I really wish you had teased this out more as you clearly have put a lot of thought into your analysis of most of the rest of his comedy and am curious how you would have broke this down.

For me, this was actually the keystone of his entire work. This was him holding up the mirror to everyone else and saying, “here’s something that is absolutely reprehensible (using the n-word) and yet you’ve always been okay with it; now apply that revelation to everything else as you pick your battles.” In some ways, it also seems to echo Pryor’s trip to Africa story:

“But do you see any niggers?” I said, “No.” It said, “Do you know why? ’Cause there aren’t any.”