September 14, 2012

The Black Hole of North American Comedy

From an interview with Saturday Night Live supremo Lorne Michaels in a New York Times article on SNL's plans for the election:
But Mr. Michaels acknowledged that Mr. Obama has been a challenge. What is his comedy hook? “So far we haven’t found it. My joke is always that he’s the first Canadian president,” said Mr. Michaels, a Toronto native. “He wants to think it through, do it in the fairest way possible and be thoughtful. And be a little distant, which I totally identify with, obviously.” 
Mr. Romney? “He’s easy to play because of that caution of his.”

The sad thing is that I doubt if Michaels gets why it's funny that he uses one word ("caution") to describe why Romney is easily spoofable, and 39 words to describe the identical trait in Obama, which SNL hasn't figured out how to make funny after years of trying ever so hard.

Is Obama the most boring President ever? At least with Gerald Ford, you were allowed to make fun of him.

117 comments:

  1. Obama is a mulatto, this make him a better president.

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  2. "Canadian" is an obscure (hence relatively safe) slang term for African-American (connection: freed slaves).

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  3. This is the funniest administration ever. OK, you need a dark sense of humor, but still.

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  4. 'Black hole' is a racist term Steve.

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  5. When Jimmy Carter calls you out as being an idiot, then, well, ah, maybe you really ARE an idiot.

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  6. Lizard Sadness9/14/12, 2:14 AM

    I guess this is what it will be like going forward? Politically Correct presidents that we are not allowed to target with "inappropriate laughter" - kind of like speech codes on campus. The State Media will cover for him and all the PC Presidents to follow.

    So, people in the military still think they are defending "freedom"?

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  7. Pretend Obama, the public figure, is certainly boring. But who would you rather interview with a dose of sodium pentathol, GW Bush, Ronald Regan, Jimmy Carter or BHO? The man is a total mystery, which is not at all boring.

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  8. Does anyone still watch SNL? I tuned out during the Horatio Sans/Jimmy Fallon era.

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  9. "Canadian" is an obscure (hence relatively safe) slang term for African-American (connection: freed slaves).

    Well great, you let the cat out of the bag. Now we're going to have to toss the term down the Memory Hole. We're never going to be able to close the Humor Gap now.

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  10. There's no shortage of things to make fun of with Obama (and searching the internet, you can find quite a few), but the MSM have defined it as verboten.

    NRO recently published a list of 689 reasons to fire Obama, most of which were written in a comic way (but done so without touching anything we dare not mention). Despite being tepid and mild from a right-wing stance, or even by common standards 20 years ago NRO is considered to be toeing the line when it comes to what is still allowed in the media-defined/leftist circles of polite company.

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  11. " josh said...

    Pretend Obama, the public figure, is certainly boring. But who would you rather interview with a dose of sodium pentathol, GW Bush, Ronald Regan, Jimmy Carter or BHO? The man is a total mystery, which is not at all boring."

    -If we're gonna bring out the truth serum and interview anyone, I vote for Soros.

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  12. SNL...NBC...job is propaganda, nothing more.

    Remember 2008? When SNL made fun of John McCain talking to his "imaginary friend" - Joe the Plumber? I knew people who really thought "Joe the Plumber" was made-up.

    "I can see Alaska from my house" - said Palin. Ooops, I mean Tina Fey.

    Kind of like liberals saying that Clint Eastwood "was just an insane man thinking he was really talking to Barry and not an empty chair...."

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  13. Ive only every heard Canadian used that way in the service industry to explain lack of tip

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  14. That's the funniest thing Lorne Michaels has said in a long time.

    At least they're not still using the excuse we heard during the first campaign: he's just too awesome to find anything to make fun of.

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  15. Harry Baldwin9/14/12, 6:17 AM

    Doesn't Lorne find pomposity, peevishness, and self-adoration suitable for satire? How about using "I" more times in a speech than was hitherto thought possible? How about being more interested in watching sports and spending time with suck-ups like Michael Lewis than doing the job of president? How about the sight of the president dealing with a slavishly indulgent press?

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  16. SNL can't make fun of Obama, because SNL isn't funny anymore. I'm sure Eddie Murphy could've had fun with Obama.

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  17. black jesus, profound humility, gay messiah, best at everything, empty suit, etc

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  18. but why no conservative comedy team?

