A Good Example Of People Who Don't Have the Richard Pryor Exemption

Chris Matthews and Don Imus:

MATTHEWS (1/18/06): Have you gone to see it yet? I’ve seen everything else but that. I just—

IMUS: No, I haven’t seen it. Why would I want to see that?

MATTHEWS: I don’t know. No opinion on that. I haven’t seen it either, so—

IMUS: So they were—it was out when I was in New Mexico and—it doesn’t resonate with real cowboys who I know.

MATTHEWS: Yeah—

IMUS: But then, maybe there’s stuff going on on the ranch that I don’t know about. Not on my ranch, but you know—

MATTHEWS: Well, the wonderful Michael Savage, who’s on 570 in DC, who shares a station with you at least, he calls it [laughter]—what’s he call it?—he calls it Bare-back Mount-ing. That’s his name for the movie.

IMUS: Of course, Bernard calls it Fudgepack Mountain...

For those of you who don't know, the Richard Pryor Exemption is what I call the extra latitude people get, to joke about groups to which they actually belong. Thus, I could make this joke, or any joke about being queer, or white trash, or a Mormon, and Chris Matthews and Don Imus, well, they're just a couple of puckered old drunken assholes.