I've figured out why right-wing humor isn't funny.

[RandomKoolzip]

Besides the obvious reason (because it's right wing and I'm not...DUH!), Guys like Dice Clay and Rush Limbaugh and Imus and all sorts of asshole morning DJ's are not funny for a couple of reasons:

First, good (non-surreal) comedy thrives on the tension between the powerful and the powerless; the target must be powerful and the one making the joke must be tellling the audience that the target is vulnerable. Think of George Carlin. Mort Sahl. Richard Pryor. Bill Hicks. These guys never went after minorities, or trashed people on welfare, etc., because that sort of thing is not a release of tension for most people. Seeing an old black lady slip on a banana peel and fall down screaming in pain is not funny. Seeing a rich, cigar smoking fat white man slip on a banana peel and fall on his huge ass is hilarious, because it is taking the power from the powerful.

Good comedy takes the powerful down a peg; it does not wallow in the misfortunes of the poor (unless the one writing the jokes is Michael O'Donoghue, and then it's to illustrate a point.) Can you imagine a whol comedy club audience laughing at some white guy on stage complaining about working hard to support blacks on welfare? Pathetic! This is why bullies in school aren't funny, and nobody likes them. The one holding the cards should never make judgements about those underneath him, if he wants a laugh.

Two, their styles of delivery are corny as all hell! Contrast Robert Smigel to Andrew Dice Clay. One comes across as intelligent and quick, the other clay-footed and bellicose. Even if Dice or Limbaugh were to remove the offensive content from their acts, they'd still be horribly unfunny, because their voices and mannerisms are static and uninteresting, and listening to them makes one feel that one is being lectured to in close quarters; plus they try to come across as the Anti-Will Rogers, authoritarian and smug instead of the wisecracking underdog.

Just random thoughts this morning, as I wait to go to work.....

[Kamika]

1. I think its because of the low class

I find most repub jokes to be aimed to the lowest common denominator.. im not saying im some smart person but often i just sit and go "thats not funny thats just stupid"


I can understand why a complete ignorant idiot would laugh at some stuff they say though..

when i was small like 12 or something i liked the Rush tv show :p

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[alexwcovington]

6. Get off this website

NOW.

[supernova]

7. Even if he used Roget's Thesaurus

Dennis Miller would still be pathetic.

A large vocabulary does not always equal the intelligence to use it wisely.

[Kamika]

9. right..

Name one monologue by dennis miller thats funny.. link it if you can.

And please point out whats funny about it

[Name removed]

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[Hubert Flottz]

11. No We Get It!

And that's going to put a stop to Bush STUPID Shit in 04!

[liberalmuse]

15. Oh please!

Who 'get's' Dennis Miller anyway? He is a self-absorbed pseudo-intellectual-wannabe who uses obscure, archaic references in order to feel superior to his audience. He was mildly funny up until he became right-wing asshole. I think wingnuts are so unfunny because their humor is cruel--and hopelessly stuck at the junior high level. I hate right-wing radio hosts voices--they sound just like the fat, ugly, aggressive, red-neck, pasty-faced, porcine men they are.

[Swede]

29. I hate that mother, was he ever funny?

[donco6]

3. I think you're exactly right.

I think one of the bases for humor is to empower the powerless. Shakespeare used it throughout his plays to poke fun at the monarchy - delicately, yes, but consistently.

There is an element of ironic humor that pokes fun at the powerless, however. The type of joke that starts: "Why is it that the same people who want "X" are the same people that do "Y"?"

[Another Bill C.]

4. I'm not sure I buy the premise.

Jay Leno gets a lot of laughs when he makes fun of people who shop at Kmart or live in trailer parks. He tells a lot of poor-bashing jokes and his audience loves them -- sort of like a Junior high school crowd.

[RandomKoolzip]

5. Exactly my point.

He's a milquetoast wanna-be right winger, and the laughs he gets are prompted by his Uncle Tom sidekick and a flashing applause sign. Most of the time, he'd fall flt on his face were it not for those two things.

