I don’t know whether these things run in cycles, but over the past few days I’ve seen at least three articles/blog posts speculating why there aren’t any conservative comedians–at least, none with the audience of a Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Andy Borowitz, Bill Maher or several other liberal comics who come readily to mind.
I don’t think the dearth of conservative comics is an attribute of political philosophy. After all, in the days of the Soviet Union, there weren’t very many hilarious Communists. I think the problem is fanaticism. A sense of humor requires more than the ability to tell a joke. As my mother used to say, it’s easy to laugh when the other guy slips on a banana peel. People with a sense of humor can laugh when they are the ones who slip on it. The ability to laugh at one’s own foibles is one sign of emotional maturity. If you look at the popular political satirists, they all share the ability to poke fun at posturing and stupidity whether it comes from the right or the left. These days, it just happens to be coming mostly from the right.
Zealots provide a great target for comedians, but they themselves are almost never funny.
The gag usually has something to do with revealing tension between reality and common wisdom. A political orientation that embraces the status quo doesn’t readily lend itself to recognizing that any tension exists. So, a lot of comedy coming from that kind of political orientation is going to take the form of “everyone else is stupid.”
Tim Hawkins. Excellent Conservative Christian comedian. The reason there aren’t any “mainstream” conservative comedians is because of the general degradation of our society. If there aren’t curse words, sexual innuendos and general tastelessness, then the public doesn’t want it. Trust me, there’s plenty to laugh about at the liberal movement in our country.
Odd, I would have thought you’d not find that funny?
oh…. I have got to get busy writing my new musical… maybe call it Bush Gardens and it will start on an aircraft carrier with a banner “Mission Accomplished”. Wars, Bank Bailouts, Wall Street bailouts, middle class melt down, the stuff of comedy. Anyone want to invest? it is a great opportunity. oh, this only proves her point.
Authority doesn’t deal well with humor. Right after 9/11, I kept hearing conservative types saying something along the lines of “irony is dead now.” In retrospect, those statements were probably more aspiration than observation.