It will be easy to write. And he doesn’t do polemics against Republicans - except for at the end of the campaign. He takes the Republican talking points, and extends them just enough for them to be absurd - admittedly he doesn’t have to extend them very much a lot of the time. I think he can still do that.
I agree that TDS will still be able to make fun of the media. But I’m not sure how funny it will be once that half their show is clips from Fox News.
This, along with everybody else who is observing, correctly, that the real aim of the show is making a mockery of the news media. Why do you think it’s formatted as a fake newscast?
The first six months to a year, I think, will be about two things: First, the fallout from the recently departed Bush administration, and the clamor of lefty activists for investigations and payback (jokes about Obama holding back the screaming hordes); and second, how timid the mainstream outlets will be in terms of seeking scandals and controversies in the Obama administration that they can drum up for readership and ratings without risking violating the honeymoon too early or inadvertently pressing any race buttons (jokes about CNN et al. dipping their toes into a promising pool and then running away saying “too hot! too hot!”).
The first year will be easy. They’ve got lots of time to figure out what their approach will be over the next three.
That’s exactly my point. The satire on Nixon was biting. On Ford it took off from one incident. Irt was easy to write jokes about that, especially because they weren’t politically charged.
I see you that and I raise you Mallard Fillmore - not that Tinsley can even write funny jokes about Democrats either. Comics in general had no trouble writing jokes about Clinton.
They’ve had two years, and have got nothing except Messiah jokes, the classification of all those mentioned here. Bill Maher last week appealed to Obama to give comedians something to work with already.
And Biden might work, but he won’t be nearly as funny as Cheney, unless he runs right out and shoots an old man in the face, of course.
I think Colbert will have an easier time dealing with Obama alone than when Obama was competing with McCain. Because of Colbert’s character - already accurately described as a mockery of conservative pundits - his best material came from their anti-Obama approbrium, which is only going to increase now. During the campaign, he got to go so far as to call Obama a time-traveling Nazi Muslim. And that was long before the socialist thing came up. By comparison, he had to work to stay in character while still making a lot of “McCain is old” jokes, talking about Lieberman having his head up McCain’s ass and so on. It’ll be much easier for him to play up his character’s love for Bush now that McCain is gone, because rightwing pundits were always ambivalent about McCain and supported him because he was their only remaining option. Now, he can compare Obama and Bush, and I think that probably works better for him. And the financial crisis isn’t going away: in my opinion Colbert’s financial crisis material was generally better than his McCain material.
Colbert’s also gotten pretty good at non-political stuff.
MANILOW!
BENNETT!
RICKLES!
I was reluctant to use the term “polemic”, since I always think of his snares as being relatively good-natured in their jubilance*. Still, I suspect that the same jokes will be a lot less funny with their targets being the powerless outsiders. Colbert isn’t the “kick them while they’re down” sort – that’s for Keith Olbermann.
Of course, the place where I’m hoping for good work in the future is *Doonesbury *-- Trudeau does his best work when he can keep a sense of humour about politics and avoid being too partisan, neither of which have been possible during the Bush administration.
*I’m a big fan of Colbert myself, even though I’m a fairly conservative Anglican and was in a position where I had to represent the US to a bunch of crazy and angry international students for two years. I would not be one to enjoy Colbert if it were just a partisan matter.
ETA: good point, Bosstone. Colbert’s non-political shtick tends to be excellent, and it might be nice to see him do more of that.
I was too young to understand it, but I remember the pre-Stewart Daily Show ragging on Clinton quite a bit.
Really? I thought you were a Green.
What, exactly, do you think its purer, more pristine meaning is?
What makes you think CNN will cease to be mockable?
I was a self described Green Republican; basically a throw back to Theodore Roosevelt. In my heart I am a fiscal conservative and I was a massive hawk until I saw how badly and foolishly our military might could be misused and abused. Now I have given up and left my party. I am an independent that voted for and supported Obama actively but only after I voted for McCain in the primary as my final act as a Republican. (NJ has strange laws about changing party affiliation). I still believe you don’t spend more than you take in and that government cannot grow unchecked.
I am socially liberal, though by a libertarian bent. Your business is not my business or the government’s business. I might personally be against the idea of abortion and be about as straight as they come, but it is not my right to tell you* what you are not allowed to do. Same things for drugs; I think they should be legalized and taxed heavily.
As to the Green, caring about the environment makes sense fiscally and is just being responsible. It is taking a long-term view and the whole view. In the Navy I saw how bad countries could be that don’t have good Water and Air pollution Regulation. Not to mention the fact that growing up in New Jersey & NYC I remember seeing Rivers on Fire and all the garbage that would float up to the Jersey Shore and the debris in the Hudson River. The fact that to this day the towns in the Elizabeth NJ area stink and yet are no where near as bad as it was 30+ years ago. It is easy being Green if you remember the alternative. I know how much better things have gotten in my life and I know how much better it can get.
Jim
This isn’t the same. Both Limbaugh and comedians have a right to criticize opposition when it is in power, but making fun of a marginalized party sounds mean spirited, not a problem with Limbaugh, but it kills the funny.
…Randal? Is that you?
Murphy Brown started in September 1988 (a couple months before Bush’s Inaguration) and ended in 1998 (5 years into the Clinton administration).
During the Clinton years, it won the best comedy emmy, Candice Bergen won best lead actress in a comedy three times (and declined to be nominated after that so someone else could have a chance), and had several other emmy nominations.
Limped indeed.
The Daily Show’s and Colbert’s targets are the fourth estate. They had States on Ice and that stupid hologram during the election. They’re not going anywhere.
Well, I can’t say that I’ve necessarily been a user of the word, but I was very very confused when the media made a big deal about someone calling Michelle Obama “uppity”.
I’d always, always, thought that the word meant someone who was arrogant and snobby and thought they were better than everyone else. My boyfriend was quick to educate me on the word’s very negative connotations, at least here in the States. I suppose it’s just ignorance on my part, but in Canada at least, I don’t think it’s a slur. I even saw the word used recently in an entertainment headline - talking about Madonna and her “uppity” fake-British accent.
So, yeah, now that I know, I won’t use it, but I really had no idea it was such a big deal.
I can understand not being familiar with the connotations of the word if you’re from another country. That’s not the case for Markxxx as far as I know - certainly he’s U.S.-based at the moment.
In case any Daily Show writers frequent the boards, here’s a freebie suggestion: Dirty satirical limericks about Obama.
“There once was a man named Barack…”
It writes itself.
Also, looking down the line, his reelection campaign could be called “Barackin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
Hey, maybe if the marginalized party hadn’t fucked our country dry for 8 years, stopped blabbering on about “the surge”, and got off our backs and out of our bedrooms, they wouldn’t be so marginalized. That’s their fault and I say we should remind them constantly. Hopefully, they will either change or dissolve.
Whoa, ok, I agree, let’s keep this in perspective. The OP is about how this affects a TV comedy show.
…except that kicking someone when they’re down usually helps them get back up in politics. Also, ideological swipes are never funny, except to the (fairly limited number of) true believers – see Rush Limbaugh.
One bump here to link to a story about a Daily Show panel discussion.
The most relevant part:
I thought the mutt joke was actually pretty good - not fall down and break your ass funny, but pretty funny for a politician. Whereas the seance joke was awkward and was guaranteed to require an apology. It seems like Obama is trying to loosen up with the crowd now that the election is over, and that may be a bumpy process.
On a tangential note: are Samantha Bee and Jason Jones married to each other? Someone told me that Jason mentioned their baby on the election night special.
Yes. They’re married and have two kids.