…the scuffle, which some have taken to calling the “thrilla in Wasilla”…
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I haven’t laughed that hard in days. Major props to the writer.
Aszurom
3962
Envision a daytime talk show on FOX News. Same format as Springer but with authoritarian conservative shaming of the guests. Then everybody starts chanting “Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!” and everybody starts hitting each other with folding chairs. Meanwhile, at stage-side, Rush Limbaugh is making margaritas in a blender and passing them into the audience.
Hrm… I know a tv producer guy. I need to pitch this. Brb…
I just saw this again for this first time all year. Shit just gets funnier with age.
Ouch! Alaska was one of my preferred settling places when a younger (less traveled) man. With Palin the ‘Queen’ of Alaska i’m kind of happy that didn’t work out.
I blame their partial citizens income (the oil fund).
Socialism, you know.
straight face
straight face
snark
Austin - Oh there’s a treasure trove of stuff…
Timex
3966
First of all… Doonsbury isn’t really funny. It’s always got its head too far up its own ass.
But aside from that… is the topic of this comic even a thing? I mean, is there such a thing as “conservative comedy”? That, based on this comic, is apparently just overt racism?
corsair
3967
No. But I think that’s the point. ;-)
Timex
3968
It seemed to be suggesting that there was conservative comedy, but that it was just bad… cause otherwise it seems weird to be commenting on something that doesn’t exist.
Aleck
3969
Wait, wasn’t there a thing (which I think bombed?) on Fox where a trio of conservative ladies (including Victoria whatshername from SNL) tried to do a comedy/news show to respond to the Daily show?
Wouldn’t Dennis Miller fall under the category of conservative humor? At least his post 9/11 stuff?
CraigM
3971
I don’t read Doonsbury either, I had just happen to have gotten linked to that shortly before the Sarah Palin thing came up, so it was fresh and appropriate to the response. It fits because it was in response to the Palin video where I think she was trying to be funny, humor with a clearly far right political slant. That said it was far from funny in content, what she said is fairly barbaric and emblematic of why I despise her politically.
Certainly there can be conservative humor, but the reason it isn’t as popular is because much of it just makes you look like a pompous ass.
Fox attempted it with the 1/2 Hour News Hour.
I think that Red Eye does the same kind of thing, but I haven’t watched it.
1/2 hour news hour was terrible, and was cancelled almost immediately. I have no idea about Red Eye.
Victoria Jackson’s thing was/is Politichicks, which I saw the first episode of and wanted to die, so no idea if it still exists. (Edit: It looks like the brand still exists, but they’ve memory-holed Victoria Jackson’s involvement, and there isn’t even an attempt at comedy anymore).
Aleck
3973
Wait, does any of that qualify as comedy? I mean, I don’t want to go on a rant here, but…
Far be it from me to tell you what you should find funny, but yes I think most of Dennis Miller’s work is at least intended to amuse. As far as i can tell anyway.
ShivaX
3975
Very vaguely. He is a conservative and a comedian, but his comedy wasn’t “conservative” per se (maybe that changed, I haven’t seen anything from him in decades - which may be that he isn’t funny anymore because of it, I have no idea).
Fox had a bunch of Conservative Comedy shows for a while there and not one was really very funny. I think the best thing I ever saw was the dude that “apologized” to Chris Brown, which again supports the Doonsbury thing: you pick on people who deserve it for the most part. Framing comedy with a political goal is rarely very funny, unless the goal is “look at these assholes” which is why the Daily Show and Colbert tend to work. That Conservatives tend to be the loudest assholes makes them the target more often than not, but one of the DS’s best skits ever imo was against a bunch of hippies who were denying a Marine recruiter the ability to operate in their town.
I saw an interview with John Stewart once, and he said a big reason for the show’s success was that the writing staff was almost entirely small “L” libertarians who would gleefully skewer both major parties. Since I’m one myself, that explains why the show’s humor works so well for me. While the R’s are the worst current offenders, they don’t hesitate to take the D’s to the funny woodshed when warranted.
I’d say the show’s bias is more liberal than libertarian, since he champions social programs and gun control. It’s just that their political outlook is about policies and outcomes, not tribalism, so they’re very willing to point out Democratic mis-steps. That’s actually rather true of most liberals I know, they’re not particularly hung up on party loyalty.
Either way, the show makes me laugh. And Stewart’s own political slant may be different from that of most of his writing staff. He’s a smart, funny guy who’s quite capable of directing them where he wants to go or writing his own material. The interview was clear-cut about the writers being libertarian in their bent (but not party members).
He’s become a lot more overt about his political leanings in recent years. It was definitely part of his routine, although you’re right that he’s not very active on the comedy club circuit currently. He’s busy with his Dennis Miller Show radio gig.
Timex
3980
I think that Miller would qualify, but he hasn’t done any REAL comedy since like, the 90’s. And his stuff was kind of back in the 80-90’s, when corporate stuff was the cool thing.
But I don’t think anyone really does that kind of stuff any more, and Miller’s hardly even comedy any more.