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  19. Harry Baldwin9/14/12, 6:44 AM

    Here's another suggestion for Lorne: how about Obama boning up on how to act black? Conferring with someone like Reggie Love on the latest slang he can drop into a speech, or watching Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" for inspiration? How about some scenes from the residential wing of the White House, with Michelle lambasting her wannabe black husband and threatening to give him a vicious nuggie if he doesn't shape up? Surely there's some humorous potential in the Most Powerful Man in the World being married to a woman who looks like she could snap him like a twig.

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  20. Lugash. said... "Well great, you let the cat out of the bag. Now we're going to have to toss the term down the Memory Hole. We're never going to be able to close the Humor Gap now."

    are you reeeeally lugash?

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  21. Obama would be pure comedy gold if they had a free hand. All the secrecy surrounding virtually everything (except his fake "memoires"), the vacuousness masquerading as introverted intelligence; the need for a teleprompter as a baby needs a pacifier; the ghastly wife; the background of race hustlers masquerading as community acitivists and clergymen. I could go on. Unfortunately the comedians could not.

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  22. "Does anyone still watch SNL?"

    I tuned out in the 70's. Even then, I never watched it through to the credits. That's because every show ended with an unfunny bit by a couple of retards named Franken & Davis.

    Never did I realize that the fraudulent election of one of these retards would bring us the turd sandwich known as ObamaCare, which will probably shorten my life. (I'm sure that was its intended effect, to achieve lifespan equity for all ethnic groups.)

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  23. You're totally wrong. SNL hasn't "tried hard" at all. There's plenty of things to make fun of in a president whose made such a hash of his time in office, but SNL won't touch it at all. They ran one skit with Obama last season: one. And it was Obama making fun of Congress. They had one ready which actually made fun of Obama, but then cut it at the last minute.

    I'm really getting very, very sick of the media shilling for Obama.

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  24. Obama alleged that he was a White Sox fan but could name none of the players that ended their World series drought.

    He thought that Austrian was spoken in Austria.

    Just shows the decline since Tina Fey came up with "I can see Russia from house."

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  25. Obama is boring.
    Obama's numerous gaffs are funny.

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  26. Auntie Analogue9/14/12, 9:28 AM

    Nesrly all of what now masquerades as comedy curdled long ago into formulaic, boring recitation of white-guilt sanctimony. None of this shtick is even remotely funny, it's all just endlessly recycled Mort Sahl liberal moral posturing, nothing but finger-wagging exercises for the humor-bereft p.c. police.

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  27. Liberals find the Tea Party caricature of Obama — the Kenyan Marxist America-hating terrorist, etc — endlessly hilarious. It's fairly revealing that they don't actually make this part of his caricature persona.

    I remember Phil Hartman's Reagan portrayal had a lot of fun with the equally absurd premise that he was this monstrously sinister cartoon super villain who just pretended to be a dopey grandpa for PR reasons. But I guess they didn't care if that hurt his reputation, where as spreading untruths about this president in the name of comedy is a no-go.

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  28. Canadian is code word for African-American among waitstaff because they are both bad tippers.

    You could make fun of Ford because he was a Republican. A white Republican. A black Democrat president is an object of veneration. Poking fun at him would be blasphemy.

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  29. "Canadian" is an obscure (hence relatively safe) slang term for African-American (connection: freed slaves)
    Uh, take a look around Canada bub

    (except for nearly 5% Halifax, supposedly because it was the terminal of the Underground Railroad, so there's your outlier)

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  30. Robert in Arabia9/14/12, 11:09 AM

    Youtube, Facebook, Twitter just blocked in the Kingdom.

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  31. I just watched "Innocence of Muslims" the movie that is reputedly the cause of today's Muslim riots. It plays just like an SNL skit. And just like SNL it has a number of lame jokes and a lot of wooden acting. It is meant to be offensive but seems to be only about as offensive as say - "Jesus Christ Superstar" or "Godspell". The historical Muhammad is easy to spoof.

    Speaking of Muslim riots. Why are we so concerned? If we just evacuated all the Americans they would just have themselves to annoy. They would just have their own property to burn.

    This is the strategy adopted by white America toward our black rioters. Every central city that had serious black riots ended with white flight from the area and the remaining blacks living in a waste land of their own making.

    In any case if we really were offended by mobs screaming anti-American slogans we have the power to stop all such gatherings if we care to.

    Someone tell me if I'm wrong technically.

    We see a gazillion Muslims in the streets. We launch a Global Hawk from Georgia (or wherever they're kept). It arrives over the riot and detonates an "enhanced radiation weapon"(Neutron Bomb). The next day the news cameras record no damage to the area but no protesters either.