[Liberal Christian]

12. Well, yeah, but Jay Leno is an idiot

I think people laugh at the people Leno constantly makes fun of out of relief. "Whew! At least I'm not THAT stupid." When Leno asks people on the street questions that they should know the answers to and they don't, we are able to feel superior. And because we are patriotic Americans who drive SUVs and kiss the 10 Commandments every day on our way to work in the courthouse, we know we are superior to all and, therefore, we must laugh and sneer at them as often as possible.

[TankLV]

21. Not only that, but remember, he has to go thru a lot of people who KNOW

the correct answers before he finds or coaches someone to look/act that stupid and lame.

A lot of effort has to be expended by him/his staff to find those "idiots" (actors) to showcase.

It's a published fact. Sorry, no links.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. It's hard to laugh when you're puking!

I can't do it, shit goes up my nose!

[Cat Atomic]

13. In political cartoons, I always notice a distinct lack of subtlety.

Right wing political cartoons generally just seem to be heavy-handed and literal. They're not actually saying much, just illustrating a sterotype or insult of some sort.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:



It's just literal. It's saying the UN is big chicken. Ok, and therefore what? Know what I mean? It's like they get 40% into the point and decide they've thought enough.

Some hit on comedy, but when they do, I fear my own politics simply get in the way of the "joke".

[Kamika]

17. As I said

Thats not funny it's just stupid

[LTR]

30. Two Words

"Mallard Fillmore"

Anyone ever see a worse comic (besides "Family Circus")?

Contrast with "Doonesbury" "The Boondocks", "Bloom County" and "Bizarro".

[BloodyWilliam]

32. Mallard Filmore deserves its own thread for derision!

I've never read Bizarro, but Doonesbury, Boondocks, and Bloom County manages to have intelligent things like plots and characters and literary structures around which the brilliant humor of Tredeau, MacGruder, and other liberals shine through. You don't JUST laugh because Huey makes a smartass comment about Bush, you laugh because it's his character, it's such a huge contrast, and it fits in the scene. Would it be nearly as funny without his friends or grandfather? Doonesbury's the same way. You get the humor from the interaction between actual characters. There's thought, development, personality, growth in the comics. And while Tredeau is quite liberal, the comic's namesake is a Forbes conservative (sigh... Mike should have stayed Dem), and he bashed Clinton about as much (and in a lot better ways) than the conservatives during his administration.

What's Mallard Fillmore? Some smarmy little duck making smartass comments about liberals over three panels, occasionally using faux comments from Generic Liberal, Generic Liberal Intellectual or Generic Liberal Television Personality. And does any one else notice that stupid-ass bow-tie one of the comic's Generic Liberals wears? Who besides Tucker Carlson (not liberal) has such crappy fashion sense? I'd rather see a punk teenager with an anti-WTO shirt. Heh...

[brainshrub]

14. Mallard Filmore

Every time I open the editorial page in my local paper I see two syndicated cartoons: Doonsbury & Mallard Filmore.

I have never understood why Mallard Filmore is popular. Politics aside, that NeoCon duck just isn't funny. He makes no new observations and pretty much parrots what is going on in the AM radio circuit. He's almost as annoying as Family Circus. (Almost)

[donco6]

22. Can't stand Mallard Fillmore

Sadly, our paper doesn't carry Doonesbury.

MF is just plain dull. He has these charicatures he drags out to parade around (the Media, the NEA, the Hippie-Pinko, etc.), setting them up with ridiculous situations. At least Doonesbury has finesse and style and subtlety; MF is cludgy and heavy handed.

[LittleApple81]

23. I was going to post the exact same thing. Thanks for saving me typing.

I find Mallard ugly, in bad taste, and totally unfunny.

[SmileyBoy]

31. MF is the reason why I don't read the funnies in my local paper.

And MF stands for Mother F**ker.

[supernova]

16. You're on to something

Yes, what you classify as "repub" jokes really are a misplacing of power.

