Mind of Mencia: Season Three

We live in a world of political correctness. It is considered rude, crude and socially unacceptable to make any remarks about a person’s race, religion or disabilities. While this seems to make sense it has taken the ability to laugh at ourselves out of the world. There is a man who is dedicated to bringing back humor that pushes the limits; Carlos Mencia. I have always enjoyed his stand up routine and was delighted when he received his own Comedy Central series, the Mind of Mencia. There is one serious point that Mencia makes in almost every appearance and episode; we have to learn to laugh at ourselves and each other or else all we will have is the hurtful practice of laughing at each other. I’m in a wheel chair and I’m also the first to laugh at his jokes about the disabled. He is not hateful in his humor, he just wants to point out and celebrate our differences. Back in high school my best friend was Asian. One night we tried a little experiment. We called each other every offensive racial slur we could think of. The thing is afterwards we were still best friends and those words seemed to have lost their power. This is what Mencia does, but laughing at the hateful things in our society it brought those words to light and took away the hurtful power they held. To him people are important, not the words they use to harm or abuse someone else. With the Mind of Mencia we get to look inside the mental process of this twisted and funny man. For him stupidity is the worse crime. If a person is capable of rational thought and acts dumb they become fair game for his biting wit. His catch phrase ‘Dee Dee Dee’ is a rallying cry against the insanity that grips our society.

The skit that opens the third season goes right for the jugular, aptly named ‘While we were away the Dee Dee Dee continued’. Carlos is pulled over for a DUI. As the trooper pulls him out of the car he immediately blames the Jews al la Mel Gibson. He then becomes a crazed astronaut with a knife and a diaper. Of course he has to take on the start of the Britney Spears insanity phase as he orders a hair dress to cut off all of his hair. Then Michael Richard’s comedy club ‘N’ word fiasco is poked fun of. Even the late Anna Nicole is not immune from the sharp wit of Carlos Mencia. It is less than two minutes into the episode and already I’m laughing my butt off. There are more laughs per minute here than most shows have in a whole episode. Mencia finds the current trend in entertainment news among the dumbest things possible. Why should we waste time caring about the intoxicated antics of these people when there are real concerns in the world?

Typically each episode starts with a pre-filmed bit followed by a little chat with the audience. He focuses on a person of a certain race or who seems to be a member of a specific group and lets it rip. After a couple of years of this it appears that the audience almost competes for the chance to be lampooned by Mencia. He calls the non-laughing members of the audience out. He knows you want to laugh but feel he may be going over the line. One example is when he discussed the death of the Crocodile Hunter. Since he was killed by one of the animals ‘he plays with’ his death, while tragic was not altogether unexpected. He likens it to a man who takes a motorcycle down a hill at 120 mile per hour. When he crashes everybody will say he was asking for it driving so fast but everyone seems surprised that a man who made a living playing with dangerous animals dies by one of them.

Even public service commercials get the Mencia touch. We’ve all seen those television spots for the V-Chip where a nice couple sits down with a zombie or a group of gang members and tells them they are being blocked. In the Mencia version he protests the block on his material. He tells the parents that their little kid didn’t learn to curse from him, the network bleeps him. Just then the little boy comes in and swears up a storm. Then the older brother enters completely stoned. Last the daughter is giving oral sex to some guy. Mencia brings it home stating that the V-Chip has been helping parents avoid their responsibility since 2000. It is the parents not some computer chip that should control what the kids are watching. Politics is taken on a little less in this season but there are still some great little bits featuring it. In one episode Carlos takes to the streets to talk to people about whether they would vote for a woman for president. It seems that a lot of women would not. One man expresses his opinion that women won’t vote for another woman because they are naturally rivals with any other female. There are also some characters from previous seasons that are back. One of the best is the ghost of Johnny Cochran. Mencia uses him as a foil for his assaults on those who are criminally stupid, self centered or greedy. Another recurring character is the Indian man who runs a ‘Quicky Mart’ like store. He takes on the thoughtless shopping habits of the American people. For a nation that claims to be health conscious we sure do eat a lot of junk. Mencia seems most upset with people that should know better or those who are hypocritical. Those people are always in hunting season for Mencia.

Carlos Mencia is an intelligent man with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He is also one of some 18 children. This gives him a view of life and our society that is unique and well considered. He is never mean spirited; he just finds things to laugh about all around him. Mencia may be a little much for the feint of heart but if you like your comedy straight on this is for you. Paramount brings out this third season uncensored. The language is rough and at times bordering on vulgar but it also is used as a sharp edged implement of satire. There are almost 30 minutes of deleted scenes included, one section after each episode. There are also a few episodes with commentary tracks by Mencia. If he hasn’t insulted any group you belong to drop him and line and I’m sure he will make it a point to include you in the fun. With all the laughable things around just trry to convince yourself that you haven’t thought about some of the comments Mencia makes. There is an open and frank feel to this comedy that may be a guilty pleasure but it is funny stuff. There is so much in modern pop culture that deserves to be laughed at and Mencia is here to make sure the job gets done.

Posted 10/09/07