Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on Key & Peele's 2012 Comedy Central sketch entitled "Substitute Teacher".
This post showcases the official YouTube video of that sketch and presents a compilation of comments from the discussion thread of that video. I'm particularly interested in archiving and sharing some of the comments from people who gave their opinion about what the sketch means, and/or didn't find the sketch funny, and/or wrote that the sketch had a negative effect on them. Some comments from other sub-categories are also included in this pancocojams compilation.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/key-peele-substitute-teacher-2012.html for Part I of this two part pancocojams series. That post showcases the official YouTube video of that sketch and provides a transcript of that sketch. This post also presents an excerpt of a 2021 article about that sketch which quotes Keegan-Michael Key and other members of the sketch's cast.
In addition, that pancocojams post includes my interpretations of two African American Vernacular English phrases/sentences that are part of that sketch.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Key & Peele and all of the cast of that now iconic sketch. Thanks also to all those who were associated with that sketch.
-snip-
Read my comments about "White names" and "Black names" and how the "Substitute Teacher" pronounced those students names in the comment section for Part I of this pancocojams series.
Also, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAxi5a2BsVU&t=188s for a somewhat related 2016 YouTube vlog entitled "White People Baby Names." That vlogger discusses her negative reactions to the growing trend throughout the United States of White Americans coining unusual names for their children, including newly invented names and non-traditional spellings of common American names. Many of the strategies used for creating and/or spelling these new age White American personal names are the same as or are modeled after Mormon (Church of Later Day Saints) spelling and name creation customs. Click https://nameberry.com/blog/mormon-baby-names-traditions-and-trends for the 2015 article entitled "Mormon Baby Names: Traditions and trends". by Linda Rosenkrantz.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO
This is a very small sample of comments from this video's discussion thread.
Full disclosure, this compilation includes two comments that I added to that YouTube discussion thread.
These comments are given in relative chronological order with the oldest comments given first except for replies. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
WARNING: Some of these comments include profanity that is given with amended spelling.
2017
1. Doz One
"Teachers already do this. imo this is a satirical observation on how white teachers
pronounce ethnic names. Growing up in NYC I'd see teachers do this a lot, and when
students would correct them the teachers would tell the student how to pronounce their own name. For example how would a white person pronounce Roberto versus a Hispanic person."
**
2. life rocksTM
"vanessa downen i dont understand why timothy ddnt complain. can anyone tell me?? is it because it's a black name?
like kevin hart always say.. ππ"
****
2018
3. deceasedpixel
"as an Aaron, this bit has ruined my life"
****
2019
4. Gabby Villarreal
"This is exactly like teacher calling me “Gabriel” instead of “Gabrielle”."
**
Reply
5. Gabriel Torres, 2020
"Some reason people call me "Gabrielle" instead of "Gabriel" lmao"
**
Reply
6. Gabby Villarreal, 2020
"Matthew Torres That’s why I go by Gabby."
**
Reply
7. Gabby Villarreal, 2020
"Smoov Goonz Instead of people calling me by my real name since it seems so hard
for other people to pronounce, I just go by nickname, it’s much shorter, and easier to spell and say."
**
Reply
8. HFR83,2020
"I fail to see the similarities. I work with a Gabriella and a Garbrielle. One goes by Gabba and the other goes by Gabri"
**
Reply
9. Bella, 2020
"It’s pronounced gab Bree ell?"
**
Reply
10. Sai, 2020
"Wait what? I am confused, both sound the same tho.
It would've been different if it was Gabriel and Gabriella...."
**
Reply
11. Gabe G., 2020
"The same thing happens to me but the other way around."
**
Reply
12. Gabe G.,2020
"Sai Gabriel is pronounced GABriel. Gabrielle is pronounced gabRIELLE."
**
Reply,2020
13. Swan
"Same! I absolutely hate it...either that or they'll disregard the E completely and say Gabriella.
How do you get an A out if an E?"
**
Reply
14. Devon Carson, 2020
"I feel you...I get called Devin and its
spelt Devon. Like how do people get Vin out of von"
**
Reply
15. Geeking with Gabby, 2020
"THIS THIS THIS"
**
Reply
16. Camren Brown
" @Altoid BazingΓ‘ I think you have it backwards. The masculine for is Gay-briel and Gab-riel. The feminine form is Gab-rielle."
****
2020
17. Official Starfish
"A moment of silence for everyone named Aaron whose life is about to be ruined"
**
18. ishitaπ
"This video ruined life of every Aaron, Jacqueline, Blake, Timothy, denise, that exists on the surface of the earth"
**
19. Aaron Bruh
"People still call me “Ay-Ay-ron” to this day. TO THIS DAY!"
**
Reply
20. luvmypandas
"Just change your name"
**
Reply
21. David
"im sorry ay ay ron"
**
Reply
22. Aaron.
"I feel your pain..."