    With GPS I assume that this would be easy to do accurately. This sort of action was not possible just a couple decades ago. We have the tools to dominate the world. The dreams of Alexander, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon can now be fulfilled.

    If I can see this possibility from the den in my house, surely they have imagined more in the sub cellars of the Pentagon. It seems to me that the tools for world conquest and control are at hand. I doubt that we will use them but would Putin, for example, be so circumspect?

    Albertosaurus

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  32. Jobs, jobs, jobs9/14/12, 11:49 AM

    I think the solution is to hire more male comics who happen to be black. I know, Lorne already does employ some, maybe enough to cover the Obama joke assignment desk for a once-a-week 90 minute show, but he's clearly not doing enough. V. symptomatic of the racist "austerity" dog-whistle that's been going around

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  33. The hook is his arrogance, his raised chin, the Greek columns, the oceans receding, the planet healing....and Michaels can't find a gd hook?

    What a piece of shit.

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  34. The public Obama is as far from the private Obama as any President has been and Michaels can't find a hook?

    BTW, has SNL made fun Michelle and her muscles? Nope.

    That alone would be a great skit--BArry and Michelle arm wrestling.

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  35. Lorne really can't imagine anything funny about Obama? How about a skit where destitute Obama relatives such as Aunt Zeituna and the half-brother who lives in a hut show up for Thanksgiving and Barry tries to be diplomatic while Michelle seethes at the uninvited guests messing up her perfect Thanksgiving?

    How about a skit where Clinton and Obama smoke pot together?

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  36. it's not SNL. it's every major show, every major comedian in america.

    obama was declared off limits in early 2008. american comedians on network television absolutely, positively will not make fun of him, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever. there's never been a more glaring unspoken agreement among ALL of them.

    15 years ago, some of the clinton jokes were hilarious. not a single real obama joke has been attempted ever.

    now, back to making fun of any republican for any reason at all no matter how flimsy. republicans are all dumb dumb poo poo heads and need to be bashed daily.

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  37. Steve Sailer on Obama: "Gee whiz, Mr. President, not only am I fellow dweeb and golf lover like you but you are ONE FINE FELLOW!".

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  38. You don't mock The Redeemer! That would be blasphemy.

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  39. [Obama] wants to think it through, do it in the fairest way possible and be thoughtful.

    Nonsense. Michaels is just repeating the unexamined official line. Obama never wants to commit publicly to anything (there's one satirical angle right there), so, applying the Black Premium, this becomes profound intellect (the awe-struck liberal wonders "what goes on in that marvelous mind of his? Sigh; we'll never know...").

    SNL did a good send-up of just this behavior in that skit about reporters fawning all over O at one of the debates (one question: "are you comfortable?").

    Michaels is guilty of the worst possible offense of an artist: he isn't observing. He's just mouthing nonsense when he should be admitting he, and most of his writers, have lost their sense of humor in the presence of the One (there's another point of attack; maybe they can at least make fun of themselves, like in the above-mentioned skit).

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  40. I give kudos to Dennis Miller: he's been brave to go after Obama and he's been on target too.

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  41. "Obama alleged that he was a White Sox fan but could name none of the players that ended their World series drought."

    Yeah, wonder why George S., Jake Tapper, David Gregory and all the others never wondered aloud why a "South Side Guy" who "loved the Sox" said he went to "Cominskey Field" a whole lot of times.

    That should have led them to ask him questions about his claims in his books, but nooooooo. About why he felt ready to be President considering he's been a legislator of no note, but nooooooooo.

    I don't really know what can be done to demean the press since they seem incapable of being embarrassed by their brown-nosing and their incompetence. They are secure, I guess, in their understanding that their networks are content, even happpy with their brown-nosing.

    Eastwood is the only guy who has even attempted to talk about the empty suit.

    This Middle East mess points to sheer incompetence. I mean, come on--no added protection for consulates and embassies on 9/11?

    Jesus. (or Mohammed!)

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  42. The only reason Obama is slightly ahead in the polls and not losing by a landslide is not Romney, it's that the media NEVER, EVER allows sustained criticism of him and the late night comics like Leno and Letterman are afraid to make fun of him. They are wusses, the most gamma of men.

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  43. OK, you need a dark sense of humor

    Yup, a dark sense, lol. But enough with the racist codewords--there is something in the way this administration persistently resembles an episode of 'Yes Minister' that makes me wonder about the upper limits of U.S. American credulity.

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  44. I've been making fun of him for almost four years now in my Atlantea comic strip, but, on the other hand, I haven't made a thin dime from it.

