Face It: Liberals Just Aren’t Very Funny
Over at the Huffington Post, Alf LaMont wrote about why people on the left are good at humor and those on the right aren’t. We see articles like this every so often, where liberals enthusiastically agree (“I listened to someone on the right tell political jokes, and it wasn’t funny at all. All it did was hurt my feelings.”), and one gets the idea that they’re very insecure about this issue. And they have good reason to be.
I hate to be the one to break this to the left, but they just aren’t very funny. I do find their self-assurance of how funny they are a bit endearing at times (like they’re a bunch of Fozzie Bears — “Conservatives are evil! Waka Waka!”), but pretty much no one on the left is good at humor at all (except for the feminists, who are hilarious masters of deadpan).
Now, I know liberals think conservatives don’t tell jokes and only find humor in laughing at poor people. (Actually, that gives me a good show idea: “Poor People Falling Down Stairs.” It’s funny because it’s poor people getting hurt and also because you’re thinking to yourself, “How did these poor people afford a place with stairs?”)
So it’s funny on a number of different levels. But anyone who doesn’t live in a bubble knows there are lots of funny conservatives. Liberals will point to how many more professional comedians they have, but that’s exactly it. Conservatives can be funny in their spare time, but for liberals to even attempt to be funny, they have to work the entire day at it.
Take me, for example. I’m certified funny by all the national authorities. In fact, doctors often use my material as a diagnostic tool. If someone reads something I’ve written and doesn’t laugh, that probably means he has a brain tumor. But I don’t work all day to be this funny. I have a day job as an engineer. I have duties as a husband and a father. I’m a member of numerous guilds in Skyrim. So I have maybe eight minutes a day to be funny. But, being conservative, that means I’m so good at humor, that’s enough time to be as funny as any liberal who works all week at what he thinks passes for funny.
So people often say to me, “Frank, I can tell by your official-looking hat that you’re a humor expert. Why are the left so bad at being funny?” And I’m glad they ask. Let me explain the reasons:
1. Comedy requires detachment and the ability to be self-effacing. To be funny, you have to let the humor, not the politics, be the priority. While conservatives let their religion influence their politics, to liberals, politics is their religion and is thus sacred and can’t be joked about. They don’t find anything funny about the current political atmosphere, because they intensely fear that racist Republicans are going to lynch the president and then rape everybody with ultrasounds. It’s super serious to them, which is why what they call “humor” often devolves into angry hate, like with Bill Maher and Janeane Garofalo. Remember when Garofalo used to be kind of cute? But then the hate shriveled her up like the Dark Side did with Palpatine. I think Bill Maher always looked like someone plotting to eat the Billy Goats Gruff, though.
2. Comedy is about having an intellectual connection with your audience. A problem with the left is that they isolate themselves too far from average Americans to relate with them. Though liberals are a minority in this country, they are very good at putting themselves in a bubble so they’re only ever around other leftists who reaffirm their views. That’s why they seem so surprised and upset when they encounter opinions held by the majority of Americans and why they were taken so off guard by how hugely unpopular things like Obamacare are. And it’s how they keep convincing themselves they’re hilarious — by only hanging around the few remaining people who think a “Sarah Palin is dumb” joke is edgy.
3. Comedy requires self-awareness. You’ve seen how the hippies at Occupy Wall Street seem so perplexed that people don’t take them and their “down twinkles” seriously? Well, comedy requires some ability to understand how others perceive you, and liberals are horrible at that. While most people see the left as silly nitwits, they just think everyone looks at them as these obvious geniuses. This is a big reason they have so much trouble coming up with jokes about President Obama. “How in the world are we supposed to make fun of an out-of-touch elitist who thinks he’s smarter than everyone and who has written multiple memoirs despite never having accomplished one useful thing in his entire life? It’s impossible!” Really, if you can’t make fun of Obama, you need to turn in your comedian badge right now. You can keep the gun.
4. Can’t be an elitist. For comedy to work, the comedian has to have some amount of respect for the audience. But liberals look down on everyone who doesn’t subscribe to left-wing politics. Try going to a comedy club and yelling, “You’re all stupid idiot hillbillies! I’m much smarter than you! Shut up shut up shut up!” It probably won’t go over very well. Well, maybe with the right delivery.
