It’s kind of like producing a parody of The 1/2 Hour News Hour (Fox News’ short-lived attempt at a conservative-tilting The Daily Show). You can mock how inept and unfunny it is, but you’ve nowhere else to go - there isn’t enough depth to it to mine for insights.
I get a chuckle out of “Kelly’s” work, but it’s a superficial take on a superficial thought process, so I don’t look for profundity.
I agree with Kelly politically but I see his style as a parody of the political cartoon genre. The Manichean thinking, the vast oversimplification, and the overly busy drawings are great satire of just about every political cartoonist.
In your defense, they aren’t funny, but rather purposely unfunny (IMO), and the only real clue that they’re satire is that they appear in the Onion rather than, say, the Washington Times.
I think the strips work best when we see Kelly taking some personal annoyance and treating it like a serious political issue.
Gangsta Wrap
Tyrannical Drinktator
Not So Suite
Hot As Health
Domestic Blitz
Suppers And Downers
These strips illustrate the “get off my lawn” mentality that the character is satirizing.
The single teardrop below Lady Liberty’s eye means she killed a man in prison.
I haven’t earned a teardrop yet, but it could happen any day. I’ve pronounced men dead in prison though.
Gotta agree with Kelly on Not so Suite. I get annoyed by hotels and motels which encourage me to ‘save the planet’ by reusing towels.
It would be interesting to see a cartoon series done the same way by a ‘liberal’ author.
This guy is right up my alley.
I hope you understand that it’s possible to ‘get it’ and still not like it.
I’ve always thought these were the weakest link in the Onion chain.
mmm
FWIW, now that it has been explained to me…I still don’t really like it a whole lot, but I kinda admire it for its brashness.
I far prefer Tom the Dancing Bug for political humor, occasional constructed in a similar “reverse of what I really believe” form.
(Doug is such a doik!)
Yeah, I understand that some do get it and don’t like it. I personally think that its humor lies in being so heavy-handed and so simplistic in its satirical representation. I can see though how it may not appeal to some who are well aware of the joke but don’t think much of it or how it represents the outlook of others.
Watch the short “Behind the Pen” videos I linked to in post #17.
Seriously. They will help you understand the Stan Kelly point of view. 
And, they’re funny as hell!
No…didn’t work. I watched a couple minutes, and found myself absolutely uninterested. The guy’s narration is just a mirror of his cartooning style: he’s pretending to be a total moron and jerk, and… Meh. Boring.
(What can I say? I don’t like Beavis and Butt-Head either…)
Well, it’s not quite the same humor but… I read you. To each his own!
“Lady Liberty is a powerful symbol in a cartoon. You don’t want to overuse her.”
That line cracked me up completely. 
I can completely understand why people don’t consider Kelly funny at all. I agree with the reasons they list. But he still makes me laugh, or at least chuckle, with every cartoon.