Jokes about K-Mart shoppers and trailor-park denizens serve to make the audience feel a power they believe they lack by laughing at someone more misfortunate than themselves.


OTOH, someone who is successful, we liberals seem to prefer to see making self-depricating jokes. The way Al Franken jokes that he can't get sex amymore, for example. We all know he's a funny guy with a great marriage. But it's endearing to hear him make fun of himself, nonetheless.

[BloodyWilliam]

33. Damn, that's a good point I didn't even think about!

<OTOH, someone who is successful, we liberals seem to prefer to see making self-depricating jokes. The way Al Franken jokes that he can't get sex amymore, for example. We all know he's a funny guy with a great marriage. But it's endearing to hear him make fun of himself, nonetheless.>

We don't see that much in conservative humorists/comedians/cartoonists, do we? I mean, the most I can think of is when Bush made his tiny little self-jabs on his campaign trail, but even then that only elicited a sort of "polite chuckle" laugh. What about Coulter or Limbaugh or Hannity or O'Reilly actually joking about themselves? Most ever happens is O'Reilly talking about how he grew up in the ghetto. They never really have a sense of humor when it comes to their own side.

Whereas I'm perfectly happy being a bleeding heart hippie who wants to tear down morality. I should start a church. For hippies! Then not let be members of it in school! Or something. :-)

[Cat Atomic]

18. I did think Dennis Miller was funny.... the first 10 times he told the

same joke. The Dennis Miller template is as follows:

Saying (subject) is like (adjective) is like saying (obscure pop-culture figure) is (adjective)!!

It gets old, fast. I thought he'd outlived his joke way back in the 80's, to be honest with you. That's why, when I discovered he'd become a right wing shill, I could only respond with a disinterested sort of, "ah".

[Philostopher]

26. This same kind of thing is how I grew to hate Leno.

Back when Carson and Letterman were airing simultaneously, and before Leno had steady work, Leno used to hit all the late night talk shows. He'd usually do an appearance on Carson, then a couple of weeks later he'd do an appearance on Letterman. On Carson, he'd whip out a copy of TV Guide and do a bunch of pisswater, lame jokes about the listings. A week and a half or so later, there he'd be on Letterman with the same damn TV Guide, making the same stupid jokes about the same listings. He couldn't even be arsed to write new jokes about TV Guide -- he'd just go from show to show repeating the same lousy jokes.

Worse yet, if there was another show that had him on, he'd get even more mileage out of it -- because he never bothered to write a new joke until he rewrote his entire routine.

Edited to add:

And he couldn't ad lib worth a dirty sock either. Letterman used to really mess with him about that, too, it was the only part of seeing Leno on the shows I enjoyed.

[neuvocat]

19. Right Wing humor is propaganda

and propaganda isn't funny, especially when often times it involves insulting people or "joking" about violence or sicknesses.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Years ago, just after The Life of Brian was released, I

saw an interview with Graham Chapman, perhaps on the Dick Cavett Show.

The interviewer commented on accusations that the movie was sacrilegious, and Chapman's comments went something like this:

"We tried making some jokes about Jesus, but they simply weren't funny, because when you ridicule someone who is good, you come off as stupid and petty. Humor directed at individuals is funny only when there is something about them that deserves ridicule."

[GinaMaria]

24. I would add

that someone who is successful at comedy usually can laugh at him/herself. In fact, that seems to be the source of a lot of comic material for stand ups.

Rush, Miller and others seem to lack that ability. Franken does it well. Just my two cents.

[SOteric]

25. Actually, yes; Freud noted that humour always has a victim.

The essence of humour which has mass appeal is in chosing a victim that more of one's audience can enjoy seeing victimised.

[Character Assassin]

27. One slight problem: George Carlin has never, ever, ever been funny.

And never will be.

[HEyHEY]

28. I liked one of his lines

Kids are just like adults. A couple of winners, and a whoooollle lot of losers