have been funny if it didn't come off as Viacom acting like a spoiled second grader who got angry because another kid wouldn't share his cool new PSP game. Everything about the premiere had an undercurrent of anger and malice that poisoned the show. "Carlos" isn't funny as much as is he belligerent. "Mind of Mencia" needs to be kicked of the air, because it exactly the sort of pedestrian entertainment that your group fights against. For being unneccesarily offensive without being funny, for pretending to be something that he is not, for even attempting to take the place of the genius, Dave Chappelle,
"Carlos Mencia" needs to be kicked off the air and return doing voiceovers for "The Proud Family" on the Disney Channel, where horrible entertainers belong.

Sincerely,
D.H. Miller (a proud supporter of the H.O.P.E. cause)

UPDATE<------------------------ The IMDB profile for Carlos Mencia has been changed to downplay the Nedness of his name. Half-German isn't even there anymore.