5. The Truth. If someone says, “Two plus two equals four,” how do you make fun of that person as an idiot? That’s the challenge in much of the left’s political humor. Like with the Tea Party — how could liberals make fun of the truism, “The government should spend less than it takes in?” They have to twist themselves in knots to try to make that sound like a ridiculous notion. Eventually they just settled on, “People who believe that are racist!” And how do you ridicule the notion that people know better how to run their own lives than the idiots in government do? “You silly twits! The people in D.C. are so obviously smart — just look at someone like Dennis Kucinich or Barney Frank — and you should submit to their will. By the way, I’m subversive.” If the left can actually manage to make good jokes that make fun of obvious truths, then they really are the masters of humor, and I will hand over my humor expert hat.
Funny about the feminsts; I was thinking “Abbott and Abbott Meet Frankenstein.”
¿ Have you heard the one about http://j.mp/HVvqQK ?
Happy daze.
The last time the left was funny was the Smothers Brothers, only 40 years ago.
I am old enough to remember the Smothers Brothers.
I never thought they were funny.
The “Mom always liked you best” gag of Tommy Smothers kind’a creeped me out. And what was it with the elder brother acting like the baby of the family, anyway? Sick.
I don’t go back that far but I’ve got another one for you.
Remember HBO’s “Not Necessarily The News” in the early 1980′s? No? Just pull up some of their clips on YouTube.
Now that was liberal humor done right! There was real affection in their sendups of Ron and Nancy (and every other “world leader” on both sides of the ideological divide.
They did a bit with news footage of the Reagan’s welcoming foreign dignitaries to a door at the White House, a side view. They overlaid sound effects that made the flash bulbs strokes of lightning and Reagan welcoming them as if into a haunted house where screams would then be heard and the next dignitaries come up as Reagan extended his hand to them. I thought that was inspired.
I find it interesting that the left’s conception of humor is that it is what takes place when someone stands in front of an audience of drunken 20-somethings and tells jokes. Talk about narrow worldviews!!!
They leave out humorist writers completely (including scripted dialogue), which seems dominated by conservatives right now. They don’t have their answer to Mark Steyn/Jonah Goldberg/Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coulter/Andrew Klavan/you get the gist.
“Try going to a comedy club and yelling, ‘You’re all stupid idiot hillbillies! I’m much smarter than you! Shut up shut up shut up!’”
haha. That’s today’s “liberalism” in a nutshell. That’s the only comeback they have ever known. It is probably true, that those destined to grow up and call themselves liberal elites did receive more praise from their teachers than from their peers. Try as they may, they never could come up with any good come-backs to the typical kid stuff -”you have cooties!”. They gave it all they had then and still have today, “You are all a bunch of stupid idiot poopyfaces. I’m much smarter than you.”
Why modern liberals are 100% wrong about everything
excellent-thanks!
What I do find funny are all of the Democratic and far left advertisements on this blog. There was an ad at the top of this blog for a new book by Rachel Maddow, a must miss for anyone with a real sense of humor, and within your own article there is an ad to re-elect Obama/Biden and to “Join Michele and tell Barack you’re in.” Now THAT is funny, to see an ad like that in a place like this. Anyone with a real sense of humor must have accepted an ad like that. Well, I guess a dollar is a dollar, no matter where it comes from.
Everyone reading this now must immediately click on said adds, so as to cost (waste) the sponsors as much money as possible.
I’ve also noticed liberals can’t be funny or serious unless they drop the f-bomb constantly. They also share this trait with rednecks.
The common denominator?
Poorly educated and not intelligent.
They are Poorly educated and unintelligent in different ways, of course, but still, even Harvard grad leftists are poorly educated and cannot think well.
You obviously haven’t watched any of the Blue Collar Comedy tours. Redneck comedians can be geniuses of comedy without effing all over the place. One exception to that is Ron White, but after “You can’t fix stupid,” I’ll forgive him just about anything.
Always loved his bit on “I had the right to remain silent. I just didn’t have the ability.”
Rednecks don’t necessarily swear. They are more of a “p!ss off” rather than a “f@ck you” type of folk.
….”Shut up and laugh, damn you all!!!”…..
