# Conservatives: Where's the funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 6, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526 "2011-06-06T18:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/161 "2011-06-09T19:44:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You might as well be insisting upon examples of conservative sitcoms. Today’s political climate entertainment-wise won’t tolerate conservative comedians, so one is forced to search nooks and crannies to try to come up with some. And since nook and cranny conservative humor isn’t easily come by, you are left with frustration over the fact that no is coming up with whatever it is that you are for whatever reason insisting upon in terms of conservative humor. I don’t give a rat’s ass about what our culture will or will not tolerate. If you can’t answer the question, just go away. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/162 "2011-06-09T19:49:38Z")
Just trying to keep things on an even keel here. We wouldn’t want anyone to get the impression that conservatives just don’t have a sense of humor, now, would we? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/163 "2011-06-09T19:53:52Z")
Tom Wolfe is conservative and I think his writing is hilarious. But it’s definitely not for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/164 "2011-06-09T19:54:28Z")
Let me guide y’all along by the nose, o.k.? “Rush Limbaugh is a conservative comedian that broadcasts nationally every weekday. Something he said recently that I found to be funny was…(fill in the black or provide cite)” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/165 "2011-06-09T19:57:25Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Just trying to keep things on an even keel here. We wouldn’t want anyone to get the impression that conservatives just don’t have a sense of humor, now, would we? And a good example of conservative humor would be…? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/166 "2011-06-09T20:09:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And a good example of conservative humor would be…? Laughing at you. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/167 "2011-06-09T20:12:13Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Laughing at you. > > Regards, > Shodan Yes, that _does_ seem to sum it up, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/168 "2011-06-09T20:17:29Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Laughing at you. > > Regards, > Shodan Do you really think that came out as a clever quip? Conservatives have been accused in the past of making direct attacks and calling them “jokes”, and this is how you respond to an honest effort to find examples of real conservative humor? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/169 "2011-06-09T20:24:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do you really think that came out as a clever quip? Conservatives have been accused in the past of making direct attacks and calling them “jokes”, and this is how you respond to an honest effort to find examples of real conservative humor? It was an example of conservative humor, which is what you asked for. You’re getting all bent out of shape and snarly, in a thread where people complain that conservatives aren’t funny. That’s too bad, but it is also the source of the humor. It is fun to laugh at the humorless. You know the joke - how many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? You are giving much of the same effect here. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/170 "2011-06-09T20:31:55Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It was an example of conservative humor, which is what you asked for. > > You’re getting all bent out of shape and snarly, in a thread where people complain that conservatives aren’t funny. That’s too bad, but it is also the source of the humor. It is fun to laugh at the humorless. > > You know the joke - how many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? You are giving much of the same effect here. > > Regards, > Shodan Are you saying that conservatives don’t really tell humorous jokes and stories-instead, they sneer? Earlier it was pointed out that Jeff Dunham qualified as a conservative comedian. I happen to find him very funny, but do _you_ consider him to be a good conservative comedian? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/171 "2011-06-09T20:40:39Z")
If someone asked me to provide a link to a liberal comedian, I suppose I could respond in one of two ways: 1. Link to a current Lewis Black routine, or 2. “You stink! Ha Ha!” Which do you suppose is the better answer? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/172 "2011-06-09T20:49:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If someone asked me to provide a link to a liberal comedian, I suppose I could respond in one of two ways: > > 1. Link to a current Lewis Black routine, or > 2. “You stink! Ha Ha!” > > Which do you suppose is the better answer? It doesn’t even have to be a comedian, how about a conservative version of Family Guy? The Daily Show? Doonesbury? