Nah, more genuine funny in this world is a good thing, regardless of its source.
I would say I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
Really, the skill set that it takes to craft a taut, overwrought, eminently serious (and very entertaining) thriller like “24” just does not necessarily translate into satire. So regardless of politics, I think Surnow and Coto, at least, are not optimal shepherds for a show like this.
SNL has been cranking out mediocrity with the pick of the litter for years, so it’s not like satire is easy.
Why would it bother you if the show is really funny? You can’t laugh at yourself?
I think the best sign that you’re a real partisan is the inability to laugh at good humor which pokes fun at your ‘side’. You don’t think the left is full of people just ripe for mocking? Hell, let me write for that show. I can give you a whole season worth of solid comedy just by trolling an International A.N.S.W.E.R march.
And the Radical Cheerleaders are always waiting in the wings if you run low on comedy gold.
I mean, what’s not to love about cheers like this?
*Steal from Work
steal from work, steal steal from work (it’s easy) 2x
cease production, cease cease production 2x
unite and strike, scabs take a hike i said 2x
fire your boss, fi-yer your boss 2x
and we will shut them down, shut shut them down 2x
cause we’re all fired up! oh yea we’re all fired up!
i said we’re all fired up!
and we will SHUT>>> THEM>>> DOWN!!!
*
This, however, may be their magnum opus:
*No C.A.R.B.s
C is for Cheney! Cheney is an oil whore!
A is for Ashcroft! We kicked that fascist out the door!
R is for Rumsfield! His coverups just make me sick!
B–yeah that’s for Bush! He’s the last bush we would lick!
Nooooooooo…CARBS! (clap-clap clap)
No CARBS! (clap-clap clap)
No Rice! (clap-clap clap)
No CARBS! (clap-clap clap)
We’re not talking pasta–we’re not talking bread!
So go on eat your couscous–and kick these carbs instead!
C is for Cheney!
A is for Ashcroft!
R is for Rumsfield!
B, that’s for Bush!
Nooooooooo…CARBS! (clap-clap clap)
No CARBS! (clap-clap clap)
No Rice! (clap-clap clap)
No CARBS! (clap-clap clap)
We’re not talking sticky–we’re not talking brown!
So go on eat basmati, take Condoleeza down!
*
Trust me, there’s plenty of this crap on the left - enough for a good comedy show to be able to write some very funny jokes about it. In fact, I’m sure The Daily Show would do a fine job (and they wouldn’t hesitate to do it, either).
Sam, it’s not that I wouldn’t enjoy the show if it were good, or be unable to laugh at myself. Nor is it that a right-wing Daily Show analog couldn’t be well done.
It’s that people feel a certain sense of pride (or, at least, I do) when our “side” is the only one doing something well – in this case media/political satire on television. I’m not saying it’s rational or helpful, because it’s not. It just feels like a feather in our (my) cap. Do you not feel the same way about certain things?
Heheh, I’ve never heard of them. And you’re absolutely right: in the hands of a good show, that sort of thing could make for hilarious TV.
As an aside, do I have a partisan inability to appreciate conservative satire? Do you think, based on the posted clip, that the show is funny but I can’t see it? I don’t think that’s the case, but it’s the sort of thing that would be tough to see about yourself.
Who said it was a right wing Daily Show anyway? Is that how Fox marketed it, or is that what someone here said? If it was never intended to be a Daily Show knockoff, then all this comparison is pointless. Anyway, one piece of evidence that it is indeed funny is that so few leftists find it to be funny, much like so few rightists find themselves in Jon Stewart’s audience (though that may change if he indeed takes down the left after they get power.)
It doesn’t matter whether it’s an according-to-Hoyle Daily Show knockoff. It’s a half-hour satirical fake news comedy show on cable – the main difference is in the show’s political orientation. Could there be a better program to compare it to than the Daily Show? If that comparison is pointless, then so are all comparisons of televison shows.
I disagree. I think that, if you want evidence that it’s funny, you should see whether or not conservatives like it in about the same measure that liberals like the Daily Show, or whether liberals tend to find it as funny as conservatives find Daily Show, on balance. I have no idea if those things are true or not.
Just because it’s pointless to compare I Love Lucy with Jeopardy! doesn’t mean it’s pointless to compare American Idol with So You Think You Can Dance.
I agree, but my point is that the comparison between the Fox show and the Daily Show is clearly in the American Idol-SYTYCD category, yet you implied the comparison was “pointless.”
Honestly, I think the whole discussion is pointless. Did anyone really expect the left to actually like the show and find it funny? With rare exceptions, people just aren’t natured that way. They like making fun of others, not themselves.
Right, but, like everyone else, I feel like I’m being objective when I find the show to be awful. Maybe it’s just a matter of bias, I wouldn’t be able to tell. I still think that unbiased people will also tend to find the show unfunny, though.
Someone finds the show to be less than hilarious. It’s not because the show is not funny. It’s because that person is a leftist. They just can’t see all the funny inherent in “B.O.” or gay penguins because of their politics. :rolleyes: That’s some fine logic there.
Did you ever think that maybe it is because the show isn’t funny?
To expand: at least here in the UK (and I see no reason why American audiences shouldn’t be the same), people like to have familiar things mocked. If I go to a stand-up night filled with predominantly students, I can be almost certain that students will be at least briefly ribbed by the more imaginative comedians with proper material of their own, and constantly ribbed by the journeyman types who survive more off audience banter and well-worn tropes. A comedian who doesn’t at least start by ripping the shit out of whatever town he’s in is rare indeed.