Now that’s funny!
The Left doesn’t even bother telling jokes anymore.
They just project bigotry onto other people, with a snarky voice and a smug expression, and then wait for the applause.
I stopped going to see a lot if standup performers because many big headliner “comics” turned into liberal pundits, so half of their set would consist of some variation on the “Bush sucks” and “Chaney is evil” mantra… no jokes, just angry statements. Of course the liberal audience members here in NYC laughed, nodded in agreement and applauded wildly.
It’s lazy, IMO.
this is getting to the crux of it i believe
as soon as a comedian “goes liberal” jumping the shark is not far off
it is nothing more than a kind of “sell out” where one seeks to join the inner circle of leftist dominion in exchange for security; but the tradeoff requires the very essence of a comedian getting destroyed as laziness (because of the audience not needing to be won over) takes over
As soon as a comic / musician / writer starts believing that he/she has Something Important To Say, that comic / musician / writer is doomed. Bruce Springsteen is the poster child for this truism.
When Alan Alda took over most of MASH, the show went downhill from there because everything was absurd liberal story lines and him running around like his hair was on fire with a bad case of jock itch.
I remember Jackie Cooper, who used to direct quite a few of the shows bitterly saying that Alda, who was supposed to be a big believer in feminist causes made his character one who did nothing but chase women through every episode.
Good rule of thumb: if an audience laughs at a political joke, it’s comedy. If it cheers at a political joke, it’s a meeting.
Feminists funny??? Don’t you remember the joke: How many feminists does it take to screw in a lighhtbulb? — THAT’S NOT FUNNY!!!!
OK, how many college girls does it take to change a light bulb?
That’s “college women,” and that’s not funny, either.
That’s “wymyn.”
is this article a joke? I am laughing (maybe it hurts to much to cry?). You guys ever hear of Jon Stewart?
Jon who?
His ratings are lower than “American Pickers”, “Pawn Stars”, and “Friends” reruns.
his funny ratings? Not sure what that is. Ever hear of Al Franken?
Franken’s funny?
Oh, I get it! Minnesota elected him as a joke!
you’re stealing Larry J’s material
By getting elected to the Senate, Al Franken took the title of “Minnesota’s Least Funny Humorist” away from Garrison “Wobegone” Keillor. Talk about two guys with nothing but contempt for their audiences…
Thank you for the example of exactly what this article is talking about.
Jon Stewart used to be funny, till he started taking himself too seriously. I can’t watch him anymore.
I’m old enough to remember when the same could be said for Letterman.
Maybe I’ve just lost my sense of humor. Or maybe Letterman still thinks it’s funny making fun of the man, 20 years after it became self-parody. Or maybe he wasn’t ever funny at all. I don’t know.
All I know is that if you’re still laughing at the same stuff you did 30 years ago, you haven’t matured much. However, I think Reagan jokes still go over well at AARP meetings.
Jon who?
Nuke the Moon!
The problem is that the Left quit telling jokes and started electing them.
Was that humor? Keep trying, you can only get better.
Sadly, it appears you cannot.
(Seriously, dude, your hatred of the Other is overwhelming any sense of humor you may have had.)
my hatred? of whom? explain
What, weren’t you paying attention during Phenomenology of Victimization in Race, Class, and Gender Structures of America? You know, the Other? Someone who not like you? Ringing any bells?
pgk – huh? Is that humor? Maybe I understand – want to hear my favorite joke? Q: How can you tell your roommate is gay? A: His dick tastes like s**t!
Poor Lonnie, evidently he’s still hoping for the day when:
He’s good enough…
He’s smart enough…
And gosh darn it, people like him.
The peak of Leftist humor was Dan Quayle potato(e) jokes. Hint: you’re not as smart or as funny as you think you are. Jon Stewart is just another tired lefty who is only funny to those who’ve suffered brain death.
Well, that explains Alan Grayson.
Alan Grayson’s got the face and voice for standup. I remember his “die quickly” line and thinking how gosh darn funny he would have sounded if he were telling an actual joke. Indeed, the statements that he expected his audience to swallow unquestioningly were so over-the-top he WAS funny.
How is Obama four times more divine than Christ?
Because Obama only needed Bill Ayers to tell his story while Christ needed Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Ha! Classic…..