**
Reply
23. anjelyce
"Sorry bout that ay ay ron"
**
Reply
24. Mister Dude
"That's because YOU HAVE MESSED UP , AY-AY-RON!"
**
Reply
25. Aaron ONeill
"same"
**
Reply
26. JACQUELINE JOSE
"Same everyone calls me jayquellin"
**
Reply
27. Jon Dunmore
"Because that's the correct pronunciation."
**
Reply
28. A-aron
"Aaron Bruh We must have a conference"
**
Reply
29. michele33 S
"Because that's how you're supposed to pronounce you're name.
DAUH!"
**
Reply
30. Aaron Obyonek
"Same"
**
Reply
31. Aaron Cosby
"Me too."
**
Reply
32. Double A Ron,2022
"Lol they call me that too"
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Reply
33. aaron1651, 2022
"Same...like once a month"
**
Reply
34. TheRealF.B.I
"Ay ay ron is actually cooler than Aaron"
**
35. Classic
"people call me "Christ" IT'S CHRISTOPHER"
**
36. Paul Ashton
"Similar kind of sketch to the 1980's one done by Ken Shimura (v.famous Japanese comedian). Shimura plays the role of a Japanese English teacher, with stereotypically terrible English pronunciation, that he believes is totally on point.
It turns out that he is teaching a class full of students who turn out to speak perfect English but ends up correcting their "perfect English" nonetheless. Link to the sketch, with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fpbU7oxLB8
**
37. Sapphire Kawaii
"I can’t even begin to imagine the horror of him tryna pronounce Arabic names-"
**
Reply
38. some funny guy,2022
"This is the problem of adults when corrected by youngs they get mad (but not all okay?)"
**
39. john lara
"That’s the point of the skit.... A lot of teachers have a really hard time pronouncing non-white American names. So to them all the non-white names are spelled weird and difficult to pronounce unlike their names. The skit was to satirize that and show no, those common
names are not intuitive and it shows the awkwardness of a situation where you have to try to explain to the teacher how to pronounce your name and when they ultimately just say “F**ck it I’m going to pronounce it the way I want too”
-snip-
This is the way this comment was written in that discussion thread.
**
Reply
40. SPAMBOTS23
"He read the way Spanish, Portugal, malaysia, philippines or the way one syllable per two letters"
**
Reply
41. tequilashots875
"@Desi FoxAy
well depending on the part of the world you’re from those types of names aren’t in the everyday vocabulary. Very easy to get it wrong until someone famous comes along with that name and then nobody ever gets it wrong again!!"
**
Reply
42. Farm girl,2021
"B-jorn? Who's B-jorn?"
**
Reply
43. Minna Mandariini
"@john lara
do you mean non-english names because there are a lot of white names that american’s can’t pronounce?"
****
2021
44. Aaron_Tornado_G
"As an A-A-Ron, I approve. That's been my nickname since this skit came out."
**
Reply
45. Aaron Miller, 2022
"Same"
**
Reply
46. D Blake, 2022
"It has been absolutely miserable since"
**
Reply
47. Steve Simmons, 2022
"Yup, same here. Now I go by Steve."
**
Reply
48. Bonsoir, 2022
"Tell them they're done messed up"
**
Reply
49. Incredibeast,2022
"Same here bud. For 9 years I’ve been called A-A-Ron. From high school all the way
to my jobs π it follows me everywhere"
**
Reply
50. Aaron Carnes
"I feel that"
**
Reply
51. Aaron Harris
"Same here"
**
Frostything
52. "A moment of silence for those named Aron with one 'a' yet still get called A-a-ron because of this skit."
**
Reply
53. ΠΠΌΡ Π€Π°ΠΌΠΈΠ»ΠΈΡ
"And Denise as well :)"
**
Reply
54. Harvey Jones
"And Jacqueline"
**
Reply
55. Westy
"My name is Aaron, and this is something I've been dealing with SINCE this videos release in 2012. I get "A-A-ron" almost every day. just end it. just make it stop. please"
**
56. Jorge Garcia
"What about Blakes? And Jacquelines? Lol"
**
Reply
57. A. Laidler
"Yeah. Yep. I hear it from every new person I meet."
Make it stop
-snip-
This bold font was used in the comment in that discussion thread.
**
58. Ahmed
"a perfect presentation of 90% (if not more) of all substitute teachers"
**
59. Abi
"Everyone else is smart, Timothy is wise"
**
Reply
60. Matine Tahiri
"No. He's present"
**
Reply
61. Duke Blair
"Tee- mo- thee"
**
Reply
62. Timothy Crawford BOSS
"damn straight"
**
Reply
63. randomuploadsism
"Timothy is black my friend. This is the joke...."
**
Reply
64. ppinurcoke
"And the fact he uses the wrong pronunciation of "present" is doubly hilarious."
