Or how the west perceives the Ethiopian family; I first saw the creation of an Ethiopian family in the ‘somwhat‘ mainstream media three years ago when on one my favorite directors Jim Jarmush made a film about a retired womanizer.
Anyways the Don Juan, who was consequently named Don Johntson played by Bill Murray had a nosy neighbor who looked and acted more Jamaican than Ethiopian.
The ridiculous part; the neighbor played by Jeffery Wright was named Winston and although married with kids was a heavy Weed smoker. The décor in the house was a salute to Red, Yellow, Green; Lion of Judah; and HIS as opposed to the more modern EthioCentric ornaments like the Tilet and Kitsch paintings on leather. Not that I am denying the relevance of Rastafaric décor in the Ethiopian interior design rather questioning the predominance of its existance.
I don’t blame Jim, he is a genius who is in love with the Golden Era of Ethiopian Music and wanted to show his appreciation to Mulatu Astatke by incorporating music that sounded like an Ethiopiques complication that a Hollywood Soundtrack. Details.
Now that Winston is gone here is the real Ethiopian American Family as presented on Jay Leno by Harland Williams.
Published by February 19th, 2008 in Design, Family and Social.
That is funny…as the show is a comedy show.
I was first worried that it might bring a starvation or poverty joke..
Now that was a classic. The wife made the fool correct his talk, way to step up. The husband was an innocent dude. And the daughter, my favorite subject is ‘lunch’, hilarious….
good day
[quote comment="129562"]
I was first worried that it might bring a starvation or poverty joke..[/quote]
That’s exactly what I expected at first but I thought that was a fair presentation.. I love the ‘…we silently go and kick’ part.
That is funny…lol
Tsedey, lo[quote comment="129586"][quote comment="129562"]
I was first worried that it might bring a starvation or poverty joke..[/quote]
That’s exactly what I expected .[/quote]
so did I
daym nobody said anything on the decor of the household… just that you were worried about the typical ethiopian jokes
wow nolawi…the decor was actually one of the first things i noticed when i saw this video (didn’t see it first on bernos) It was fascinating to see the paintings on black cloth as focal points -and as afro-centric images…It was interesting that the camera person really zoomed in on those, i wonder if an ethiopian camera person would have zoomed in on the same objects…
Okay, shall we talk about interior? The the paintings on the black fabric are pretty common in most habesha homes. What I found so interesting was the charcol drawings of the warriors/Kings(Menilik et al)- I thought that was one of a kind. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. I like the fact that the house was not overcrowded with family portraits and artifacts. I thought the decor is tasteful. This is not my ideal interior though. I’m more into tilet, meskel and unique paintings that show afrocentric beauty.
My favorite ones
-No eye for Neway
-sis es tsehay
-The way we cover the mouth when we laugh
-The look on grand ma’s face
-The ”Doesn’t get any more dramatic than that” about the Ethiopia movie
-Rekik-Named her after a vodka
Parts were funny …Good to know we are comfortable laughing at ourselves.
Hate the sound track though
Menilik as 50cent….ohh funny.it is so true..
Mini-lick takes forever hahaha…that was funny…..
[quote comment="129603"]daym nobody said anything on the decor of the household… just that you were worried about the typical ethiopian jokes[/quote]
I didn’t even notice the decor the first time I will have to look again
winta, are you kidding!?! Mini’lik didn’t make the list?.. particularly dad’s reaction
Very entertaining. Thank you for posting it.
You may call me pervert… I enjoyed this part: BUNA! sounds like what I had last night. But our homeboy was clueless, thanks god the kids weren’t at home then. I liked the little girl, she was so excited and cute.
thank you nolawi you made my day funny .
i agree the “we go silently and kick” was HILARIOUS!!! Great clip
Very funny I have seen this family in LA. This show must be old the kids a little older.
And the Mercedes!!!!!!!!
The decor, the art work same as most Ethio houses. it’s cool.
I think the decor of the household was good, same as what you see in most ethio homes but nothing extraordinary.
the decor in most abesoch bet including in our house is messed up. Where do I start……from unmatching crowded furniture, too many childhood and family portrait, too many plants in the house……the list goes on. Keep it simple folks!
KT, not to mention the artificial flowers aydel? I hate those! I say it’s ‘time to update’!
The art on the wall is all that you see in merkato, chercher road etc. Boring.
don’t forget the Ethio decor with too many “sofas”, too many meskel and too many sefet (mesob etc)
[quote comment="130046"]KT, not to mention the artificial flowers aydel? I hate those! I say it’s ‘time to update’![/quote]
Yes!! I agree. I say it is time for us to start to open our eyes and see & support the many young Ethiopian artists who do magnificent work. Replace those outdated cheap cloth arts with some real well framed paintings. Most are not cheap, but it is money well spent.
see some of these works
http://www.makushethiopianartgallery.com/
http://www.addisart.com/
Are there not any Ethiopian muslim artists?