The secret to liberal humor is sublimation. You have to be able to take the anger, hatred, disillusionment, and general dissatisfaction with the world and people as they are and subject them to the discipline of wit. When liberal comedians fail, it’s because they’ve allowed their fury to overcome their wit. They’re not longer being creative – they’re just vomiting forth anger. Same deal with movie makers. They’re too caught up in the paranoia and hatred to do anything artistic.
Sorry – I guess I was just repeating Reason #1.
“Conservatives are evil! Waka Waka!”
That about sums up left-wing “humor.” That’s all Jon Stewart’s got. And all Colbert has, is “I’m a conservative and I’m evil! Waka waka!” Over and over and over, the same old tired, worn-out, poor-man’s-Bruno routine.
People like Stewart and Colbert are strictly “preaching to the choir.” They deal in reinforcing their listener’s preconceptions — not humor. That’s why people who love Stewart and Colbert, REALLY love Stewart and Colbert.
The rest of us are watching cartoons and “Pawn Stars” =>http://tinyurl.com/7odaudp .
Larry, I think that link says, in the immortal words of the children’s game, “Battleship”:
Hit. Sunk.
…or not watching TV at all.
Ron White “Stupid is forever.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxKStPXyn8
I would like some clarification on this topic. What is a lefty comedian? Most comedians are comedians first, and politics second. There are a few that do politics first and then comedy, but that is the exception, not the rule. I would say that the free market has spoken, and most comedians are democrats, or independents, and there are very few republican comedians out there. So if you are measuring funniness by numbers and profits, clearly liberals are the funnier branch of the political spectrum. There is a reason why conservative versions of the daily show tank.
But we’re not measuring funniness by numbers and profits, we’re measuring it by its humorousness. Your post is an exact example of leftists not getting humor.
Well, I never claimed to be funny. What is funny to an individual is subjective, but profits and number are an objective measure. We can only tell objectively how funny someone is, by looking at success.
“We can only tell objectively how funny someone is, by looking at success.”
I don’t think success is a measure of talent. That’s like saying, “You can tell that Justin Bieber must be a really good singer because of how much little teenage girls like him.”
RedEye (Fox 3 a.m.) is not funny?
Humor is about breaking rules and saying the unexpected. Liberal humor (see: NPR) cannot be funny because the only rule it knows how to break is that one shouldn’t make fun of former vice presidents. Take away Cheney and they’re left with nothing.
Right now, I think the funniest guy going is Ron White. Check him out on YouTube.
Is this even remotely serious? All the best comedians since roughly ever have been liberals, minorities, or at least have left leanings. George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Hicks, Tina Fey, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Eddie Murphy, Louis C.K., and those are just off the top of my head. I could go on all day. The only “conservative” comedians I can think of are Jeff Foxworthy, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Larry the Cable Guy and that ventriloquist guy with the skeletal terrorist puppet. Ron White isn’t even that conservative; he just speaks with a twang.
I understand that the point of this whole website is to basically chant “Conservatives good, liberals bad!” ad infinitum, but by any metric, funny liberals greatly outnumber funny conservatives. And there is a reason for this: good comedy is the process of taking traditional, everyday, normal, familiar institutions and ideas, and ridiculing them until they look weird and funny. This is what conservatives can’t handle. They can’t handle their sacred institutions being ridiculed. They can’t handle their traditions and ideas being challenged. And they don’t seem to understand that this is what good comedy is about.
Instead, conservatives view comedy as the polar opposite: the normal ridiculing and shaming the weird and different until it conforms. This is what conservative “comedians” like Ann Coulter do: ridicule gays, minorities, woman, liberals, etc. There’s not much of a set up or a punch line; conservative humor is essentially the political equivalent of “yo mama” jokes: “Liberals are so stupid that [fill in the blank]“. There’s really no thought required. All it does is help conservatives affirm their preconceived beliefs: “Oh, look dear, this woman on the teevee is making fun of liberals, and we hate liberals, so we must be right! Aren’t we so clever?!” But where are the conservative comedians challenging conservative idea? They largely don’t exist, because conservatives won’t accept it.