**
Reply
65. pyke
"@Matine Tahiri nah it’s preezint"
**
Reply
66. Gary Romero
"@Matine Tahiri You mean pre-sent?"
**
Reply
67. Global Warrior
"Thats how you pronounce it"
**
Reply
68. Will Travis
"Apparently that joke went straight over your head"
**
Reply
69. Azim Bhugun,2022
"Pronunciation of Timothy really was Tee-mo-tie , but accepted the way the teacher said it"
**
Reply
70. Hellion,2022
"Nah, he just saw A-A Ron get kicked out, and he didn't want to be next lol"
**
71. James Galligan
"Tim’Othy is an underrated punchline"
**
Reply
72. Hazel Brown
@KitchensAreHot so the "pree-sent" pronunciation was a joke too?"
I actually came here to see how the roll call is done in american classroom, and was confused why "present" was pronounced as the verb π"
**
Reply
73. Kiro Osex XIII
"@Hazel Brown
Usually you say "here," but it's not uncommon for some folks to say "present" (PREH-zent, like Christmas present). It'd definitely be weird for someone to say "pre-ZENT," like "I present to
you." I don't think "PREE-zent" is a pronunciation that is ever used in English, but maybe there's a dialect I'm not aware of."
**
Reply
74. Kiro Osex XIII
"@KitchensAreHot Him saying "PREE-zent" is the actual punchline here. Teacher saying things wrong is the status quo. The student responding with his own mispronunciation is the subversion."
**
Reply
75. Dev Vishwakarma, 2022
"@F.B.I wannabe
I've seen everyone laughs at the way he take names, he actually takes Timothy incorrectly too, Timothy is familiar with that pronunciation."
**
Reply
76. M Larson, 2022
"@Hazel Brown
former teacher here. I taught in the inner city in a US city. My substitutes constantly mispronounced my students’ names. Their names were beautiful and from their particular cultures but the sub was typically white and not familiar with other cultures and languages, and not interested in learning the correct pronunciation. When we take roll in the US, the kids say here or present (preh-zent.) The joke is that “Pree-zent” is sometimes how some of my
black students might say the word. And to the sub from the inner city, that was correct."
**
Reply
77. K Dime,2022
"I think I get you on your logic, the fact that these mispronunciation of names happens all the time towards people of color by non colored folks πππ you get use to it some point and I’d does become laughable"
**
78. Shadow247night
"LOL I had a teacher pronounce my last name wrong for the entire year but I never corrected her."
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Reply
79. HEy BoSS
"@Shadow247night That's Kinda sad, He or She should have asked you how to pronounce it first"
**
Reply
80. Shadow247night
"@HEy BoSS
I think I did attempt to correct her when she asked me the first day of class how to even pronounce it. but I think she was thinking my last name has some special exotic way of pronouncing it. Yes there's a proper way to pronounce it in our language but my family just
pronounces it the stereotypical American way. My first name is English anyways. I honestly can't be bothered if someone fu*ks up the pronunciation of my last name to begin with. It doesn't bother me that much except I have to double take when I hear it. Then again I normally don't correct people when they make a mistake with me( name or person) LOL."
-snip-
This is the way this comment was written in that discussion thread.
**
Reply
81. Hope Renee,2022
"Tim-Othy understood the assignment ππ
I saw this for the first time in 2016 and it’s still my favorite thing that Key
& Peele have made"
**
82. cacoca79
"sounds like they are making fun of how black people talk and read and behave."
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83. K G
"after 9 years I just realized how AAron was the luckiest to get out of that class as early as possible."
**
84. S.A.S 56
"All the dislikes are from Denise, Blake, Aaron, Jacqueline, from around the world"
**
Reply
85. Ethan
"You mean Deenise and Balake and A-aron"
**
Reply
86. alwayscrazy1
"29 thousand De-Nises!! :D"
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Reply
88. Arsenal Akali
"And the likes came from timothy all around the world"
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89. Blake Tijerina
"This video has brought me immense pain in my childhood, and nothing but pleasure
in my adulthood."
**
Reply
90. Jacqueline Clasen
"Not me Jacqueline π
π
π
π
I love it...and pass the video to everyoneπnever had a dislike"
**
91. Reveka T
"I’m black and I had a Jewish teacher that pronounced my name Reebakah on purpose even though it’s pronounced like Rebecca,; and also spelt in the original biblical spelling."
****
2022
92. NAZVANIE KANALA
"In general, he is basically right! I am not an American myself, I am Russian, but sometimes i do not understand why in English, there are some words that are written on paper in one way, but pronounced as if these words have completely different letters. For example:
The letter J (Jay) and the word Jago (pronounced as Yago), so why is it not also written as YAGO. Or the name Sean - pronounced as "Shawn"!!! But why is it pronounced like that???? After all, I see here a word that logically should be pronounced as "See-an". It's incredible! =) And there are many such examples :) This is the reason that, I have never understood the LOGIC of the English language!"
