"Carlos" Mencia is a no-talent impostor

Cam's most recent post has re-ignited my hatred of Carlos Mencia. I just have to expand on the comments I left at his blog, and add some of my own fuel to his fire. First of all, it was obvious that this guy only got his own show because Comedy Central execs wanted a Chappelle's Show substitute. If I recall correctly, it was thrown together a few weeks after Dave went AWOL. That they think Mind of Mencia is even in the same orbit as CS is an insult not only to Dave Chappelle, but to all of us who watch their network.

Apparently we're not alone in our hatred, Cam. Joe Rogan hates Carlos Mencia with a passion, as demonstrated in this video, where he reveals that Mencia isn't even really Mexican at all! He's half Honduran and half German, and his real name is Ned, not Carlos. I don't think Ari Shaffir is too fond of him either, after Mencia stole a bunch of his jokes. Personally, Mencia's jokes are so unfunny I'd be ashamed to admit he stole them from me.

Here's a typical Mind of Mencia sketch: It's a song parody, first of all, which automatically places it pretty low on the comedy scale. Weird Al Yankovich is so elementary school. One thing it has going for it is that it's trying to poke fun at a larger-than-life celebrity. Chappelle scored major laughs with his R. Kelly "Piss on You" video, so why couldn't the same thing work for Mencia? Right? Wrong. Mencia made at least three major miscalculations here: 1) Kanye West hasn't done anything lately to deserve ridicule, unlike R. Kelly's widely publicized golden shower video. 2) Kanye West is extremely popular. People don't think it's funny when you make fun of someone they like. 3) Dave Chappelle has a talent for rhyming. "Your body is a porta-potty" is just plain brilliant. I doubt Carlos Mencia has even heard the song he's parodying. He says "Calm down, Kanye, settle down" at about half the speed of the original line "go 'head girl, go 'head get down," which kind of defeats the purpose of making a parody. Oh yeah, and there don't appear to be any jokes in the song.

That may be a good thing, considering the nature of "Carlos'" jokes (I know, it's a painful seven minutes, but it'll help you hate him even more). Instead of using race as a comedic tool, he makes racist stereotypes his punchlines. Yes, political correctness does sometimes go too far, but "Carlos" overcompensates by trying to be as offensive as possible and passing it off as honesty. Of course, the idea that Asians are bad drivers is no more honest than it is funny. And in case "You're not gonna think Kwang Pau is so cute when he's totalled five of your cars" is too subtle, he delivers every joke as if he had already told you the punchline and you didn't get it the first time.

Luckily for us, the video does contain his trademark "da-dada" not once, but twice. "Carlos" has repeatedly defended the sound, saying it isn't making fun of mentally retarded people, but is instead aimed at stupid people. I'm not sure how he would explain what happens about 1/3 of the way through the video above, when the girl in his video [i]clearly[/i] mocks the mentally disabled, accompanied by Mencia's trademark "da-dada." Finally. A comedian brave enough to openly mock handicapped people.