His earlier books were great. I haven’t been very impressed by his later ones. This has nothing to do with politics, only him running out of material. He is pretty mediocre on Wait Wait most times also.
But late '60s early '70s National Reviews often had lots of funny stuff, which I look back on as still funny even though I’ve moved left. So it can be done.
I dunno about “the” voice, but I was flipping channels and paused for a bit on CSPAN the other day, and listened to about as much as I could bear of this particularly lame voice. (If you can tolerate 10 minutes, you bested me… I recommend skipping around.)
When the audience would laugh, I was thinking, “holy shit, *that *was *that *funny?!?” It led me to some of the same observations made in this thread, and made me realize how all-encompassing the differences can be between left and right.
Indeed, humor is in the ears of the beholders, I guess.
Linkara, the internet comic book reviewer, doesn’t talk too much about his political beliefs these days, but from what he lets slip he’s a libertarian conservative and pretty religious. And his stuff makes me laugh consistently.
The thing that made me into the hardcore Conservative that I was (in 1965) was the wit of Wm. F. Buckley jooonia. He was clever, he was mean, he made me laugh.
Of course, I was eleven years old at the time, but still…
I’m not a fan, but apparently Gallagher’s act now consists primarily of right-wing ranting against Obama and homosexuals.
Even more obscure than Linkara, there’s Ken Begg of Jabootu’s Bad Movie Dimension. Very insightful commentator on film, quite humorous, and a religious conservative.
South Park is an obvious one, and you can also add the Simpsons. For the first ten seasons or so (before it became basically fan fiction) the Simpsons had a very conservative streak.
Bill O’Reilly is funny, but considers himself a moderate. On social issues he’s conservative though, so maybe he counts.
Ann Coulter is funny. She mixes her humor in with anger and most liberals can’t tell the difference.
There are a lot of “working class” comedians who are conservative. Adam Corolla has been mentioned. Also you’ve got people like Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy.
Finally, sorry OP: Dennis Miller is funny. Have you ever seen him on O’Reilly’s show? The two of them are hilarious together. I’m sure there are clips on Youtube.
I never saw a conservative streak in the Simpsons. Maybe in more recent ones, poking fun of Apple, hipsters, etc, but certainly not the earlier episodes.
For me, the funniest comedians have the ability to be genuinely self-mocking. PJ O’Rourke does this well (as do his liberal compatriots on “Wait, Wait…”). The aforementioned “working class” guys are largely self-mocking by definition; if you go by “Larry the Cable Guy” you’re already signalling that you don’t take yourself too seriously.
But while I’m sure there have been instances of Bill O’Reilly being genuinely self-deprecating, they’ve got to be pretty rare.
Conservatives can be funny, but show me a conservative stand up comic that can get laughs with group self-deprecating humor.
I would think it’s difficult to find too many conservative comedians. A big part of comedy in general is poking fun at the establishment.
Would Mike Judge be considered liberal or conservative?
Jeff Foxworthy’s entire thing is that he’s a redneck poking fun at rednecks to a redneck audience. Doesn’t that count?
For you to say this indicates to me that you’ve never actually watched his show. He’s very self deprecating. He regularly tells guests things like “Use smaller words, I’m a simple guy.”
He doesn’t even try to keep up with Miller when he’s on.
If all you’ve seen is him on the Daily Show, you’re only getting one small element of what makes him funny. He plays a straight man role to Stewart that works rather well, but it’s not his true personality. That’s why he and Stewart are funny enough together they can sell it on pay per view.
The Simpsons making fun of hipsters is a recent phenomenon?
:dubious:
Maybe it’s more noticeable to me because the material around it is lacking compared to earlier episodes (and I don’t want to go down that pit of despair about Simpsons episodes).
Thanks.
Tater Salad, P.J. O’rourke, Adam Corolla, Mike Judge- if he’s “conservative”…
but the South Park guys? This is the first time I’d heard them to be considered conservative.
I have watched his show. And have never laughed at it. (To be fair, I didn’t think Dennis Miller was that funny even before his conversion to the GOP-side.)
While you’re right in that “use smaller words, I’m a simple guy” is self-deprecating, it’s not particularly funny. If the bullying blowhard act isn’t his real personality, he’s awfully good at maintaining it and, real or not, it comes across as mean-spirited. I guess I just don’t “get” Bill-O.
I find Ben Stein’s dry humor to be hilarious.
Stein is highly critical of evolution and is strongly pro life. Yet he has at times called for higher taxes on the wealthy and he endorsed Al Franken’s run for the Senate. Still, on the whole, I’d call him conservative.
I haven’t heard much of Dennis Miller lately, but I loved him in the 80s. One of my favorites from him that I use every chance I get:
“Now, personally, I am baffled by the concept of racial prejudice. Why hate someone based on the color of their skin when, if you take the time to get to know them as a human being, you can find so many other things to hate them for?” - Dennis Miller
Been a LONG time since I heard him, but I recall that Bill O’Reilly would talk like that to portray himself as a “man of the people” for his audience to relate to, nothing like those elite well-educated snobs. There’s nothing really self-deprecating about it. On those lines, I remember a (clearly fake) story he told about going to a Thai restaurant in his younger days and getting embarrassed when the snotty elites at the table could order in Thai and he couldn’t.
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but the South Park guys? This is the first time I’d heard them to be considered conservative.
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I think that would describe them during the early Bush years, not so much after that.
The Simpsons? You’re talking about the show that was criticized by President George H.W. Bush, who said he aimed to “strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons”. To which the show had Bart retort on-air: “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the depression too.”
Intentionally?