Another
movie stereotype. This stereotype, I believe,
originated from the fact that much of our
culture has a subtle racist slant to it. I will point out that we have come very far. Mostly, Funny Black Man is only used in that dimension during
films from earlier in the century. During the mid to late 90's, Funny Black Man would develope a recognizable
personality and become an actual character.
In any case, Funny Black Man is typefied by the fact that he's simply that, the humourous person of African-American descent. No other dimensions to the character are usually explored. He or she is simply there as window dressing. A "Look, we can include minorities" bone toss. It's also an attempt, in my estimation to make white folks feel comfortable with black folks by making them humorous. I won't comment on the sociological implications of this attempt.
Examples:
De'voreaux White (Argyle the Limo Driver) in Die Hard. LL Cool J in Deep Blue Sea (though look to funny fat man who dies for my comments on that movie). Chris Rock in Lethal Weapon 4.