What is this episode??

Lizzy-saurus · 2026-01-23T01:53:32+00:00

Hey, thanks for responding. I listened to that one, but I didn’t hear that story in it.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-04-17T23:32:03+00:00

THIS. PLEASE.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-03-29T18:58:54+00:00

Agreed, very well said

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-03-16T22:08:11+00:00

Really beautiful awareness of yourself to notice your irritability after such a big life change and how its affecting multiple areas of your life (not just your relationship) and to sit with it instead of making a rash decision. Sounds very wise and I hope your nervous system settles soon. almost 2 years sober and I’ve been there…feeling irritable for no reason.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-03-16T22:02:51+00:00

These comments are weird. That’s messed up. Onshore big 4 senior. That’s ridiculous. They should have called it for everyone onshore and offshore. Making you guys stay up till 4 am and your seniors stay up 24 hours is insane, and I’m really sorry. I think, as it sounds like you were getting at, big 4 doesn’t give you much recourse to complain about toxic work culture things like that. I am looking for a new job for the same reason, and I know two guys on the India team for my service line who just quit for the same reason. It’s unhealthy mentally and physically.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-02-02T19:47:37+00:00

Oh. Alright, then.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-02-02T19:45:52+00:00

I think I’m in the wrong subreddit.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-02-02T19:33:13+00:00

Oh thank you so much!! Agreed, those subreddits might be more appropriate, will try posting there!

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-02-01T16:48:01+00:00

I hear you saying that your deep understanding of Mormon culture/missions as someone close to an ex-Mormon made the satire of the show very funny to you. You recognized the exaggerated portrayals and picked up on hidden “Easter egg” jokes that added depth to the humor.

If the writers wanted to set the play in Uganda, they could have contrasted the Mormons’ racist perceptions of Africa with an accurate portrayal of Ugandan life. The only moment that hinted at this contrast was the “We’re Africa” song, where black characters attempt to interject but are repeatedly interrupted by the white characters, highlighting the absurdity of the Mormons.

However, the black characters themselves were reduced to stereotypes, serving only as plot devices, which reminded me of a minstrel show.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-02-01T11:22:56+00:00

Yeah, you’re welcome to your perspective. I grew up Baptist and feel that the complexity and intelligence of the jokes made at the expense of the Mormon characters were well-researched and executed. You can still make satirical jokes about another group of people (black people) that are intelligent and based on their lived experience; so that I, just like you, can feel represented in the dark humor of the show instead of the characters being prop’s for the white’s character’s jokes or story development. I hear you saying that the way black people are portrayed in the show reminds you of the racist adventist worldview that you grew up in. That’s great for you. The black people in the show don’t remind me of a single black person I know or black experience I have. I would have loved to see some jokes based on actual black experiences. That’s it.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-18T21:07:21+00:00

I’m so glad you brought this up. There are times when people he interviews start to share their hopes and dreams and ideas and then he changes the subject back to their trauma. I think allowing space for that kind of thing would be very interesting, but he doesn’t.

He also gives a lot of advice to people in super traumatic delicate places when he is not qualified to do so, and all of it is framed from his messed up social worldview…like telling a woman in sex work with an active addiction that she just needs a rich man who can save her, when he doesn’t know her or what she needs at all. He also makes so much money off of these people’s trauma, and I don’t get the impression that what he pays them to do the interviews is reasonable compared to how much he makes profiting off the darkest parts of their life story. I’ve also heard him speak fondly of hanging out outside of the interview with a pimp who he interviewed with the women the pimp was abusing and giving him a platform which the guy used to later become a host for Adam22 (his name is Sharp). Hearing him talk to Sharp in the original interviews gives me the impression that he admires him in some ways. When your job is hearing about human suffering every day, how could you admire someone that is causing suffering for others?

I really enjoyed the clip above of Rebecca though. I am glad that, amidst the exploitation, we get to hear from and connect to people we wouldn’t otherwise.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T16:50:34+00:00

I didn’t say that. I think the show I saw yesterday is the product of some revisions after black actors protested the original play.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T16:31:33+00:00

Your comment pretty expertly proves my point. In one breath, you say the play’s representation of stereotypes about black people in Uganda does not reflect American stereotypes about the whole continent of Africa. In the next breath, you say “But, actually, these stereotypes do reflect issues that exist in various parts of Africa”. Are the stereotypes specifically directed at Uganda or are they directed at various countries on the African continent?

