Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
Over at the Huffington Post, blogger Alf Lamont sets out to explain why the Left has a corner on the comedy market with funny men like the foul-mouthed misogynist Bill Maher, belligerent feminist Janeane Garofalo, and the clownish, but sometimes genuinely funny Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Lamont concludes that the Left has a monopoly on comedy because—with maaaaybe the exception of Dennis Miller– conservatives aren't funny. To support his conclusion, he lays out five points which, more than anything else, reveal his utter lack of self-awareness.
1. Comedy is inherently subversive...Those who hold the power know very well just how damaging and subversive well-placed satire can be, so those in power see little good coming from mocking themselves and the institutions they preserve.
Because fact is, Republicans hold the White House and both chambers of Congress.
2. Comedy is often a coping mechanism for adverse situations...You don't have to look too far or too deep to realize that comedy speaks to unfairness and injustice. If you haven't experienced them, if there's no struggle, there's less need to find a redeeming quality to your situation by injecting humor into your life.
Everyone knows that conservatives live such charmed lives that they never struggle with adversity. Being coerced to buy products they don't want and subsidize behaviors that violate their consciences, being told whom they may or may not rent to and how much they can charge, being subjected to a government imposed drought because an irrigation system might kill some tiny fish commonly used for bait—if you think things like these are unjust or unfair, you clearly don't know the meaning of justice or fairness.
3. It is easier to sell to the 99% than the 1%...Comedy is part of entertainment, and entertainment is a business. As a numbers game, its flat out more profitable to mock the establishment when the rest of us will be buying tickets to your shows.
So conservatives continue to outnumber liberals two to one, but conservatives are the 1%. Astounding mathematical insight right there.
4. Tradition...Let's face it, the tradition of Card-Carrying, Left-leaning, Pinko comics is a great one. A kid aspiring to comedic greatness can look to Charlie Chaplin, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Janeane Garofalo, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Marc Maron, if they care to lean left. However, the pickin's are slim on the other side of the aisle. Like it or not, the success of lefty comics makes the leftist tradition of comedy a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Ok, so he was grasping to make it an even five points. This is like saying "there are no conservative comedians because there are no conservative comedians." Clever.
5. The truth...it is undeniable that the Right seems to be in a high speed dive towards absurdity so transparently errant, that it makes for simple fodder to those looking to mock. As Rory Albanese of The Daily Show pointed out during our panel," Santorum is Anti-College! How can you not make fun of that?" For my part, I've found that the most brazen lies about human sexuality, reproductive rights, health care, the environment, energy, foreign relations, and our president's background, all seem to be emanating from a political party who is having to do cartwheels of logic in order to keep from stumbling on its own silly reasoning.
The funny thing with this last point is that I don't think he even meant it to be funny.
But there you have it. Conservatives aren't funny because they aren't funny. Best not even try (I'm looking at you, Rob Long).
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
Question about the picture of Garafolo: Does she always got out with her own personal accordion player--nothing says humor like an accordion player to accompany you.
Feb '12
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
If you looked only at comedy today, you would think that it is mainly something the left does. But comedy today avoids vast areas of humor that were very popular, and would be popular again if the comedy channels would every show it.
Think of what Jack Benny did, or Danny Kaye, or Jackie Gleason. Their humor wasn't inherently political, and it certainly wasn't subversive, in the sense that that term is used today: it was just good. And I bet you'd find that a fair number of those old comedians were Republican.
Mar '11
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
Okay, somebody help me out here. There's a movie or TV show from many years ago where they show footage of Hitler making a speech with subtitles of him telling a joke "My Dog has no nose". "How does he smell?" "Terrible!"
Not to be confused with the Monty Python skit about the deadly joke ("Two peanuts were walking down the street and one of them was assaulted...peanut") or the pickle joke from "To be or not to be".
Jul '10
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
Jeff Richter
Okay, somebody help me out here. There's a movie or TV show from many years ago where they show footage of Hitler making a speech with subtitles of him telling a joke "My Dog has no nose". "How does he smell?" "Terrible!"
Not to be confused with the Monty Python skit about the deadly joke ("Two peanuts were walking down the street and one of them was assaulted...peanut") or the pickle joke from "To be or not to be". · 1 hour ago
It's from the same skit - it was an early attempt by Germany to counter Britain's Deadly Joke.
Feb '12
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
This thought on the fact that conservatives aren't funny fits well with those of us who might also add that Orthodox Christians can't enjoy a laugh. Obviously God our Father and Jesus Christ had NO sense of humor at all. They were and are serious ALL THE TIME. Then there are Jesus' "senseless" followers, who are living in a "perfectly plastic, illusory world" that is only truly observable through the "unjaundiced eye" of the"truly enlightened" New York Times: eyes able to ignore God and Christ, sacred theological pursuit, prayer and the daily reading of the Bible, and sacred tradition as in any way serious pursuits, and to embrace all those comedians that wear tattoos all over, call Sarah Palin profane names, make great gyrations of how funny they are, and rave about Andrew Warhol's art,be entertained by movies and plays full of profanity and insult to sacred values, carry on about avant garde classical music cacophany as the "real and courageous art of our times" and rave about how "contemporary" their twangy guitar tunes make their attendance at Mass!
Sep '10
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
George Carlin at least was ripping on the global warming/environmentalist cause late in his life.
Feb '12
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
Was it William Manchester maybe who noted that in pre-1940 France all the best humorous political writing came from people on the far Right like Maurras? (that is, the monarchists, fascists, and suchlike)
Feb '12
Re: Why Conservatives Aren't Funny
Who are the humorous liberal political writers of today? (the equivalents of Mark Steyn and Rob Long)