One of the few exceptions to this are Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, who are both self-proclaimed conservatives and outrageously funny. And they are equal opportunity: they’ll poke fun at Al Sharpton one week, and Glenn Beck the next. And yet, conservatives don’t watch South Park. Liberals tend to be the biggest viewing audience. And this underscores my point: it’s not that conservatives aren’t, or can’t be funny, it’s more that conservative audiences generally don’t appreciate nuanced, challenging humor; they instead prefer “yo mama” jokes.
I respectfully disagree. Comedy may entail giving the usual and traditional a new look, but doesn’t necessarily mean twisting it to look weird and funny. I prefer Bill Cosby, Groucho Marx, and Carroll Burnette, myself.
Spot on
You may have a brain tumor.
OMG! You’re the author of this article – That’s your retort to Paster? NOW THAT”S FUNNY!!!!!!
That’s no tumor, Frankie, it’s called a cerebral cortex.
I would say Matt&Trey are not into mainstream politics/religions, which makes it easy to mock everyone. However, liberal hollywood are easy targets. I’m 50ish, and like South Park, Archer, and Venture Bros. None are “liberal”.
Woody Allen was funny long ago.
It was only a matter of time before another Hickster came out of the workwork. Sorry, the guy was not funny—overly earnest, self-righteous, witless, and with no sense of self-awareness. Here’s the deal: Hicks didn’t insult our sensibilities, he insulted our intelligence. His “insights” (“Advertisers suck!” “Hillbillies suck!”) were neither interesting nor original, even for his time. The fact that lefties think he was so amazingly innovative and VERY IMPORTANT tells me all I need to know about their taste in humor.
With that said, his fans can now resume their usual activities (namely, feverishly inserting irrelevant Bill Hicks quotes in everything they write, while muttering rage at Dennis Leary and Dane Cook.)
South Park is one of my all-time favorite shows…the sacred cows that they slaughter are those that no other outfits will. And I wouldn’t peg them as conservative….they are just about as middle of the road as it’s possible to be. Equal opportunity potshots are what you expect and what you get here.
Spoken like a true Liberal. Comedians seem to love to tell jokes lambasting Republicans and Conservatives. Many times they are funny. How many times to you hear/see Letterman, for example, making fun of Liberals? By my count his Conservative/Liberal joke ration is greater than 4/1.
How man George Soros or Obama jokes do you hear from the Left?
Now Biden, he’s a walking joke factory.
“They can’t handle their sacred institutions being ridiculed. They can’t handle their traditions and ideas being challenged. And they don’t seem to understand that this is what good comedy is about.”
Gosh! and can you think of anyone who just can’t handle their traditions and ideas being challenged? Duh? Who has spent the last forty years with their “traditions and ideas” going unchallenged and considered holy writ?
I’ll give you a hint, starts with an “L”.
“Ron White isn’t even that conservative; he just speaks with a twang. ”
And supports capital punishment, and the conservative 2nd Amendment views, and his view of Mexico… not exactly “Liberal”.
Let’s be honest; you want to claim he’s not that conservative because you like him. But that doesn’t mean he’s not conservative. I realize claiming you don’t get to control all of reality offends you (as it offends all liberals) but the truth is the truth.
You forgot Robin Williams, whose coked up ranting was pretty funny; till he tried to it sober. Weapons of self destruction couldn’t have been a more apt title for that train wreck attempt at humor.
I agree though. Liberals make much better clowns and court jesters than conservatives do. They do all right till they get popular and decide they are now political comments and try to substitute snarky for rational thinking. That’s the problem with liberals though; they seem to have no problem with the class clown running the country.
Perhaps the reason you can’t think of more liberal comedians is that you are not looking very far. Why is it that you did not stop to consider Jackie Gleason, Norm MacDonald, Bob Hope, Adam Sandler, and the Zuckers? (To name a few) The fact is that most people don’t care about the politics of a performer, be it comedian, actor, or musician. What they don’t like is seeing their beliefs belittled at every turn. I would argue that as time as passed, fewer and fewer talented comedians have entered the spotlight (also true for actors, musicians, etc.), which is why we have to put up with more and more political ranting.
Oh yeah, Ann Coulter is definitely a “yo mama” type of humorist. I suggest you actually read her sometime. She has sharp wit and humor.