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  45. Semi-employed White Guy9/14/12, 2:48 PM

    unix said...
    Obama would be pure comedy gold ...the vacuousness masquerading as introverted intelligence...


    Now that can't be true. Just yesterday I was walking thru a parking lot and saw a bumper sticker that touted "Intellectuals for Obama". A wimpy, middle-aged, SWPL-looking driver was sitting in the car, a hybrid. I wanted to "interview" him but the car was running and the windows were rolled up. (Not very green of him).

    Another way to rag on Obama would be his hyper-annoying overuse of "let me be clear" and "make no mistake".

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  46. How about high school kids do the skits suggested on this thread and post them on youtube? If you are a woman, you have tons of old lady friends who constantly send you emails of every goofy thing going around the internet. It wouldn't take any time at all for a couple of high school guys, (I am thinking home schoolers) to hit most of these and more. Okay, you guys have middle school and high school sons who think Obama is a total joke and weenie pants and would love to do some youtube skits.

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  47. You don't mock The Redeemer! That would be blasphemy.

    Remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx43Fcdh7iM Four years on, it's just begging for an Emperor's New Clothes-like follow up.


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  48. I think David Axelrod impressed on Obama the grave necessity that presidential campaign that the one guy he must absolutely not sound like at any time, even as a joke, like Black Bush ("Mars, bitches!").
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2871033510590191580

    What's funny is that in 2008, Obama's campaign platform was definitely less progressive than John Edwards's (who was the most left-wing candidate not named Dennis Kucinich) and yet Obama cleaned up among white liberals who just knew the white Southerner was more conservative than the black guy (Hillary lost only because enough white moderates, equally erroneously, thought Edwards a moderate). What made it worse for Hillary is that only after he'd wrecked her campaign, Edwards committed the political unforced error of all time by not running out the clock on his dying wife. IF he had waited a decent interval after the funeral, he could married a hot 30 year old and everyone would say, "good for him!". Even Black Bush would have played that better.

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  49. but why no conservative comedy team?

    Strange, isn't it. Leftist dominance of comedy is as absolute as the right's dominance of talk radio. What gets me is how the leftie pukes are unquestionably "The Establishment" yet still get away with posing as its adversaries.

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  50. No, Obama was right, and Carter wrong. Egypt is not an ally - not really. It's people hate us. Just because we've been paying them a couple of billion dollars a year ever since Carter decided it would be a good idea does not make them our ally.

    Dude - FOLLOW THE LINK - it isn't a matter of whether you find the average man-on-the-street Egyptian Muslim to be objectionable, it's a matter of LAW, as passed by both houses of Congress and signed by Bush 41, back in 1989.


    PS: If the situation on the ground in Egypt deteriorates too badly, the folks who are going to take the brunt of it will be the Egyptian CHRISTIANS.

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  51. Liberals in the media don't want to make fun of him for 2 reasons:

    1) Black people take all criticism of Obama extremely personally.

    2) The media senses his weakness and is reluctant to possibly upset his position, tilting the electoral balance towards Republicans.

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  52. If I can see this possibility from the den in my house, surely they have imagined more in the sub cellars of the Pentagon...

    When I first skimmed over that, I read "the dungeon in my house", and I got to thinking about what the BDSM parlors might look like in the caverns beneath NORAD.

    LOL'ed.

    [BTW, we recently got a tantalizing glimpse of the Scientologists' tastes in this regard.]

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  53. Keeping your party in power is seeerious business.

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  54. Cail Corishev9/14/12, 5:01 PM

    I seem to remember an SNL skit with some black talking heads talking about how Obama's approval rating among blacks had fallen from 99.8% to 99.2%, and how he needed to address this catastrophe in a hurry. I think it was SNL, anyway; I saw it on YouTube.

    Of course, that didn't make fun of Obama; it made fun of blacks for their group-think. But I was surprised they even went that far.

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  55. I´ve posted this before, but I´ll do it again(not sure if it ever made thru komment kontrol). Here in Brazil there´s a skit on Obama moving his black family to the White House. The funniest character is Obama´s mother in-law, a Black Matriarch, of the Big Momma variety.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPA3OlEFFC8

    It´s in portuguese, but you can get the gist of it anyway.

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  56. SNL has long employed Robert Downey Jr.'s Republican uncle Jim Downey as a writer, who wrote a lot of the funnier political stuff for them. So, Lorne, here's your solution: unleash Jim Downey!

