As a conservative, you are a sample size of exactly one. I haven’t asked for a complete list of conservative humorists. I’ve asked for conservatives to tell me directly who they find humorous. At this point, I can’t even get them to look at what you have provided to see if they agree with your assessment.
It’s as if I asked for all homemakers out there to tell me what floor polish they prefer, and all I got back was one person giving me a list of floor polishes.
Who says conservatives don’t have a sense of humor? We spend most of our time laughing at the antics of the liberals.
With all that material it should be easy to find a good joke then.
Unless a Nelson ‘Ha, Ha’ is the joke.
And maybe even a link to a conservative humorist telling it.
A lot of liberal/progressive types have little or no sense of humor. But that’s just people, a lot of people simply don’t get it. Its not (necessarily) that they are joyless prudes, or anything like that, they just don’t get it. They have learned to smile or “laugh” at the correct moment, but it ain’t happenin’. I agree with them, I align with them, I don’t hang with them.
For instance, the feminist-light bulb joke. I heard that first from my co-workers at the co-op, a decidedly leftish bunch, you may be certain. Oy! (And he blew it, the correct punch line is “One. And that’s not funny.” Note the lack of an exclamation point, it needs be delivered with a flat and disapproving stare…But I digress…)
Humor is a wonderful moral weapon, in the right hands, as amply demonstrated by St. Samuel of Clemens, blessings and bourbon be upon him. He said that humor was the best way to preach, as it was the least likely to get you hanged.
Conservatives may or may not have a sense of humor, but they are locked into a worldview that is mostly a set of interlocking contradictions, that can only be maintained by a studied and careful avoidance of recognizing those contradictions. This makes them easy targets for such scoundrels as the Blessed Hicks.
In my radical set of acquaintances and co-conspirators, we do indeed make fun of liberals, mostly for their milquetoast, luke warm commitments, their tendency to believe that you can tinker with a Death Machine and gradually transform it into a Solar Powered Rainbow Extruder. Feh! But make a joke about a liberal, and you hurt their feelings. Make a joke about a conservative, and you piss them off, which is a heck of a lot more fun.
But truly, all argument is impossible. Humor is not arguable, citation, not relevant, there is only laugh/don’t laugh. But conservatives want to be thought of as normal, with-it, up to date. Sometimes they even want to be sorta kinda “hip”, God help us all. I think that is the derivation of Mallard Fillmore, an effort to be funny. And if you have to work at it, it won’t work.
“Laugh, and the world laughs with you” is a crock. Laugh, and you will piss some people off. But the odds are pretty good that you should piss them off. It’s good for them, it builds character. And if not, well, fuck 'em if they can’t take a joke.
Hey, Sam! Why are so many comedians from Canada? Why stay?
Maybe there are so few conservative comics because all the conservatives are too busy laughing at Obama trying to grow the economy with anti-growth economic policies?
Is this an honest answer or yet another dodge? Do conservatives actually stand around laughing when they listen to the news if they think our economic policies aren’t working? I know that I wasn’t very happy when I thought that our economy was going down the toilet during the Bush administration.
Why don’t you give it another shot and link to conservative comedy you laugh at and/or with instead of using this as another opportunity to toss cheap shots around.
OK, these are just two data points, but I think they illustrate what I see as the difference between what many conservatives consider humor, and what I consider humor.
Contrast that last post by A Dodgy Dude with Bill Hicks’ summary of hellfire and brimstone Christianity: “Eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God’s infinite love”.
While it is emphasizing certain aspects of Christianity over others, there is no question that the contradictory tenets it quotes are grounded in reality.
Contrast that with the comment from A Dodgy Dude. It doesn’t cite any facts, but if you agree with the premise - that Obama’s policies are hurting the economy - you will like it. It communicates to the group.
I guess I’d sum it up by saying that real humor makes you think, whether or not you agree with the politics espoused by it.
While liberals can fall prey to this same type of groupthink humor (Jay Leno summed up his hippie-era comedy routine as, “Nixon - what a jerk!”), the modern conservative movement’s low tolerance of dissent makes it more common for them.
I think we have a fundamental mis-communication here. Yes, I know I’m not whom you directed that towards.
Conservatives, or at least those I’m familiar with, do not think that way. We don’t really categorize people like that and don’t go to any great length to even think about how politics impacts something. I don’t care what Jeff Dunham’s politics are. It never even occurs to me to ask what any entertainer’s opinions might be - about anything!
