Right Wing comedy .... wtf?

Zombrex

saw this being promoted on Fox News ... "comedy for real americans" :rolleyes:

http://www.rightstuffcomedy.com/

anyone find this funny?

Zombrex

woops ... posted in wrong sections (damn Firefox with its tabbed browsing!!)

Could a mod move this to Politics please

Zombrex

moved from Comics board ... cheers Iceman!

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

TomF

This report on JF'nK in Viet-Nam will make you smile, too.
"Records on medals spark questions"
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040422-121900-7315r.htm

Redleslie

TomF, you've just provided some evidence that rightwingers don't actually understand the meaning of the word comedy.

Zombrex

Originally posted by Redleslie
TomF, you've just provided some evidence that rightwingers don't actually understand the meaning of the word comedy.

Left wing comedy - subtle critiquing of an underlining hypocrisy or irony of society, wrapped up in a humorous situation or antidote.

Right wing comedy - calling Hilary Clinton a lesbian.

:rolleyes:

bonkey

Originally posted by Redleslie
TomF, you've just provided some evidence that rightwingers don't actually understand the meaning of the word comedy.

Alternately, its some evidence that Republican supporters will not pass up any opportunity in an election year to try and remind us all how bad a choice the Deocratic candidate really is.

I dunno about you, but I don't find propaganda terribly comedic.

jc

The Corinthian

Originally posted by Wicknight
Left wing comedy - subtle critiquing of an underlining hypocrisy or irony of society, wrapped up in a humorous situation or antidote.

Right wing comedy - calling Hilary Clinton a lesbian.

I can’t comment on the comedians that are the subject of this thread, but making such a comparison between left wing and right wing comedy is fairly pedestrian.

Subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, critiquing of an underlining hypocrisy or irony of society, wrapped up in a humorous situation or antidote is not limited to the left of the political spectrum, any more than poor or gouache humor is limited to the right.

Between the insane extremes and contradictions of political correctness, the hypocrisy of many self-espoused socialists and the irony of leftist policies that turn out to be more right wing than anything the right could dream up, there’s plenty of material there for humor.

Such a self-righteous view as the one you’ve suggested is, in itself, open to a few parodies, tbh. A few religious ones come to mind...

Originally posted by TomF
This report on JF'nK in Viet-Nam will make you smile, too.
"Records on medals spark questions"
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040422-121900-7315r.htm

Other than being completely off-topic, it’s an amusing article when one considers Bush’s own military record next to it.

Zombrex

Originally posted by The Corinthian
there’s plenty of material there for humor.

Well Fox were touting them as the cream of Right-wing comedy, and all there jokes seemed to focus around calling liberals "tree-huggers" and saying if you don't like the pledge of alligence with the word "god" then leave the country. Not exactly side splitting stuff. Not even the audience seemed to be particularly enjoying the show (they probably all were WASPs though, so that is understandable).

Originally posted by The Corinthian
Such a self-righteous view as the one you’ve suggested is, in itself, open to a few parodies, tbh. A few religious ones come to mind...

Not sure how self-righteousness comes into it. I was just saying right-wing comedy, based on any right-wing comedy I have ever seen, is crap

The Corinthian

Originally posted by Wicknight
Well Fox were touting them as the cream of Right-wing comedy, and all there jokes seemed to focus around calling liberals "tree-huggers" and saying if you don't like the pledge of alligence with the word "god" then leave the country. Not exactly side splitting stuff. Not even the audience seemed to be particularly enjoying the show (they probably all were WASPs though, so that is understandable).

Since when would you or anyone else here take Fox seriously on anything? I was talking about your apparent declaration of fact, not Fox.

Good comedy, be it humorous, satirical, ironic or poignant is in reality apolitical. The moment that someone starts taking a side and effectively turning a blind eye to the inadequacies of one side while labouring or even twisting those of the other, then the humor ceases to be anything other than at best maudlin and at worst gouache.

To give two examples of this on the left would be Alexi Sayles and Ben Elton (not sure if he’s left wing anymore though). Both are very funny until they begin with the political ranting, then frankly boring as Hell. The same would go for either Dennis Leary or Andrew Dice Clay, who are both largely right-wing.

Not sure how self-righteousness comes into it. I was just saying right-wing comedy, based on any right-wing comedy I have ever seen, is crap

I suspect any right-wing comedy you have ever seen, was crap before you saw it...

Redleslie

Originally posted by The Corinthian
Good comedy, be it humorous, satirical, ironic or poignant is in reality apolitical. The moment that someone starts taking a side and effectively turning a blind eye to the inadequacies of one side while labouring or even twisting those of the other, then the humor ceases to be anything other than at best maudlin and at worst gouache.

To give two examples of this on the left would be Alexi Sayles and Ben Elton (not sure if he’s left wing anymore though). Both are very funny until they begin with the political ranting, then frankly boring as Hell. The same would go for either Dennis Leary or Andrew Dice Clay, who are both largely right-wing.

I'd agree with that to an extent. Another example of a talented but boring comedian would have been Rory Bremner before Labour got in. Comedians (or any other artists) basing their acts on what amount to being party political broadcasts for this party or that are just annoying. The stuff I tend to find funny would be sort of anti-authoritarian and absurdist I suppose. Brass Eye, Marx Brothers, Monty Python, League Of Gentlemen blah blah. Bill Hicks said "To me, the comic is the guy who says 'Wait a minute' as the consensus forms. He's the antithesis of the mob mentality. The comic is a flame – like Shiva the Destroyer, toppling idols no matter what they are." Sounds alright.

Ben Elton is so very New Labour now I would've thought.

TomF

I have to say Kevin Myers is much funnier than some of the left wingers side-splitters I can name, such as Pass Rabbiss, Michael D. or Trevor Sargent. For an example of American correct-wing humour, check Dennis Miller.

The Corinthian

Originally posted by TomF
I have to say Kevin Myers is much funnier than some of the left wingers side-splitters I can name, such as Pass Rabbiss, Michael D. or Trevor Sargent.

Thank you for the man of straw, TomF.

Why not point out that Bob Hope was way funnier than Joe Stalin to press home your point, while you’re at it? :rolleyes:

sceptre

Originally posted by Redleslie
Ben Elton is so very New Labour now I would've thought.

Whiter than white. You could practically see Elton shuffling across the political wnig in the early 90s. Oh he's still Labour but fatherhood and age have given him a bit of Conservative-Lite.

Manach

Conservative Humour at it's best, IMHO, is early PJ O'Rourke - "Republican Party Reptile" and similar books.

Don't have much time for Mick Moore on the Left, but Al Frankin, inspite of his sometimes invective style, I enjoy.

TomF

P.J. O'Rourke has another book out, and here is a paragraph from the book, lifted from a review.

"Why Americans Hate Foreign Policy."

"...we Americans know what foreigners are up to with their foreign policy -- their venomous convents, lying alliances, greedy agreements and trick-or-treaties. America is not a wily, sneaky nation. We don't think that way. We pretty much don't think much at all, thank God. Start thinking and pretty soon you get ideas, and then you get idealism, and the next thing you know you've got ideology, with millions dead in concentration camps and gulags. A fundamental American question is, 'What's the big idea?' "

Review of book, Peace Kills
By P.J. O'Rourke. Atlantic Monthly Press, 197 pages, $23

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/173407_buckley15.html

sceptre

When O'Rourke is on form, he's very on form. I've used his section in Eat The Rich about David Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage to explain the principle to people, sometimes to be informative, more times just to be funny. I wasn't a big fan of The CEO of the sofa though - unfortunately the entire book seemed to be based on a single joke that wasn't all that funny to start with.