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  57. @Cali

    I think this is the skit that you're referring to:

    http://videosift.com/video/What-would-it-take-to-not-vote-for-Obama

    I was really surprised by this one as well; you can actually hear the audience trying to stifle its laughter at the most un-PC parts.

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  58. How about a skit featuring Michele's
    diet and her big ass?

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  59. "It seems to me that the tools for world conquest and control are at hand. I doubt that we will use them but would Putin, for example, be so circumspect?"

    Apparently not, if this YT video is any indication:

    Putin's method of dealing with Radical Islam

    Saw this on another forum. A Russian speaker there says the translation is accurate.

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  60. "except for nearly 5% Halifax, supposedly because it was the terminal of the Underground Railroad, so there's your outlier"

    A bigger contributor is black Loyalists in the Revolution. The Governor of Virginia (for strategic reasons, not moral; he had no objection to slavery before this) promised freedom to all slaves who fled to British lines. There were slaves who fled to Canada later, and maybe some went to Nova Scotia, but I believe more went to Ontario, and most of these returned after slavery ended in the U.S.

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  61. "Obama's numerous gaffs are funny."

    It's "gaffes", Kylie.

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  62. "I've been making fun of him for almost four years now in my Atlantea comic strip, but, on the other hand, I haven't made a thin dime from it."

    Well you can sleep assured, tonight, Baloo, that it isn't a lack of talent on your part!

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  63. "but why no conservative comedy team?"

    That's an interesting question, but in my opinion, (and seemingly that of many others) Guys like Limbaugh and Hannity are more like comedians than newspeople.

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  64. "Apparently not, if this YT video is any indication:"

    I'm with you, it sucks ass we have the constitution.

    BTW, judoboy was a typical chickenhawk, he went to the KGB after school instead of Afghanistan.

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  65. Obama has featured AFAIK once in Family Guy and once in American Dad. You know, those edgy, subversive animated shows that really stick it to the man.

    They have to be seen to be believed. In the Family Guy episode he is portrayed in an Elvis Vegas era outfit singing with the women beaming and swooning over him and you sit waiting for the punchline, the payoff - and there isnt one. Thats it, he is a wonderful star, end of.

    In American Dad he is described by Stan Smith as someone "everyone loves". No trace of irony or sarcasm at all, its played totally straight and again you will wait in vain for the joke.

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  66. Truth said...

    "Apparently not, if this YT video is any indication:"

    I'm with you, it sucks ass we have the constitution.

    BTW, judoboy was a typical chickenhawk, he went to the KGB after school instead of Afghanistan."


    - Yes Kylie, what were you thinking, looking abroad when you have a real leader here in Obama- He's showing us how a true John Wayne,'Reagan bombing Ghadaffi's ass back to the stone age for dissin' us' does it in response to the latest slap in the face from Libya.

    He's such a man, he couldn't even be bothered to learn how to throw a ball...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP4keCkYHYU

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  67. "Poking fun at him would be blasphemy."

    You can make fun of the white half.

    Obama is a good example of why you shouldn't elect preppies.

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  68. "Is Obama the most boring President ever? At least with Gerald Ford, you were allowed to make fun of him."

    That's the problem with conservatives- at some level, they accept liberal dominance of their lives. To hell with "Allowed"- Do it anyway. If they're gonna punish you for resisting, do it anonymously and do it big.

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  69. SNL isn't funny these days. Even when mocking Republicans. I don't know why people pretend the show is still relevant.

    And a lot of conservative political "humor" simply isn't funny. When they satirize liberals they don't use nuance. It just comes off as overly broad or mean spirited or plain boring (1/2 Hour News Hour anyone)? Liberals mock themselves with more wit, humor, and aplomb as evidenced by Seinfeld, Portlandia, Arrested Development, etc.

    If there was even one guy fulfilling some massive pent up demand I would shut up, but there's basically no big names in conservative comedy. Big time radio pundits like Limbaugh can be occasionally funny, but people don't truly tune in for the humor.

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  70. "Another way to rag on Obama would be his hyper-annoying overuse of 'let me be clear' and 'make no mistake'."

    That reminds me--they could spoof his very practiced body language. Consider his placing of his hands just so in his lap when he is seated. I make a habit of predicting when he will raise his finger during the speech. I'm pretty good at it. Oh, and right after the finger is raised, up goes the chin.

    They could do a skit of his practicing such things.

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  71. "but in my opinion, (and seemingly that of many others) Guys like Limbaugh and Hannity are more like comedians than newspeople."

    Truth, Limbaugh and Hannity are both up front about not being "newspeople."