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/173 "2011-06-09T20:52:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And a good example of conservative humor would be…? Are you looking for conservative political jokes? Because I don’t think there is very much of that. All the comedians I know to be conservative, that I can think of right now, don’t do political humor. Doing political jokes means you might alienate half your audience so if you want to make the big bucks you need to make the most amount of people laugh. John Stewart and Bill Maher can get away with it because they have a built-in audience who seeks out that type of humor. If you’re out traveling on the road you never know who your audience is going to be. If you’re talking about comedians that do jokes about things conservatives care about, like family, then there are tons of that. The Blue Collar guys are so popular because they have a conservative bent in their stand-up but they don’t do political jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/174 "2011-06-09T20:54:32Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > It doesn’t even have to be a comedian, how about a conservative version of Family Guy? The Daily Show? Doonesbury? The Cosby Show and King of the Hill come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/175 "2011-06-09T20:56:36Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Are you looking for conservative political jokes? Because I don’t think there is very much of that. All the comedians I know to be conservative, that I can think of right now, don’t do political humor. Doing political jokes means you might alienate half your audience so if you want to make the big bucks you need to make the most amount of people laugh. But as has been pointed out time and again here, there certainly are liberal comedians that are very political and have no problem with alienated audiences. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/176 "2011-06-09T20:56:38Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > It doesn’t even have to be a comedian, how about a conservative version of Family Guy? The Daily Show? Doonesbury? Well, they _do_ have Mallard Fillmore. Does that count, conservatives? Is that strip something you laugh along with? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/177 "2011-06-09T20:58:37Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > The Cosby Show and King of the Hill come to mind. The Cosby Show stopped running in 1992 and wasn’t political. And I mentioned King of the Hill in the first sentence of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/178 "2011-06-09T21:10:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That was a joke? Did it make you laugh, or even grin? It seems to be more of a serious off-the-cuff remark. Where is the funny? Hey, your challenge stated: > [@](#): > > Whether I think it’s funny is of no consequence whatsoever. So it is hardly fair to claim it isn’t funny. I don’t think it is funny, because I don’t share the assumptions which the joke relies on for humour value - but I can at least recognize it as a joke. Let’s look at the joke again: > [@](#): > > “Michael Moore simultaneously represents everything I detest in a human being and everything I feel obligated to defend in an American. Quite simply, it is that stupid moron’s right to be that utterly, completely wrong.” The “funny” comes in the (presumed) political irony: Moore (a Liberal) is assumed to hate all things American; yet it is the very things that Moore hates and that Conservatives (allegedly) love - American exceptional devotion to free speech - that require Conservatives to defend Moore’s right to spew his (ignorant, moronic) views. The “humour” relies in the “aha” realization of this irony. It fails in people who are not themselves Conservative - because, for one, they will not agree with the unstated premise (that Conservatives, unlike Liberals, value freedom of speech). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/179 "2011-06-09T21:14:18Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Hey, your challenge stated: > > So it is hardly fair to claim it isn’t funny. I don’t think it is funny, because I don’t share the assumptions which the joke relies on for humour value - but I can at least recognize it as a joke. > > Let’s look at the joke again: > > The “funny” comes in the (presumed) political irony: Moore (a Liberal) is assumed to hate all things American; yet it is the very things that Moore hates and that Conservatives (allegedly) love - American exceptional devotion to free speech - that require Conservatives to defend Moore’s right to spew his (ignorant, moronic) views. > > The “humour” relies in the “aha” realization of this irony. It fails in people who are not themselves Conservative - because, for one, they will not agree with the unstated premise (that Conservatives, unlike Liberals, value freedom of speech). I didn’t claim it wasn’t funny. In fact, I’ve said repeatedly that it doesn’t _matter_ if I think it’s funny. I am asking if that example of conservative humor is something _conservatives_ think is funny. Does it make them laugh? edited to add: When it was told, was it told during a monologue, or any other situation that would indicate it was meant to be a joke? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526/180 "2011-06-09T21:29:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I didn’t claim it wasn’t funny. In fact, I’ve said repeatedly that it doesn’t _matter_ if I think it’s funny. I am asking if that example of conservative humor is something _conservatives_ think is funny. Does it make them laugh? > edited to add: When it was told, was it told during a monologue, or any other situation that would indicate it was meant to be a joke? Just curious. I assume it does; as for context, I dunno. I got it from his IMDb page. I’m saying it is silly to argue it isn’t a joke - topical-type partisan political humour aimed at a person often looks unfunny to ‘the other side’, as simply an attack. The ‘humour’ only comes out if you share the assumptions. Here’s another, same source, obviously Conservative but not aimed at an individual like Moore: > [@](#): > > These liberals are telling me that I should take it easy on the terrorists. They said that our founding fathers would have gone easier on them. They were, after all, for civil liberties. Let me ask you a question: Do you really think that our founding fathers would have put up with any of this shit? I mean, our founding fathers blew peoples’ heads off because they put a tax on their morning beverage! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-wheres-the-funny/584526.md?page=10)