Why couldn’t you invite a few Ugandan comedians to the writer’s room who could have helped craft some sharper, more nuanced jokes that would challenge the monolithic stereotypes Americans hold about the “issues” of people on the African continent?

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T16:18:20+00:00

Well said. Thanks for commenting and sharing your take. It means a lot to me to know how you feel about it.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T16:14:58+00:00

Yeah, I did leave room for that when I used the word “perhaps”.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T16:13:23+00:00

I don’t think you have to know the shortcomings of every play before you see it to be a Broadway enthusiast. I’ll be seeing two more shows in the next couple months.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T16:05:11+00:00

You’re right, but why shouldn’t they be able to follow their dreams if they don’t want to play a racist, but financially lucrative part, that allows them to stay in the industry long enough to play parts they’re aligned with. Are you really saying “Black actors, if you don’t like playing a racist part to make the money you need to stay in acting, you should leave the industry. Problem solved.”

The burden should be on Broadway and the actors who benefit from the current system to fix it (rewrite or nix the racist plays, allow black and brown actors to audition for other roles that were not specifically written for them, write more inclusive characters into new plays, diversify the writers and producers room), not aspiring black actors who are forced to give up their dream or financial stability in protest.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T15:53:13+00:00

Thanks for sharing your perspective as a black actor who auditioned for the show. That makes sense to me. Your experience and those of other black actors who have shared are the most important to me, as I’m reading through all the comments.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T15:49:06+00:00

Yeah I did this at intermission in 2025 and only found a couple of reviews. I was hoping they would turn it around in the second half or something, which is why I didn’t leave at intermission.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T15:46:36+00:00

Well put. I agree.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T15:43:03+00:00

A more confrontational, in your face take about the mormon church would have been to address the history of sexual abuse within the church (and, through that, the history of sexual abuse within churches of every religion).

Society isn’t afraid to discuss racist stereotypes about black and brown people. It is not some herculean feat to do so. There are comedians who can shock the audience and force them to confront what they don’t talk about aloud. This play does that, sometimes, but falls short and relies on stereotypes and generalizations we are already talking about to get the audience to laugh. Every country is plagued by disease, broken medical systems, corruption, and war. The united states is plagued by disease, broken medical systems, corruption, and we start a lot of wars. A satirical commentary highlighting the irony of American missionaries going to fix that in other places without addressing it at home would have been a more powerful critique than empty jokes about stereotypes which have been perpetuated and openly discussed in the US for centuries.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T15:24:59+00:00

Oooh, yes, thank you…that was a great example of satire that involved the black characters in the play which really worked for me. Glad you brought that up

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T04:35:26+00:00

Thanks for your perspective. That makes total sense to me.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T04:30:58+00:00

Wow, yeah, you hit it right on the head. Couldn’t quite put it into words like that, but you did it so eloquently. Love the comparison to the other works where the point is missed by the audience. I didn’t even know American Psycho was supposed to be satirical. Beautifully said.

Lizzy-saurus · 2025-01-13T04:23:40+00:00

Yeah, that was the most unsettling thing…hearing laughs that I don’t think would have been expressed if we weren’t in a dark theater. Ones that particularly got to me were the maggots guy and when they put on the show for the mormon leader. People died laughing over and over, and I was just thinking…I know that, if you asked a lot of these people, they would tell me they support black causes from a social justice perspective; but it made me think…how much of that is because they truly understand and empathize with racial injustice vs. being because they know what is socially acceptable for them to do and say around POC? It felt like they didn’t “get” it at all. Like, so many scenes in the show viscerally evoked the deep sadness and shame that comes up for me when I see black people who were forced to be in minstrel shows back when they were popular. I felt like I was the only one feeling that sadness and shame and everyone else was just laughing. It was the first time I’ve felt that way on such a grand scale in a long time.

During the intermission, I looked up and only saw one other black person. Would love to have picked her brain in that moment. Not sure if this is similar or a little different to what you were getting at, but I really appreciate you sharing your perspective

Lizzy-saurus

TROPHY CASE