    I miss Tim Russert. He'd be very embarrassed by his colleagues.

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  72. Ex Submarine Officer9/14/12, 9:07 PM


    I remember Phil Hartman's Reagan portrayal had a lot of fun with the equally absurd premise that he was this monstrously sinister cartoon super villain who just pretended to be a dopey grandpa for PR reasons. But I guess they didn't care if that hurt his reputation, where as spreading untruths about this president in the name of comedy is a no-go.


    Ha, that stuff was actually funny too.

    The equivalent w/Obama might be showing him as some kind of hood/ghetto rat, maybe a Crips gang leader, or some other black stereotype, if you really wanted to be cruel, maybe Stepin Fetchit, who then just poses as a well mannered black man w/no "negro accent" for PR reasons.

    Funniness would be off the charts. Likelihood of this every happening in the "Land of the Free" - zero.

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  73. "obama was declared off limits in early 2008. american comedians on network television absolutely, positively will not make fun of him, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever. there's never been a more glaring unspoken agreement among ALL of them."

    Dana Carvey spoke of spoofing him in his stand up routine, and his audience, blacks and whites, didn't laugh--were afraid to. Is that sick or what.

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  74. This is when we need Richard Pryor and George Carlin. Miss them both.

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  75. "[Obama] wants to think it through, do it in the fairest way possible and be thoughtful.'

    Yeah, sure. This thoughtfulness must have been the reason for so many votes of "present."

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  76. "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no war on terror, but there is most certainly a war on women," began the President.

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  77. Perfect time this Saturday night to do a skit that's a take-off of Obama's speech telling us that because of his time in Indonesia and the fact his half sister is Muslim, when he takes office the tensions between the US and the Muslim world will ebb.

    Yeah, quite the narcissist. If I'm the Romney ad guys, I get all the footage I can of the most arrogant clips from the most arrogant speeches Barry gave.

    String them together, a great montage, "Bragging by Barack."

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  78. Beecher Asbury9/14/12, 9:53 PM

    BTW, judoboy was a typical chickenhawk, he went to the KGB after school instead of Afghanistan.

    Putin was born in 1952. He joined the KGB in 1975. The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

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  79. Putin will DRINK Obama's milkshake, kick sand in his eye but not run off with his girl (Google "Putin ballerina" and see why).

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  80. US politicians are treated with great restraint by US commedians. In Britain, there was a strain of comedy called "alternative commedy" that viciously lampooned John Major and Mrs Thatcher (see Spitting Images) but then decided it needed to "work with" the new Labour Administration in 1997. Even so, away from comedy, people like Jeremy Paxman will grill even leftist politicians in a way that US media simply would not dare to.

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  81. The Onion had a very, very funny piece on Obama's troubled out-of-wedlock son "Luther" appearing with him at the DNC. Cut close to the edge.

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/obamas-19yearold-son-makes-rare-appearance-at-dnc,29458/

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  82. "Putin was born in 1952. He joined the KGB in 1975. The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979."

    I'm sure old Kosygin wouldn't have raised much of a stink about a motivated, 27-year old "tough guy" who wanted to exchange a career following British tourists around Moscow, for one killing Aye-Rabs in Kabul.

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  83. Let's all avoid poking fun at Obama. We certainly don't want any Libyan-style riots here by his followers who might become enraged at having their prophet criticized.

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  84. I'm sure old Kosygin wouldn't have raised much of a stink about a motivated, 27-year old "tough guy" who wanted to exchange a career following British tourists around Moscow, for one killing Aye-Rabs in Kabul.

    Putin would beat all the black off Obama's skinny ass.

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  85. More to the point, Putin is a better man than you T-Dog. At least, using your own logic, that is.

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  86. Prof. Woland9/15/12, 7:59 AM

    To make fun of Obama, you need to use him as a comedic "straight man". Make all the jokes on the people around him. The characters would include obsequious white, liberals, sycophantic hero worshiping blacks, groveling reporters, and so on. The material would be endless. Hint, in comedy "straight man" does not mean not-gay.

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  87. "Obama's numerous gaffs are funny."

    It's "gaffes", Kylie.


    You correcting peoples' spelling. Of all people. Reminds me of the time you chose "Truth" as your handle.

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  88. Of course not, but they are "Aye-Rabs", in the same vein that Salvadoreans are "Mess-Kins", and Aborigines are "Knee-Growz".

