Bill Burr is a white comedian. And when he makes some sort of joke involving blacks--which he does every once in a while--he gives us the obligatory "I'm not racist" follow-up. I'm sure you've come across plenty of those. "I'm not racist" follow-ups. They're pretty common in the era of political correctness.
In Bill Burr's case, he does a joke about, say, how a lot of black people are loud. And then he says, "Oh, and by the way, did I mention that my girlfriend is black?" He casually tells us that. After the "black people are loud" joke. "My girlfriend's black." That should be the name of Bill's next album. I'm Not Racist. My Girlfriend's Black.
I've heard a lot about his fictional black girlfriend and black friends. But you know what? I'm going to need more than that. I want verification! Bring them up on stage, Bill. They should be there during the entire performance. They can play dominoes in the background. But not because they're black. They're just black people who happen to be playing dominoes. So don't call me racist.
So that's Bill Burr and his upcoming album.
Don Rickles, on the other hand, does pretty much the opposite of what Bill does. And he gets away with it. He's from the pre-PC era--and he has some sort of golden pass. He makes the most inappropriate remark imaginable--and then he follows it up with an even more inappropriate one. He says, "Puerto Ricans are insane!" Everyone laughs. And he follows it up with, "Oh, and did I mention--all Puerto Ricans are thieves!" And the crowd lovees it. They eats it up. Even Jennifer Lopez says, "Oh--that's good, Don. You Jew bastard." And then he follows everything up by saying, "Oh, and by the way--my girlfriend definitely isn't Puerto Rican." That should be the name of Don's next album. My Girlfriend Definitely Isn't Puerto Rican.
The interesting thing is that even today, Don still does that. He still has immunity. I saw him and George Lopze on The Tonight Show the other day. And DOn just walked up to George and said, "OK. Let me see your green card, Jorge. Let me see it." And the really crazy thing was, Don wasn't even invited onto the show. That's what he does nowadays. He just shows up at random places, and asks Hispanic people for their green cards. "Let me see it. Jorge. Paco." Yeah. That's when you know you have immunity.
So that's Don. He's not considered a racist.