But then, I’m finding this whole concept of “political slant informing comedy” utterly bizarre, to be frank. It’s trivial and boring to invite an audience on the basis that you’re going to be mocking other people; what sort of drip-fed retard wants to go and hear a bunch of jokes solely about the other guy? It’s putting the cart completely before the horse. Maybe I could fill a room advertising a routine with solely jokes insulting gay people or Christians, but god knows what it would be; it wouldn’t be comedy.
Some of the best comedians practically thrive off specifically antagonising their audiences (Scott Capurro always, Daniel Kitson has in the past, Bill Hicks was the very master of this), and the audiences thrive off it too. Have you ever seen a stand-up doing audience interaction like this?
“You sir, what do you do?”
“Bin man.”
“Oh, great, great. I bet you really hate people who don’t tie up their bags, don’t you? Ah ha ha ha ha ha!”
No, he’ll be ripping the piss out of bin men, won’t he? And the guy being mocked will be laughing the loudest, assuming the comedian isn’t shit. Hell, you know half the people sitting up front at gigs are there because they want to get picked on. The point of comedy is to find the humourous truth, which is why the “my life in politics - 18 months” was just about the only kernel of a real gag in that clip, and they still managed to rape that one with their delivery.
The clip we’ve seen was a bunch of shite; christmas-cracker “gags” and absolute clangers dropped by two stiffs who couldn’t time a punchline with a fucking stopwatch. My jaw literally dropped when their lead-off gag turned out to be one about body odor, and it got no better from there. It was outstandingly, gobsmackingly unfunny, and if you think people think that just because “their” ox was being gored, you’re every bit as blinded by politics as those you try and abuse.
Don’t believe me? Check out the front page of the Onion. It’s got a story gently mocking a gay man, one mocking Hillary Clinton, and one taking the piss out of student activism. Hey, look at this; a spoof magazine cover with Barack Obama - clearly stolen from HHNH back in October last year. Oh hey, and Oprah for good measure. And of course there’s a whole bunch of stories about Bush too, but you know what the real connection is? They chose stuff they thought was funny, and wrote about it. They didn’t think “who do we want to offend” and work from there, because that’s sheer hackery.
I had hopes for the show, despite the fact that I think you’re handicapping the funny if you prioritize partisanship. There is lots to make fun of on the left, including the fact that certain segments of the left are famous for being humorless:
The promo linked to wasn’t funny, and was pushing its politics over its humor in any case. Not a good sign. But the segment started out with a good joke. “Obama’s approval plummeted to 99% among Democrats.” The delivery was awkward, but you can easily imagine how funny that would have been if Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert had said it. Their anchor does not seem to have the “timing” or the “chops” or what have you. He’s just not putting it over for some reason.
Note I am assuming here that a comparison to The Daily Show is fair game. It is because of The Daily Show that this Half Hour News Hour exists.
Next, the canned and awkward segue to the B.O. joke. Two anchors with bad timing.
The B.O. joke. Stewart might pause and mug about how he knows the joke is bad, but The Daily Show would not be above making that joke. But having made the joke, they’d move on. Some jokes you can drag out, and some you hit and move on. Also, they have the mock-up of the magazine. The Daily Show would do that, too. They’d hit it, and then they’d move on. The people at home have TiVo’s or the Internet and they love to use them, so you just show the damn thing and move on. But, no. HHNH has to zoom in and show you each fake article teaser.
Now that I have seen this teaser from Hannity & Colmes I have no hope whatsoever that they’re going to bring the funny. This is not comedy, it’s just pandering to their base. Obviously, the dialogue must have been vetted and reduced to utter blandness, otherwise comedy writers of any political stripe ought to be ashamed of making so little of the opportunity to put words in the mouths of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
As if I’m not hammering the point enough, here is Bill Hicks being interviewed on what his comedy is about, and in the words of the (godawful) female interviewer, where to “draw the line”. See if you can spot the bit where he admits that really he just gives people what they want, and doesn’t try to challenge them.
…And there is what I was looking for. The right will simply change their definition of “funny,” so that this is as “funny” as The Daily Show. Then they will insist that their definition of funny is just as valid as yours, and that failing to describe The Half Hour News Hour as “funny” demonstrates your bias.
Good point. No doubt, too, you’ll start to hear jokes like this.
Q: How many liberals does it take to change a light bulb?
A: That’s not funny!
Seriously, Rush Limbaugh did the “humorous liberal bashing” thing in the early 1990s, with the digs at feminazis, Re-VER-und JACK-suhn, homeless advocates, and the like. This is nothing new.
Bad comedy is universal. It does not depend on perspective. This is as bad as the generally “liberal” bad comedy that you can see on a thousand black box stages all over this great nation for five bucks and BYOB.
Here is some non-tone-deaf satire of liberalism, for comparison:
I thought this was pretty funny. Of course, you might argue that this is also a satire of how republicans view Democrats, and you would be right. Unfortunately, you can’t escape shading and grey areas and self-deprecation with comedy, unless it is not funny.
To put it in language that conservatives would understand, comedy is like an airstrike. You can’t really hit only your target, and if you try to minimize your collateral damage you will just not have an effective bombing, overall.
But, those bits from the Radical Cheerleaders are actually funny.