In today's politically-correct environment, it is very dangerous to use caricatures of people for fear of offending someone. The problem is that much (perhaps even most) of humor involves caricatures. Caricatures are exaggerations, and exaggerations are funny. Political cartoons are funny because they involve caricatures. Take away the exaggeration of the person's physical features and you take away the humor.
It is the same with the ethnic groups. Lum and Abner, Archie Bunker, Andy Capp: all were exaggerations of features sometimes found in certain ethnic groups. Take away the exaggeration and you take away the humor.
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