I can conceive of such a thing as “liberal humor”. I believe it can even be funny, though what Ive seen tended to be a bit mean-spirited. I can’t conceive of such a thing as conservative humor, because it isn’t a world-view like that. Conservative political opinions, for us, have utterly nothing to do with anything else in your life.
I recall seeing articles about a group called “Eating Liberally” Basically, leftists would gather together and chow down while talking to complete strangers about their shared politics. And this was in already-liberal cities, so presumably bonding an isolated group wasn’t the point. That just isn’t something you’d see replicated among us - why the hell would we have a dinner group of conservatives? Eating with people you like has nothing to do with politics.
Basically, there isn’t a specifically conservative humor except sometimes poking fun at liberals. But for the most part, you can expect something like Jeff Dunham*. He talks about life, weird things that happen to him, and the wacky things he can do with puppets. Politics are appropriate at sometimes and not others.
I think this is why liberals sometimes take over social organizations, and often wreck them. To them, it’s obvious that, say, the Acorn Club of Loweir Weekapaug should be led by liberals and fall in with liberals causes. And they will get up and shout loudly about it. Conservatives will tend to leave or not join, and won’t argue on the same basis. Conservatives think about the goals of the organization, liberals about its character. A subtle but powerful distinction.
*I didn’t even know he was conservative until someone said it here.
Again, to explain: fundamental difference: I don’t buy floor polish because I like the temporary scent or because the manufacturer is such a swell, progressive citizen, I buy it to clean the floor, assuming its other features don’t actively offend me. People can’t answer your question because it’s simply not the way we think about things.
So conservatives can’t give me a list of their favorite conservative comedians because they don’t view comedy in that manner? In a way, there really aren’t any “conservative” comedians?
Outside of very narrow band of political comedians, including Rush Limbaugh, no. There are mostly comedians who are conservatives, like P. J. O’Rourke. Politics may at times come out in their work but it’s just not the focus, or even really relevant, to the work.
I can’t say I deeply analyzed this issue - but I suppose that tends to support my statement, doesn’t it?
Youi’re doing it wrong. In other countrys, often you are encouraged, often rather forcefully, to keep you political opinions to yourself. You have the right to remain silent. Which is better than none at all, but not by much.
But, assuming you are an American, that’s right out! You are obliged to participate, it is your duty to vote, it is your duty to make choices that nauseate and confuse. If you don’t vote, don’t participate, you suck as an American. You took the Pledge of Allegiance, and that’s that, you’re stuck with it. I know you were six years old, doesn’t matter, goes right on your Permanent Record.
This is true in many other countries, who saw what we were up to and decided it was a totally awesome way to do things. But we were working on the Dream before it was cool.
Now, if you want to maintain a deep commitment to irrelevance, you should hop on down to Paul Motors, get yourself into a 1988 Libertaria. (New model? That is the new model.) Of course, it has no steering wheel, as that is coercive. It has no brakes either, but this is balanced by a complete lack of a motor. The serves admirably for a vehicle that only travels private roads, i.e., your driveway.
One more time:
“And something he said last week that I thought was hilarious was…(please to fill in the blank)”
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I accepted those as jokes, and even found them to be funny. I then asked the conservative posters if those were good examples of conservative humor that they laughed at. I could find good examples of conservative humor, but they would be good by my standards, not theirs. That is why I would like conservatives(the more conservative, the better) to provide links to comedians they laugh at and with. Miller has come up, but most of the examples given are from before he jumped to the right on 9/11. Limbaugh keeps coming up, but no recent examples from conservatives have been made.
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Right, but self identified conservatives (and even some folks who say they aren’t conservatives) have given some examples. I’m unsure of what you are wanting here. If you want what I find humorous (since I’m considered a ‘conservative’ around here) I can certainly give you some examples. They wouldn’t be ‘conservative’ humor, since I don’t really go in for politically oriented humor, right or left. I don’t particularly find the examples of liberal humor all that humorous either, though obviously the self identified liberals in this thread seem to think it’s beyond question. I like comedians like Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy (when he was funny), Lewis Black or Steven Wright. I liked Dennis Miller in the past. IOW, I’m old so I like older comedians from my own time, and don’t particularly follow comedians mostly…and, like music, I don’t really try and keep up or follow it on a regular basis. It’s been years since I’ve gone to a comedy club or seen a live comedian, and I can’t remember when the last time I even watched comedy on cable (Chris Rock was probably the last one I saw on HBO and that’s been years). I don’t even watch SNL anymore, nor do I usually tune in to the Comedy Channel…and when I’ve watched the Daily Show I really couldn’t see what the fuss was all about. It was like when I tried to get into the Seinfeld show since all the folks at work were loving it…but when I watched I just didn’t find it all that funny or entertaining. Different strokes I guess.