It was not always like that.
Bob Hope. Bing Crosby. Red Skeleton. Lucille Ball. Just about any comedian before the 60′s ruined humor forever.
Playing Devil’s Advocate:
The 3 Al’s are hilarious!
Al Gore, Al Franken & Allan Combs!
A Triumvirate of Comedians!
It’s kinda creepy to watch people like Lonnie and Brian epitomize exactly what the article is talking about–and be unable to stop themselves even after it’s pointed out.
let’s hear a joke funnier than my gay roommate joke then
hello…… anyone?
What do you call a white guy who describes a black man as ‘Clean, articulate and doesn’t speak with a negro dialect?’
If Republican… RACIST!
If Democrat… Mr. Vice President.
Q. What’s the difference between Obama and Jesus?
A. Jesus doesn’t think he’s Obama.
As a recovering liberal…that was funny!
But liberals won’t get it because to a degree they are all like him: intellectually superior and thus endowed with superior wisdom, including the right to lecture, “educate” and interfere in the lives of the knuckle-dragging rest of us. (which is how they perceive non-liberals)
A black guy, a Muslim and a communist walk into a bar and the bartender says “What’ll you have, Mr. President”…
Excellent!
OK – now someone needs to explan that punchline to me. As a liberal, that joke just reinforces a stereotype of conservatives who hate commies, Muslims and maybe even black guys. That the President is black is self-eveident, though some conservatives have whined about how he’s half-black or maybe he’s an Oreo/Omabeo. That he’s a Muslim has not been evidenced by his actions since taking public office or for many years prior. As for Communist, in any other part of the world, he would be a center-right politician and the idea is flatly ridiculous.
Yet the Muslim and Communist ideas persists even when they are nonsense and devoid of truth. If the funniest things are those that are true, where does that leave this joke?
So here’s a thought: liberal humor target the actions of individuals. Stewart, Colbert, Maher, Maddow any late night host or stand up commedian is just talking about the stupid crap that someone has done during the week. And now usually with video so we can see it in their own words. It’s a target rich environment. If a candidate calls someone Macacca, or has a wide stance, we make a joke about it. Conservatives could too, but you don’t, you defend them, because they’re conservatives and on your team. Maybe because while they may be fools, they are your fools. Conservatives don’t target what a person does but who they are: gay, intellectuals, snooty, minority, women (“aspirin between their legs”), commies (congressional democrats). The distance between a conservative joke and an actual political attack is razor thin. It’s not about exposing human foibles or hypocrisy, it’s about winning and putting down the other guy. Next time a conservative tells you a joke, step back and examine what you’ve heard.
If [the federal government} can do this, what can't they [do]?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1-eBz8hyoE&feature=player_embedded
one of the reasons the the left is chronically angry is that most of the lovely and intelligent women are conservatives, and they are left with the likes of helen thomas, barbara boxer and nancy pelosi, who were last seen stirring a cauldron and muttering on stage in the scottish play.
are you trying to be funny, mean, or both? Regardless, you’re wrong.
It was funny. And wrong – the Left is chemically angry and the play in question was set in Scotland but written by someone who hailed from England.
@ lonnie,
i’m straight, and frankly i don’t think your “joke” was particularly funny, try this one:
“a gay lad who lived in khartoum.
took a lesbian up to his room,
where they argued all night,
over who had the right,
to do what, and with which, to whom.”
not even close
what’s brown and rhymes with ‘snoop’?
Dr Dre
I think Cris Rock and Bill Maher are hilarious. They swear and call a conservative woman a whore and the audience cracks up. It must be very really funny. Likewise Letterman. He snarls some insulting nonsensical smear and media critics and his audience are in stitches.
James Stewart played many comic roles in movies. He was a firm supporter of the Republican Party and campaigned for both Nixon and Reagan. Today, only conservatives support the Boy Scouts of America due to their ban on homosexual Scoutmasters, but the Boy Scouts was one of Stewart’s favorite charities. Stewart also gave to charitable foundations dedicated to teaching the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe about democracy. According to Wikipedia, Stewart and Henry Fonda got into a political argument in 1947 which escalated into a fist fight, but the two actors remained friends and never discussed politics again.
