[Ads-l] Drop the mike (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mullins, Bill CIV (US) william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL
Mon Jun 13 17:44:06 UTC 2016


CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

Thanks for the link.  

When I started looking for comedians dropping mics to write the post, I had a vague memory of a black comedian doing so.  But I couldn't find an example of any dropping the mic in this context (end of routine, defiant, walking off the stage) that preceded the Richards event.

But Eddie Murphy in Delirious and the Sexual Chocolate scene are probably what my aging memory was trying to pull up.



 
> ----
> 
> Literal mic drops have a longer history in hip-hop and standup comedy. This article talks about mic drops from Eddie Murphy, Dave
> Chappelle, Chris Rock, et al.:
> 
> http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/25/a_history_of_the_mic_drop_when_did_people_start_dropping_the_mic.html
> 
> The "Among the New Words" treatment just covers the more figurative usage.
> 
> On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 1:11 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) < william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
> 
> >
> > "Dropping the mic" also often has an element of "f--- you" to it; the
> > speaker has made his case and is finished, and it is up to the
> > audience to benefit from the wisdom that has just been offered.
> >
> > Perhaps Michael Richards is the source:
> >
> > From ProQuest, transcript of a CNN Broadcast.  _International Wire_ 20
> > Nov
> > 2006
> >
> > "ANDERSON: According to Pitts, Richards launched a venomous personal
> > attack against the rowdy group that stunned the 300 in attendance.
> >
> > PITTS: Just got totally silent. It just took all of the air out of the
> > room. He dropped the mic and just walked off. There was never any "I'm
> > sorry for what you just saw." "
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Related to "mic drop," nominated in the Most Useful category in the
> > > 2015
> > ADS WOTY voting. In the "Among the New Words" installment in
> > > the forthcoming issue of AmSp (the second one covering WOTY
> > > nominees),
> > we define "mic drop" as "Definitive end to a discussion after
> > > making an impressive point, in the manner of emphatically dropping a
> > microphone at the end of performance" and provide cites back to
> > > 2008. ("Mic drop" is also in Oxford Dictionaries with a more literal
> > definition.)
> > >
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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