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TechnographConservative humor: The ultimate oxymoron
By Eric Naing
Posted: 2/14/07 Section: Opinion Columns
After witnessing the runaway success of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Fox News has apparently decided to get in on that action with "The Half Hour News Hour." This conservative alternative to The Daily Show seeks to counteract the evil, liberalizing effect Jon Stewart has on impressionable television viewers. While this may sound like a decent plan, it has one fatal flaw: the physical inability of conservatives to be funny.
The political significance of "The Daily Show" can't be understated. More and more young people are getting their news from the program instead of from traditional news outlets. But as an Indiana University study shows, "The Daily Show" is just as substantive as "real" news programs and as a University of Pennsylvania study shows, Daily Show viewers were actually more informed about the 2004 election than viewers who watched regular news broadcasts.
But as the icy reception to Stephen Colbert's brilliant performance at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner shows, conservatives are completely out of touch with what's funny. At its core, conservative humor tends to be little more than childish name calling against liberal straw men or blatant appeals to bigotry and intolerance.
As Doug Giles writes at the conservative Townhall.com, "You can count on one hand how many conservatives are making a semi-distinct blip on the comedic scene." He then proceeds to dust off the old chestnut of the Asian speaking broken English writing that young people "no likey" conservatives.
Dennis Miller is probably the most successful conservative comedian (that is, if you define success as hosting a low rated and short-lived CNBC talk show). And his brand of humor was on full display on a recent Hannity & Colmes episode when he called Rep. Nancy Pelosi a "nimrod" and a "latter day Wacky O." Miller also called Pelosi "a C-minus, D-plus applicant ... who no doubt would have been drummed out of the Mary Kay corps after an initial four-week evaluation period." All of which essentially boils down to "Nancy Pelosi is a stupid woman, ha ha."
The political significance of "The Daily Show" can't be understated. More and more young people are getting their news from the program instead of from traditional news outlets. But as an Indiana University study shows, "The Daily Show" is just as substantive as "real" news programs and as a University of Pennsylvania study shows, Daily Show viewers were actually more informed about the 2004 election than viewers who watched regular news broadcasts.
But as the icy reception to Stephen Colbert's brilliant performance at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner shows, conservatives are completely out of touch with what's funny. At its core, conservative humor tends to be little more than childish name calling against liberal straw men or blatant appeals to bigotry and intolerance.
As Doug Giles writes at the conservative Townhall.com, "You can count on one hand how many conservatives are making a semi-distinct blip on the comedic scene." He then proceeds to dust off the old chestnut of the Asian speaking broken English writing that young people "no likey" conservatives.
Dennis Miller is probably the most successful conservative comedian (that is, if you define success as hosting a low rated and short-lived CNBC talk show). And his brand of humor was on full display on a recent Hannity & Colmes episode when he called Rep. Nancy Pelosi a "nimrod" and a "latter day Wacky O." Miller also called Pelosi "a C-minus, D-plus applicant ... who no doubt would have been drummed out of the Mary Kay corps after an initial four-week evaluation period." All of which essentially boils down to "Nancy Pelosi is a stupid woman, ha ha."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 15
JennaT
posted 2/14/07 @ 1:48 AM CST
Eric, if your point was that a show you haven't seen yet can't be humorous because you believe liberals would have a monopoly on humor, you've been (inadvertently) funny, indeed. (Continued…)
Jon
posted 2/14/07 @ 1:55 AM CST
Construing Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh as comedians would be the equivalent of claiming Jon Stewart and Colbert are legitimate political scientists. (Continued…)
Rollie Hawk
posted 2/14/07 @ 5:29 AM CST
You don't actually get paid to write, do you? Because no editor with a clue would publish something with "ultimate" and "oxymoron" in the title.
Matt
posted 2/14/07 @ 9:17 AM CST
Do you think it will be more or less popular than Air America? Also, congratulations, I think this may have been the first article in three years not to mention Christianity in some way, shape, or form. (Continued…)
Jacqueline
posted 2/14/07 @ 9:34 AM CST
I just want to say first: i dont watch the daily show report whatever it's called nor did i watch anything remotely republican. But for every Liberal who has made some comment about how stupid Bush is, and blah blah, I think it's perfectly fine that conversatives get to do some bashing too. (Continued…)
Francisco
posted 2/14/07 @ 1:07 PM CST
Are you guys kidding me? I stand with Eric on this one. If you want proof, check out a clip from the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjIfaMwIFxU&eurl=
This is pathetic at best. (Continued…)
Tyler Friederich
posted 2/14/07 @ 2:09 PM CST
Hey "San" Francisco, who wrote the book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot..."? It wasn't a conservative; it was Al Franken (a "comedian" and "satirist"). (Continued…)
Brian
posted 2/14/07 @ 2:49 PM CST
The Reason why Liberals are inherently more than Conservatives is a lot simpler than the construction of their jokes. Each side definately does a lot of finger pointing and grade school name calling, but Liberals, by definition, are more prone to look at a situation, see the natural humor, and be willing to expose the absurdities in political ongoings. (Continued…)
NVUS
posted 2/14/07 @ 4:24 PM CST
Humor isn't political, but the outlets which broadcast/publish the work of those who are humorous definitely are! Anyone who thinks comics, satirists, and the like are too stupid to realize that their best chance at success is in an industry that frowns upon conservatives is an idiot. (Continued…)
Steve D.
posted 2/14/07 @ 5:48 PM CST
Many comedians may be liberals, but there's very little fundamentally humorous about liberalism or liberals themselves. Example: go into any African-American studies class in America and explain how you are anti-Affirmative Action, and see how many friends you make. (Continued…)
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