Red Skelton was one of the most famous comedians ever to appear on television. In 1969, Skelton performed a self-written monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance and wondered aloud whether it would someday be banned from public schools as a prayer. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies of it, so Columbia Records released it as a single recording.
According to Pastor of Muppets, all the great comedians “since forever” have been liberal. I suppose to you, Pastor, “forever” began with Norman Lear.
This article might have been written in opposite-land. As much as I hate to admit it, the best comedians are nearly always libs. Who have we got? Dennis Miller? Sorry, the libs do comedy way better. But maybe comedy shouldn’t be looked at in conservative and liberal terms.
That’s gotta be what’s going on here. The author and website are just trying to get a rise out of people by posting way crazy ass wrong s**t. You got me. I do have to agree with the author on Bill Maher looking like he lives under a bridge.
ps: I really do think the 2 jokes I told earlier are way funny – and they were told to me by very funny conservative friends of mine. Troll ya later
While I was only skimming through these I have to give the award for funniest response to Lonnie for her brilliant impression of a closet homophobic leftist who got really insecure when some criticized any part of her world view causing her to obsessively hound and try to bully everyone in a thread from top to bottom into submitting to her her view was spot on.
/Catchmybreath whew… thanks again I have not had that good of a laugh at accidental self parody since Madonna last publicly moralized about the exact thing she grew rich denigrating.
-side note-
Lonnie let me save you the trouble of formulating your super witty comeback. 1. I’m in my pajamas 2. In my moms basement 3. I live off foodstamps. Now with the time I saved you go outside get some fresh air and try listening to a conservative tell you their hopes and concerns without interrupting to tell them what you “know” they think because Steven Colbert Told you so.
Brain Teaser
What if Stewart and Colbert aren’t making fun of actual conservatives but just the cartoonish stereotype leftist hide in their head? What other types of people do you like to use stereotypes to look down and make fun of? Life is too short, open your mind, let go of the hate, and breathe the air of person who doesn’t project their personal issues and anger onto a group they see as “others.”
Take care and Gaia bless
wingnut projection – FUNNY! Stewart and Colbert playing on my concerns/insecurities? If that’s out of bounds what tools would the right wing have? I am not alone in enjoying these comedian/politic guys addressing those ‘cartoons’ in my head as well as the ones in yours. Nobody is above ridicule. Put me first on the list. I could not agree more with your last sentence. The Gaia reference was very touching as well.
Happy Easter
Ask around any message board among conservatives even here you will find more then half typically were leftists when they were younger. Lets just say there are dimensions to all of this that you are overlooking.
Steven Wright and the late Mitch Hedberg two of my favorite comedians and both of them could be considered more Libertarian/non-political.
I think what so many people seem to be missing is, the liberals have to employ professional “comedians” to demonstrate they have a sense of humor. Conservatives are naturally self-pleasurers. Conservatives have the “funny gene,” and so don’t need anybody to go pro in the field, don’t need writers and cue cards and dress rehearsals. Give a conservative like Frank eight minutes — even on an off night — and he will make the world (or, at least, the important people) laugh. Pity the poor laugh-starved liberal, who can’t get one off without the mechanical aid of a Bill Maher.
Not only are they not funny, they know nothing about telling the Truth.
A man got to Heaven and while he was waiting at the Pearly Gates, he saw a wall lined with clocks. When St. Peter showed up, the man asked him why all the clocks?
St Peter said,”Those are”LIE” clocks, they record when someone tells a lie and everyone on earth has one”. He continued, “See that one, that is Mother Theresea’s clock. It has never moved because she has never told a lie.”
He went on, “And that one is Abraham Lincolns clock, it has moved twice, which means he has told only two lies in his lifetime.”
“Amazing!” said the man, then asked, “And President Obama’s clock? Where is it, I don’t see it?”
St Peter answered, “Jesus keeps it in his office. He uses it as a ceiling fan.”
Not funny cos too predictable. Reverse the punchline and make “Obama’s clock” the answer instead of the question…
Makes me think of Soviet-era and Cuban gallows humor political jokes.
Anybody remember that joke a junior stasi man tells in “The Lives of Others”?
Recycled from the Carter years. And the Clinton years. And destined to be used for any future Democratic President for generations to come. A burden I guess we’ll just have to live with. Unless you guys can budget for a joke writer or two.