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  89. Doesn't Lorne find pomposity, peevishness, and self-adoration suitable for satire? How about using "I" more times in a speech than was hitherto thought possible? How about being more interested in watching sports and spending time with suck-ups like Michael Lewis than doing the job of president? How about the sight of the president dealing with a slavishly indulgent press?

    Yeah, how about some skits showing the press fawning over him, SWPLs fawning over him, etc? Obama could be the straight man and white people the butt of the joke, so no messiah taboo violations involved.

    Surely the "SWPLs" at SNL aren't really at bottom humorless about their own sacred cows?

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  90. Make the first lady into a 350 lb hippo or have a fake newscast with a man hating Rachel Maddow look alike. Not only would it be funny, it would be too funny.

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  91. And a lot of conservative political "humor" simply isn't funny.

    Translation: if you want a job in comedy, you'd either be a libtard, become a libtard, or pull off a convincing fake (and find yourself eventually believing your own lies).

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  92. US politicians are treated with great restraint by US commedians.


    No, Democrat politicians are treated with great restraint by US comedians.

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  93. Anon 11:04, when you have politicians the likes of the great Nigel Farage, you don't need comedians.

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  94. Speaking of funny. "The Innocence of Muslims" is intended to be funny. It is an example of that branch of humor that is meant to offensive to its targets.

    The principal purveyor of this kind of humor in America today is Bill Maher. The whole point of his comic style is that the audience shares in his cruelty. They squirm with delight when he says something nasty about Christians of Republicans.

    Such humor is often difficult for editors and publishers to print because it implies an endorsement of the comic's nasty outlook.

    For example, Steve. You wouldn't print my mini-teleplay yesterday that mocked Obama. It may or may not have been funny but it certainly was unfair and partisan - on purpose. Maybe this will give you an insight into why SNL and Mr. Michaels similarly can't manage to present an unfavorable skit about Obama.

    Albertosaurus

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  95. Anon,

    There were Arabs fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. One of them was Osama bin Laden.

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  96. I'm thinking that a FOIA request for Obumble's golf scores would provide plenty of humor. I'm guessing low 100's, if the way he throws a baseball like a sissy is any clue to athleticism. And I've seen lots of pictures of his fadeaway jumper, but I'm willing to bet a Benjamin that one elbow and body check under the hoop and President MomJeans would be on his @ss. Why have we never seen any comedian cap on his wearing an apron hanging drapes?

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  97. come to think of it, they never did much with Gerald Ford, just Chevy Chase's one-gag impersonation: making no pretense of impersonation, he would just launch into an extended pratfall (Ford was known for stumbling on the steps of Air Force 1), for which the notorious prick Chase acquired a poetically just back problem.

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  98. Personally, I think Obama and this administration are absolutely hilarious and a comedy tsunami. It invites mockery of Obama's vanity, out of touch elitism, golf and vacations, and cluelessness. But more than all that, so much more than all that: this admin invites mockery of those who fall all over themselves to insist he's not a vain buffoon, but the Smartest Guy Eva. They're the true comedy jackpot, with an irrational insistence to tar anyone outside Team Obama a racist, to boot. The skits positively write themselves.

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  99. SNL hasn't been funny for 30 years. Does anybody still watch that show?

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  100. ", but the Smartest Guy Eva. They're the true comedy jackpot, with an irrational insistence to tar anyone outside Team Obama a racist, to boot. The skits positively write themselves."

    Exactly. Being There (1980) was prescient, but it didn't have the "black" theme.

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  101. "Human laughter is an evil liberal scheme used to deny hard working conservatives comedy gigs."

    99% of comedy used to be hard-working conservatives - mostly telling mother-in-law jokes. That's why anti-conservative comedy was called "alternative". The comedians gradually shifted to the new comedy because it became the only route into television.

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  102. Whitey Whiteman III9/16/12, 3:50 AM

    100+ replies and you can't let a poem, through?

    Truth probably has 10 of them.

    Can you make an explicit joke about Obama, Steve?

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  103. Hi all, if you want to get into stand up comedy please feel free to look at our blog - http://standupcomedyonlinecourse.blogspot.co.uk

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  104. Commander George9/16/12, 5:37 AM

    "Svigor said...

    "Obama's numerous gaffs are funny."

    It's "gaffes", Kylie.

    You correcting peoples' spelling. Of all people. Reminds me of the time you chose "Truth" as your handle."

    -He does it as a way of trying to diss' someone when he has nothing of substance to say. Frequently, you'll see him snipe at spelling, or he'll try to insult people or comment about their handle instead of addressing what they wrote. It means he can't offer a coherent reasoned response to an argument. Works for libs in verbal interactions to shut down 'bad thoughts', not so much in a written online forum.