[quote comment="130052"][quote comment="130046"]
see some of these works
http://www.makushethiopianartgallery.com/
http://www.addisart.com//quote
lol. its funny to see everyone’s responses. i happen to be the girl who claimed “lunch” as her favorite subject. lol. anyways…dang. this was filmed in 2001. i love how it just popped up 7 years later. anyways..me and my sister enjoyed reading everyone’s comments.
lol scratch that. it was filmed in 2003
lol Msaly, its so funny the reach of a damn blog, so how did you find out it was posted here on bernos….
and do you spak amharic?
lol….Mesaly..btw you have cool family…..
how did you guys end up on latenite show anyway..?
i liked the clip
It’s amazing how that clip just surfaced back up, I saw it on Leno years back. I’ve gotten that clip 3x this month. I must say it’s still nice to see our people representd in a positive fashion. I like how that father says we don’t talk before we fight we just do it! Go head pops do you your thang…
[quote comment="129573"]Now that was a classic. The wife made the fool correct his talk, way to step up. The husband was an innocent dude. And the daughter, my favorite subject is ‘lunch’, hilarious….
good day[/quote]
that is my sis who is the one who said that about 5 years ago we are much older though but thank u for leaving a comment me and my sis injoyed reading them!!!
i didn’t expect ppl to reply to my comment so quickly lol…umm
yes i speak amarinah.
gobuz nayne gin tinish tinish owkalo (i really hope i made sense). bernos sent an email to my mom telling her that they loved the video and they put it up on their site. my mom forwarded it to me and i came to see if ppl commented.
and in reply to the person who asked how we got on.
the comedian (harland williams) was looking for an ethiopian family to a comedy segment on and im not sure if it was his ppl or the ppl from the jay leno show who went asking around l.a. and little ethiopia for an ethiopian family to put on there show. a lot of people suggested us so they called us up and interviewed us. apparently they liked us so they put decided to go ahead and do our family. lol
what is much older 13? 14? 15?
my little sister is the one who wrote saying “we are much older now”. she just happened to send that comment under my name. we not THAT much older. im 16 and she’s 11. its been about 5 years now because it aired a little after christmas in 2003.
Absolutely hilarious. I enjoyed it when it was shown back in 2003. I’m glad all are enjoying the clip today. Job well done….Neway, Tsehai, and the my two beautiful nieces Mesaly and REEEEEEEEEEEEKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII….
Your uncle in Texas.
I love how the mom laughes .subtle but heartfelt.
Mesaly and Rekik are too young to be on Bernos.
lol. what is it that is so innappropraite that we can’t be on bernos? plus, our video is on here.
hilarious … the whole family were really cool, but shaft dad was my fave especially with the classic line “we just go silently and kick” *dead*
sis-is-tsehay was the only one to understand what type of buna Harland had last night, but i’d love to know how they translated his question to grandma: “Menelik ever made your hat twirl around on your head?”
[quote comment="130052"][quote comment="130046"]KT, not to mention the artificial flowers aydel? I hate those! I say it’s ‘time to update’![/quote]
Yes!! I agree. I say it is time for us to start to open our eyes and see & support the many young Ethiopian artists who do magnificent work. Replace those outdated cheap cloth arts with some real well framed paintings. Most are not cheap, but it is money well spent.
see some of these works
http://www.makushethiopianartgallery.com/
http://www.addisart.com//quote
Good point there. Those great artists need to be supported.
The video posted was hilarious though.
Interesting writing – Will come back.
Beautiful!!!!
afrocentric beauty I have to remember that and use it. Love the video it’s funny and the decor was excellent not to busy.
The ‘show’ was kind of offending at times. i may be a person who can get offended easily but the things the man was saying are rather non-sense and sometimes misleading in a way that gives first time viewers an idea in which our culture is somewhat uncivilized and backward. it seems as if the man came with a mind set that his own culture is the best or considered ‘normal’.
I have the feeling the family were not even notified he came to make fun out of the their culture. Anybody can see the guy didn’t come to appreciate the the richness of our culture.
Anyway, if i were the one, i would really think of who i let to my house and their purpose of visiting me before they set their foot at my door and make a written agreement with any media agency that wants me to work with ‘em .
Very disappointing to see that this was actually “entertaining” to some of you. yes, don’t get me wrong, i was laughing for some time but then i realized who i am laughing at, myself ?
I find it sooooo funny how some habesha people have gotten offended even the slightest by this video.
honestly, thats the problem with our people. We (not including myself) tend to be uptight. IT”S OK to laugh at ourselves! life doesn’t have to be so serious all the time. So to the comment above me and anyone else who feels this way, RELAX. its not that big of a deal.
btw, i’m mesaly.
the eldest daughter from the video. its been about 8 years since this video was made and i’ve enjoyed reading people’s comments to this day. Harland Williams and the crew were NOTHING but nice to us. And our family gladly welcomed them.
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