In reading Karen’s wonderful post and seeing the video of Don Rickles taking no prisoners, I am reminded not only about the quality of the humor that was part of the scene 40 years ago, but also of the fact that the people on these shows were adults. They did not care about Political Correctness, although I am sure that they cared about equal rights and each of those black celebrities probably had a horror story or two to tell about how they had been treated in certain situations. (In those days, they faced real discrimination, not the supposed slights that send Spike Lee off into a hissy fit like the pathetic, spoiled kid that he is.)

Yet, despite whatever experiences they had, these people still  could enjoy the moment. Rickles was saying things that today would keep him off TV forever, with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and the editors of the New York Times leading the charge against him, and yet at the time, people were mature enough to know when to make a joke — and when to back off. Those days really are gone forever, and all of us are poorer for it.