And people, let’s lay off Janeane Garafalo. I admire her in a way. Usually people have to be thrust into the position of National Buffoon. She volunteered for it.
What I really have been wondering about is Janeane’s bottom line. Is it more reliably profitable being a leftist hate-peddler than being an actual comic and sometime actress? I gather there is enough of a hardcore audience to keep the likes of Bill Maher and Louis C.K. in macanudos but does it really pay all that much?
I’ve checked Janeane’s website and her schedule of stage and television appearances looks mighty small-venue and her acting work looks to have gotten rather thin in recent years.
I believe Brett Butler killed “Grace Under Fire” when she started getting political. Ellen DeGeneres killed off the “Ellen” show when she turned it into a one-note gay expo and Rosie O’Donnell basically nuked her career when she took off her mask and exposed her real self to be anything but the “Queen of Nice”.
Pay attention to Ann Coulter. By this article’s argument, her humor is that of an extreme leftist. And she’s frinds with Maher. Hmmmm…
Today’s modern leftist humor reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine is dating a guy with a history of bad break-ups, e.g. one ex- threw hot coffee in his face, another tried to stab him, etc., and when he broke up with Elaine, he said, “You’ve got a big head.” Elaine laughed and replied, “That’s it? That’s the best you got?”
‘Sarah Palin is dumb.’ ‘Dick Cheney is evil.’ ‘George Bush is Hitler.’ ‘Mitt Romney is rich, and therefore a thief.’ ‘Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot.’
I’m laughing. That’s it, liberals? That’s the best you got? If so, you’re headed to the irrelevancy heap.
Re: “Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot” Rush may be big (in audience size) but he’s not fat (Ed Schultz, on the other hand IS a big, fat idiot – a big, fat, LOUD idiot).
Great work Frank!
The initial reason I started my blog, The Looking Spoon, in the first place was to prove two things:
1. Conservatives are funny
2. If there is anyone in politics, other than Joe Biden, who couldn’t be easier to make fun of, it’s Barack Obama.
Reading this piece I’m reminded of how awful shows like SNL have been about political humor since the 2008 election. They violate reason #5 ALL THE TIME. They don’t even parody, they have the actors dress like Republicans and then act like totally different people (the WORST is Kristen Wiig doing Elizabeth Hasselbeck, it’s pathetic).
I stopped watching the Daily Show years ago for the same reasons. Making funny faces during pauses after videos edited heavily to support a liberal viewpoint is NOT a punchline, Jon Stewart.
Frank J. Fleming is absolutely adorable in his play-acting dress-up as a funny writer. If his engineering work is as accurate as his humor is amusing, look out, world!
Smearing Sarah Palin is one thing, but keep her children out of it. That’s where Letterman lost me.
You people are just sad. If some performer or entertainer is liberal, then they suck. Is that it? If someone doesn’t agree with your world view, then they’re not funny?
I don’t agree with Bruce Willis’ politics, but I enjoy his movies. I’m definitely a liberal, but Ron White and P.J. O’Rourke crack me up.
What poor, stunted little lives you must lead.
Where Frank fails, is his attempt to explain comedic elements. Number 1 fails because conservatives don’t understand self-deprecation. Every “conservative comedian” mistakes victimhood for self-deprecation. They don’t make jokes about their own stupidity, they instead whine about how they are perceived as stupid, and try to make jokes off of that. Palin’s jokes about a “lamestream media” are a prime example. Conservatives find them funny because it reinforces their own self-image, as victims of a media conspiracy. The purpose of self-deprecating humor, is to humanize the person telling the anecdote. Conservative self-deprecation fails, because conservatives can’t make fun of themselves, without playing the victim. Even this guy does it, by attacking Garafolo, in a section that was supposed to explain self-deprecation. He also fails to list one self-deprecating conservative comedian. How absurdly funny is that? If there is such a thing as conservative humor, it is entirely accidental.
Well, I guess this explains why “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” barely got off the ground while “The Half Hour News Hour” still has people laughing in the aisles.
Game, Set and Match!
I tried watching that show. I sat down to get an insight into some conservative humor. I often say absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so I’m till looking.