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  105. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us_oN8C6Ezg&feature=g-u-u

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  106. Truth said...

    "Obama's numerous gaffs are funny."

    It's "gaffes", Kylie.


    I read gaffs as Obama read corpseman.

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  107. 99% of comedy used to be hard-working conservatives - mostly telling mother-in-law jokes. That's why anti-conservative comedy was called "alternative".

    The changes to comedy post-50s greatly expanded the available subject matter and the way comics delivered jokes. Which is what enables the concept of alternative comedy to exist in the first place. Comedy wasn't simply liberalized, the craft was changed.

    Even so, liberals are currently the only ones doing political comedy well on or off TV.

    The comedians gradually shifted to the new comedy because it became the only route into television.

    It's easier than ever to achieve notoriety using the internet. Where are all the indie conservative political comics? Is Hollywood keeping them off the internet?

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  108. It's easier than ever to achieve notoriety using the internet. Where are all the indie conservative political comics? Is Hollywood keeping them off the internet?


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfeys7Jfnx8

    I wouldn't call him conservative necessarily, but he isn't PC.

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  109. "The comedians gradually shifted to the new comedy because it became the only route into television.

    It's easier than ever to achieve notoriety using the internet. Where are all the indie conservative political comics? Is Hollywood keeping them off the internet?"

    - Non-PC humor is huge in the field of modern comedy. It shows that there is a huge market for conservative humor and that most people disagree with most tenets of leftism (which most polls also show- typically 60-80% disagree with most leftwing positions). The problem is the leftwing watchmen and their masters in the SPLC- to do this type of humor, you'd better have a 'get out of doubleplus ungood jail free' card- be 'Scots-Irish', black, etc. or couch it in the context of being supportive of bigger leftwing issues.

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  110. Personally, I think Obama and this administration are absolutely hilarious and a comedy tsunami. It invites mockery of Obama's vanity, out of touch elitism, golf and vacations, and cluelessness. But more than all that, so much more than all that: this admin invites mockery of those who fall all over themselves to insist he's not a vain buffoon, but the Smartest Guy Eva. They're the true comedy jackpot, with an irrational insistence to tar anyone outside Team Obama a racist, to boot. The skits positively write themselves.

    You have a point. Parody involves turning the behavior in question up as far as the dial will go; SWPLs don't leave much room to work with when it comes to their fawning over 0bama.

    White liberals actually believe blacks have "better sex" than they do. That's why they can't make fun of anything or anyone black; sex is at the top of the liberal value pyramid - their most basic affectation is the claim to have thrown off the puritanism of the 1950's. So if blacks do it better, they're the model for humanity, no matter how tribal or primitive.

    Yet another person trying to make "sense" of liberalism. Cart before horse; to the extent that libtards believe blacks have better sex, it's because they can't make fun of or even really think about blacks.

    - I doubt even the liberals that pray to Gaia 5x a day to grant the opportunity to fellate Obama for appeasment of their tainted white demonic ichor would claim that.

    Correct; even libtards know not to fawn over blacks when it would mark them out as primitives.

    Human laughter is an evil liberal scheme used to deny hard working conservatives comedy gigs.

    Libtards are totally comfortable with discriminating against non-libtards, especially whites. That's not a scheme, it's reality.

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  111. I wouldn't call him conservative necessarily, but he isn't PC.

    Good point. I'm not conservative, but I'd drag Obama and company if I was a comedian...and I thought it wouldn't kill my career.

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  112. "-He does it as a way of trying to diss' someone when he has nothing of substance to say. Frequently, you'll see him snipe at spelling, or he'll try to insult people or comment about their handle instead of addressing what they wrote."

    I did address what Kylie wrote. You just don't "gaffe" as a response to someone's "gaffing." You just don't make an error with a word, that means someone else makes errors with words. You just...don't...do it.

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  113. "Human laughter is an evil liberal scheme used to deny hard working conservatives comedy gigs."

    99% of comedy used to be hard-working conservatives - mostly telling mother-in-law jokes. That's why anti-conservative comedy was called "alternative". The comedians gradually shifted to the new comedy because it became the only route into television.


    In the UK people who did Ph Ds in comedy took over the booking of comedy and decided what was funny based on their academic credentials. This became the new comedy though whether it was funny or not was another matter.

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  114. How do you know, Troofie? Gaff may have been meant intentionally. Obama certainly gaffed jack Ryan.

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