Why can't conservatives do funny?

[Ellis Redding]

In Alexandra Pelosi's documentary about evangelicals, she spent a lot of time on the "conservative stand-up comedian" Brad Stine. At one point he started bitching about how if he was a gay, black "liberal" he'd have his own TV sitcom, even though more Americans are "like him." But because he is "the conservative comedian" he can't catch his break. She put enough footage of his act in the documentary, though, for anyone with a sense of humor to realize that he hasn't caught a break because he just plain sucks. he was the most unfunny comedian ever to grab a microphone.

The real comedy in the documentary was Ted Haggard. He's interviewed throughout, and toward the end, he goes off on homosexuals. She froze the film with him in mid sentence, and put text on the screen saying, "A year after this was filmed..."

Now *THAT* was funny.

I saw pieces of that documentary. I turned it off, though, when they showed the kids being indoctrinated by this bull****. Hey, the Book of Job mentions a giant creature. That's proof dinosaurs existed at the same time as man! Now let's sing a little ditty about it, kids! It was just too infuriating.

 

[andyouare?]

Gee, I wonder if they'll make a Bill Clinton oral sex joke. ::)

 

[Ace]

Gee, I wonder if they'll make a Bill Clinton oral sex joke. ::)

They'll probably start the show wearing stained blue dressed and smoking cigars.

My sides are splitting just thinking about it.

 

[Point of Order]

I can't wait to see the Daily Show's take on this! By the way, they are buying ads to promote the new show on Facebook, the networking site mainly for college students. I can't imagine this is going to play the way it is intended with most college kids.

 

[Bob Cook]

Strangely, in that Limbaugh sketch, Excellence in Oxycontin pulled out a cigar and did NOT make a Clinton joke.

Thinking about it, perhaps the title of this thread should be, "why can't political true believers do funny?" Look at what happened to Janeane Garafolo after she started diving into politics -- brutal. Even Lenny Bruce at the end spent most of his shows reading from his court transcripts, which didn't exactly fill the room with laughter.

I mean, maybe you can get the true believers as your audience (and as Brad Stine has shown, you can make a nice living off of them), but that doesn't make you funny. Heck, one of the most important things about humor is not being able to see the joke coming.

 

[Boomer7]

Thinking about it, perhaps the title of this thread should be, "why can't political true believers do funny?" Look at what happened to Janeane Garafolo after she started diving into politics -- brutal. Even Lenny Bruce at the end spent most of his shows reading from his court transcripts, which didn't exactly fill the room with laughter.

I mean, maybe you can get the true believers as your audience (and as Brad Stine has shown, you can make a nice living off of them), but that doesn't make you funny. Heck, one of the most important things about humor is not being able to see the joke coming.

Excellent point. Dennis Miller is a great example of that. He went from irreverent to entirely reverent (toward Bush) in an instant, and it ruined his act. You can't be a stand-up comic if you consider the president to be off-limits (and Miller essentially said he was off-limits).

But based on the clip of "1/2 Hour News Hour," it seems obvious that they're aiming squarely for the base of 55-year-old Republicans who think the monologues are the best parts of the Leno and Letterman shows -- lame, predictable jokes totally devoid of any cleverness whatsoever. It might pull ratings in a certain demographic, but it sure as hell won't work with people under 35, regardless of their political affiliation.

And man, did those two hosts suck. They should get Kilborn. I don't know what his politics are, but I could see him doing that job.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

I think Kilborn would do the show dressed as Eva Braun at this point.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

This thread will have a long, beautiful life.

 

[Freelance Hack]

This thread will have a long, beautiful life.

We wish this thread well. </foxnewsexecs>

 

[Point of Order]

Some of the comments are ripe, too. One favorite is the guy trying to explain the intent of the joke, as if all of the others commenters just didn't pick up on it:

"I am a left leaning moderate, but I found this to be funny. I think the video is trying to poke fun of the irrational Obama mania and have a little fun with his highly publicized appearance on Oprah."

And then there's the commenter who is obviously either Bill O'Reilly himself or a Fox News flack bragging on O'Reilly's ratings in the 25-54 demo and lauding loofah man's greatest accomplishments.

 

[BTExpress]

Thinking about it, perhaps the title of this thread should be, "why can't political true believers do funny?" Look at what happened to Janeane Garafolo after she started diving into politics -- brutal.

Garafolo fact of the day (from Wikipedia):

She was offered the role of Monica on "Friends" and turned it down.

Was also offered the role opposite Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire" . . . if she lost weight (I don't remember her being plump).

I'm not sure if Janeane "can't" do funny anymore or if she simply has a lot of other things on her plate. I have no idea if she even does standup anymore. But it may be true that once you become so serious about an issue, you lose the detachment necessary to be funny.

 

[sportschick]

Janeane played a fat girl in Cats and Dogs. She's about as fat as freaking Angelina Jolie. Stupid Hollywood obsession with underweight women [/rant]

 

[Lamar Mundane]

Excellent point. Dennis Miller is a great example of that. He went from irreverent to entirely reverent (toward Bush) in an instant, and it ruined his act. You can't be a stand-up comic if you consider the president to be off-limits (and Miller essentially said he was off-limits).

But based on the clip of "1/2 Hour News Hour," it seems obvious that they're aiming squarely for the base of 55-year-old Republicans who think the monologues are the best parts of the Leno and Letterman shows -- lame, predictable jokes totally devoid of any cleverness whatsoever. It might pull ratings in a certain demographic, but it sure as hell won't work with people under 35, regardless of their political affiliation.

And man, did those two hosts suck. They should get Kilborn. I don't know what his politics are, but I could see him doing that job.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Winner.

BTW - Janeane had her crib sheet on stage during a standup special I saw several years ago. Comedians shouldn't do serious politics. Miller and Janeane prime examples.

Even as a card-carrying social liberal she grates on my nerves. Nobody likes the slim, quirky-cute girl playing the "i'm fat and fashion magazines hurt girls' self-image" card.

 

[Satchel Pooch]

Wasn't Miller supposed to host this show?