Possibly the other ‘conservatives’ in this thread don’t really live, eat and breath comedy, so don’t really know many comedians, whether they be liberal or conservative. If you guys were trying to get board conservatives to admit that liberals seem to have a lock on humor these days, that’s fine. I have no idea if it’s true or not, but if that’s the goal then just come out and say it.
-XT
Is that how you really see it-that any attempt to gather information, to find out what people think, is just another cheap “Gotcha!” moment? Is that the reason for Shodan’s and Starving Artist’s hostile “We’re laughing at you!” type responses? My goal, my hidden agenda as it were, was to find out which comedians conservatives find funny. Sam Stone gave some great examples, most of which I found I liked too, so I made the mistake of asking if any other conservatives agreed with anybody on Sam’s list, just to get more than one man’s opinion on the subject. Ooooh Nooooes! Mustn’t let the liberal know anything about us-it must be a trap!!
Does the paranoia actually run this deep with some?
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Does the paranoia actually run this deep with some?
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I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck and join this board yesterday. 
When I see people answer the question in the OP, and I see people saying that the question hasn’t been answered, then I have to ask what people are looking for if not the answers already provided. Yeah…it DOES seem to be some sort of ‘Gotcha!’ moment going on here, though I’m damned if I can see the point. Vaguely, it seems to be yet another effort to prove that liberals are better, cooler, smarter, have larger cocks or whatever else than conservatives.
Well yeah. They actually ARE conservatives (as opposed to me who is only a faux-SDMB ‘conservative’), and they didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday either. There has been a general theme on this board in the last few years of liberals trying to prove they are superior in every thing to conservatives. So, of COURSE when someone starts a thread asking where conservative humor is they are going to see it that way.
That’s fine. You were shown several examples of what some folks consider ‘conservative’ humor. I even gave you a list of comedians this arch-‘conservative’ finds funny. I’ll give you another, more modern one that I didn’t think of…I LOVE the Craig Ferguson show. LOVE it. I especially love the robot that Grant made for him, and the fact that he’s had the Mythbusters on the show several times. He’s freaking hilarious, and his brand of humor, even with all the dubs (which I hate) is exactly what I like in comedy. He doesn’t do ‘conservative’ humor though…neither do the others I gave.
Then why isn’t it enough? He gave some examples, and while I don’t think he’s an ACTUAL (US) conservative, he’s considered one around here, so…there you go. Sam always seems to be good at Google-Fu and finding good cites for stuff like this.
It IS a trap. It’s a trap to ‘prove’, once again, that liberals are better, cooler and have bigger cocks than conservatives. Really man…we all know this. There is no point in pretending otherwise. And, based on the examples in this thread, I’d say that liberals DO have more of a lock on humor, with more comedians doing more political comedy that is reaching more of a mainstream audience than conservatives. Most of the more funny ‘conservative’ comedians seem to be more libertarian, at least based on the examples given in this thread. Actual hard core conservatives seem to be pretty scarce on the ground, comedian-wise, and their political bread and butter doesn’t seem to fit well with standup or whatever. That’s got to be a huge advantage to liberals in getting their message across. If you can get people to laugh, both at yourself AND at your opposition, you will get them to hear the underlying message. Just like conservatives who get people to listen to their radio shows or broadcast talking heads type shows.
-XT
I’ve never listened to his show, so I wouldn’t know. But many people consider him to be a comedian.
elucidator, you have not in any way elucidated anything for me. I don’t understand what you’re last post is about. Are you saying that everything I do must be abut politics? Are you satirizing that point of view? Are you drunk-blogging?
Not any information. Just politically charged information which implies that conservatives have no creativity or sense of humor. You may not have intended it - but you sent a big warning signal suggesting you were after validation of some weird personal belief.
If not, you may as well ask what kind of belts conservatives like, or how long we spend brushing our teeth. Sitnam’s original post is not exactly neutral. He implies a value judgement which says that conservatives are somehow flawed for not mergin comedy and politics. At the very least, he considers that an oddity which must be “explained”.
We keep hearing that, yet I’m still waiting for an instance where he made a conservative laugh. I believe you, I’m just ignorant of what conservative political humor is like and am asking you to fix that. If you haven’t listened to the show, fine, but there must be someone here that does and laughs and I want to know what it was.
I admitted I don’t know what makes up conservative political humor and your response is to get offended? It’s my fault you can’t link to conservative jokes you find funny? This honest question was a trojan horse designed only to make conservatives look bad?