Posted on 07/20/2014 7:08:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This year’s edition of Netroots Nation (the supposed liberal answer to CPAC) kicked off this week, in case you hadn’t heard. (And judging by the massive lack of media coverage, you might not have.) To be honest, I have not idea what was going on at the various panels and speeches, aside from the apparently well received socialist stemwinder from Elizabeth Warren. But there was, it seems, one get together which was a real hoot, whether intentionally or not. It was a seminar called (wait for it) … Only the Jester Speaks the Truth and it was all about the importance of liberal comedy and why they need to be funnier than conservatives. A brief taste of the description.
The Left is supposed to be funnier than the Right, damn it.
So why do we so often sound in public like we’re stiltedly reading from a non-profit grant proposal?
This panel hopes to explore humor’s unparalleled ability to deliver challenging information to the public, as well as mold and shift perspectives.
Wow. That’s hilarious. I’m nearly doubled over with laughter already. But for those of us who were unable to make it, Jon Gabriel (better known as @exjon on the Twitterz) infiltrated the hive mind and brought us a report on this important progressive comedy summit.
This defensive tone was apparent throughout the hour-plus session, brought up repeatedly by speakers and audience members. Much like a co-worker who doesn’t get anyone’s jokes but insists, “I have a great sense of humor!”
After futzing with computers for 10 minutes, the panel’s four comedians showed highlight reels, with one apologizing for the lack of audience laughs. (Her show was made for the web, you see, so it doesn’t have cues for laughter like television does.)
The crowd was most pleased with Russia Today’s Lee Camp, whose video mocked America’s regressive attitude on gays and oil drilling without noting he gets his paychecks from Vladimir Putin.
“Comedy creates oneness and that is what our side wants,” according to Julianna Forlano, host of a news parody without laughter cues called “Absurdity Today.” She noted how her stand-up performance even created “oneness” at a Pennsylvania Elks Lodge, despite the crowd being filled with racist men (you could tell they were racist from the animal heads displayed on the walls).
Jon’s full coverage is brilliant satire and could almost make you wish you’d been there for the uncomfortable, awkward silence filled spectacle. (Well, I did say “almost”) But I’ll offer up this question for your weekend consideration. Are conservative comics really more funny than blatantly liberal ones? And if so, are they really more funny in an objective way or is it just that we agree more with the points they’re making? Ron White is probably about the funniest comic I can think of who is working today, and he’s definitely conservative. But a couple of his partners – such as Larry the Cable Guy – really don’t do that much for me. But by the same token, I find Chris Hardwick (also known as the Nerdist) to be hilarious in most of his work, but if you listen to his podcast, he’s probably about as liberal as they come.
In the end, I think comedy is in the eye of the beholder. A really talented, funny comic can deliver the goods no matter the ideological bent of their material. Of course, the easiest route is probably to avoid political comedy in the first place. Jim Gaffigan is a great example of that. I’m sure you can think of others.
Good gawd.....it’s like “Portlandia”.
I’ve heard of that show but never seen it. Is it any good?
Those people are just plain stupid.
I was arguing with one of those idiots yesterday about water. He was complaining about them watering the grass at Ford Field while people in Detroit go without water. I corrected him and pointed out that the picture he showed was Comerica park and they pay their bills.
He then declared that there was a shortage of water due to the drought. If anything we’ve had above average rainfall in Michigan this year and there were pop up showers over Detroit yesterday.
I just happened to catch a few episodes, today, and it is a total “p!ss take” on “progressives” IMHO. Even tho it was produced by the SNL dude. It actually makes progs/yuppies/hipsters/femenazis look like idiots.
If they’re watering the grass at Ford Field there’s going to be a lot of Lions with soggy cleats.
It can be very funny, most of the time not so much though.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Odd, whenever I read Netroot Nation I really see Nutroot Nation...
I find it very funny. The characters and situations are spot on. It’s a perfect send up of that culture. The show is produced by liberals who understand their subject from the inside and it shows. It’s also pretty clear that they really like that culture, and that the ribbing they give it is fundamentally a friendly one.
This goes to the article posted yesterday about “why I’m no longer liberal”. Libs frame everything in terms of hate and destruction. Their whole point in this article is using humor to sway voters, and no one wants to hear jokes about how stupid the guy they like is, or how it’s wrong to be conservative, because it implies that the listener is stupid because of their opinions, and the only group that willingly puts up with libs calling them stupid is the blacks.
And then there’s the notion that the left’s entire repertoire of political jokes consists of ones that start “George Bush is so stupid (how stupid is he?)...” etc. Shrill gets old real fast (just look at how quickly Gilbert Gottfried crashed).
Here are some more top-notch examples of funny conservative humor.
Do I look like a pimp to you?
When a man pulls out money, away from a register, I have to wonder.
BTW, I find Parks and Recreation funny. Ron Swanson is a God, even if he is only a character.
Netroots Nation used to be called Yearly Kos. It was started as a meeting of the Daily Kos crowd.
bottom line is that they are liberal radical idiot types who go there.
Interesting comments above about Detroit’s water problems. The liberal idiot was saying how terrible that the Detroit Tigers, who pay their water bill, water the grass at Comerica Park. Liberals are very big on quantum leaps in reasoning. In this case, a paying customer should not use water because so many in Detroit stopped paying their water bills and got water cut off. How does one relate to the other?
Only a liberal can make a link between 2 unrelated events.
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