**
93. AsiaDanceScene
"Living abroad gives you some perspective on this. Pretty much all common American names are really hard to pronounce over here and I got used to being like close enough"
**
94. MSK913
"I feel dumb for how long it took me to understand this skit. He taught in the inner city so he mostly understood names as Ja Mal or De Shawn or Ty Rone"
**
95. Hexagonal
"Even though I know it’s a skit, it didn’t stop me from becoming enraged with him. If this was real, he’d be out of a job before he could say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
**
96. misstrice8
"How does he know the word "churlish" but can't pronounce "Blake"? π
"
**
97. Eric Hymowitz
"My wife is a high-school teacher. She was familiar with the name Joaquin but had never seen it written. She called him "Joe Quinn" "
**
98. X-3Winter54
"i hate when names are pronounced wrong,
i had to pause this video so many times just to calm down and keep watching
lol."
**
99. Sammy theface
"Triggered...had a substitute teacher just like him, in the 1970's....a white guy from New York...
Teaching we-uns out here in California."
**
100. Revan
"Nearly 10 years later and as a Blake I still cannot escape this video"
**
101. zizzfilm
"Yeah, because there are no black girls named “Denice.” πΆ"
**
Prime
102. "None of the white dudes get it but the black dude gets it ππ"
**
103. Donna Webster
"I was a substitute teacher. NO JOKE. I would go over the kids name before a roll call because I would mispronounce the black kids names and they would laugh their little heads off at me so this is just so
hysterical!!"
**
104. ShoeShopLabor
"π€ a science teacher who spazes
out and breaks glass and has a fit.....I may have seen that before! They always
mispronounce my name anyway so I just say here......π€£"
**
105. 0xB0BAFE77
"I don't understand how thi sis getting 1.9 million likes...
This is not funny. Not even a little.
Keegan has done infinitely funnier content."
**
Reply
106. BlueGold
"bro this came out 9 years ago why u hatingππ"
**
Reply
107. 0xB0BAFE77
"@BlueGold
B/c I'm just now seeing it?"
**
108. Khekahoto Yepthomi
"Not funny at all."
**
108. CMK
"Just realized, "The substitute teacher" was the inverse of how one race mispronounces the other's name because of how their own language is structured. Right after Tamothee says
preesent at the end, he's the only one that gets the teacher's pronunciation and he is literally a minority in the class. Social commentary done hilariously."
**
Reply
109. Azizi Powell
"@CMK, yes, but while this skit can be considered funny and is very well acted, it satirizes very serious points about school experiences for lots of Black and Brown students in the United States.
In addition to some White teachers not trying to correctly pronounce names that some children of color have, that skit shows how some teachers are antagonistic to the students "just because"... Notice how the substitute teacher yells, curses, and generally disrespects the class, and notice how he kicks Aaron out of the class and sends him to the Principal's office for no real reason. This type of treatment of Black students in the USA is documented by various studies. For example, this article about a 2021 study
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/in-depth-why-black-students-are-more-likely-to-get-suspended-than-white-students#:~:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20African,those%20reasons%20is%20implicit%20bias showed that "When it comes to the classroom, African American children are
often treated differently than white students and education experts say much of the disparate treatment is due to how teachers perceive Black children." and "Studies have shown that African American students are more likely than white students to be suspended from school and receive harsher punishment for the same offense."
**
110. TeenDisneyZsana2004
"I saw this last year in my English 4 class during my senior year of high school. My English 4 class, Mr. Robison showed this to us to give the meanings of satire & parody. I definitely saw
how satiric this was. Now I’m in college."
**
111. Patrick McMains
"Am I the only one who doesn't find this funny and finds it frustrating?"
**
Reply
112. Azizi Powell
"@Patrick McMains, I also don't consider this skit funny, although the acting was exceptionally good.
I found the teacher to be very unprofessional and very disrespectful. He was antagonistic toward those students from the very beginning and treated them disrespectfully by not correcting his mispronunciation of their names even after the students told him the way they pronounced them. He cursed at the students. He acted violently, and sent a student to the principal for what the teacher considered to be "insubordinate and churlish" behavior and more...
As a Black woman who is a retired former
substitute teacher, I'm glad I never worked with anyone like "Mr
Garvey". I would hope that any teacher like him would be swiftly fired.
What is frustrating to me is that it doesn't appear that many commenters in this very long discussion thread realized the satirical nature of this skit. I think, in large part that's because a lot of commenters are trying to be color blind when (I believe) that race is such an important
part of the points this skit were making- the main one being that some White teachers act like this toward their Black and Brown students in some urban ("inner city") schools."
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
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