8/7/06: RightWingTrashMan—Alfonso Ribeiro

Get set for a big Fresh Prince of Bel-Air revival. Kids today are tuning in to The N network at a rapid rate. That means the hipsters are tagging along, whether to enjoy classics like Degrassi or ambitious new dramas like Whistler. In the process, everybody’s stumbling onto the network’s reruns of Fresh Prince.

This bodes well for Republicans and Alfonso Ribeiro.

He couldn't have taken a more thankless role in the ’90s. As nerdy cousin Carlton Banks, Ribeiro was meant to be the uptight comic foil to Will Smith’s transplanted inner-city youth. Instead, Carlton would become one of the legendary right-wingers of sitcom history—and a manly alternative to the strawman that was Alex P. Keaton of Family Ties.

Carlton would spend six proud seasons refusing to be ridiculed into assimilation. Bob Eubanks, introducing Carlton on a fictional game show, nicely summed up the character’s personality: “He loves mutual funds, the death penalty, and Tom Jones.” Carlton was equally passionate about Barry Manilow and Bobby Vinton. Those are broad strokes, but Carlton was no rich-kid cliché. He was decent and motivated and hard-working.

That’s best illustrated in the 1993 episode “Blood Is Thicker Than Mud,” as Carlton attempts to join a black fraternity. He cheerfully endures assorted humiliations out of a sense of brotherhood—only to find that he's been set up for rejection. The fraternity president dismisses Carlton as representing “Ralph Lauren shirts and wing-tipped shoes and corporate America.”

Our hero doesn’t need Will to stand up for him—although the episode ends on a somber note, with the Banks family pondering what Carlton’s alienation says about America.

Admirably, Carlton’s beliefs and enthusiasm were regularly showcased on Fresh Prince. It was left to Carlton’s sister Hilary—played by Karyn Parsons—to be the shallow materialist. She could also be counted on to adopt good Leftist causes without knowing the first thing about the facts.

Anyway, it’s a good time to be the Man Who Was Carlton. The N just debuted a promo featuring Ribeiro as the star of the show, along with the legend, “Will Who?” We can’t find the spot online, but here’s one of many YouTube clips showcasing the Young Republican.

You don’t see much of Riberio nowadays, though. He mainly works behind the scenes as a director. The guy pretty much doomed his acting career after six seasons as Carlton. To his credit, it doesn’t seem Ribeiro ever went out of his way to condemn his creation. Maybe that’s because he's also a former champion of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Burn fossil fuels, baby, burn.

Make him your own: Nobody can goof on you for owning a Fresh Prince DVD set—but we’d hold out for the eventual release of the final season. Smith’s film career was taking off, the cast was ready to move on, and the show became even more surreal. We are not, however, done with Ribeiro. He once got a chance to play it cool in a conservative setting, and we’ll honor that shining moment sometime before Halloween.  

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion