I think you’re missing the fact that it’s much harder for conservatives to catch a big break in the entertainment industry.  Also, you mention social issues.  You know what left-wing jokes are hilarious?  The ones about making fun of women for not aborting their babies.  Those jokes kill.  Anyway, I don’t agree with that premise of yours either.  

Red Eye has proven that conservative comedy works.  But, would Red Eye be tolerated on any other network due to the fact that’s it’s not liberal comedy?  The answer is a resounding “no”.  There just aren’t many outlets willing to give conservatives air time.  

Hollywood continues to make bombs because of their interest in promoting liberalism and left-wing causes.  How many anti-war films were made during the Bush administration?  They all bombed but they kept being put out.  

Anyway, I think you’ve completely ignored the biggest hurdle conservatives face.

Now, let all the “conservatives aren’t funny” posts begin: 

 I love this conversation.

I’d put Bill O’Reilly forth as an example of someone who is both socially conservative and (and at least in my marginally humble opinion) very funny.

His particular brand of humor, though, is both 1) a little more dry than a lot of American audiences are probably used to, particularly when it comes to politics, and 2) based on the fact that he’s decidedly not an underdog, but rather “the guy who is always right.” I suspect that he knows when to poke fun at his own hubris and when to make jokes (or, more accurately, quips and wry observations) at the expense of those perceived to be underdogs. Those quips can be seen as mean, funny, and, often enough, both of these at the same time.

Liberal comics get laughs because their audience is made up of dope fiends, hopheads and stoners and they would laugh at a stoplight changing colors.

Comics have to have the ability to laugh at themselves. That’s what I don’t see in conservative comedians (Dennis Miller comes to mind).

Then why does Red Eye beet CNN in primetime?

Beat

As I point out in the end, Fox’s entertainment wing airs some of the most left-leaning shows on network television. Why? Because those are the comedies that work and make money. If conservative comedies had a bigger audience, you know that any network would fall over backward to air it. Viacom doesn’t care what Jon Stewart’s positions are. They care that The Daily Show is one of the highest rated late night shows on TV, especially amongst young people.

I thought about getting into the fact that comedians are artists and therefore the majority of them are liberals. That is a contributing factor, sure, but I think there are broader issues in effect.

Comedy just plain works better from the left. And I’m not talking about Barack Obama left or anything that specific. I’m just talking about the most basic ideals the left represents.

ps. I also mention Red Eye in the column and why I think it succeeds whereas others fail.

If CNN aired a liberal comedy panel show then we could really compare the two.

And, just to steal the thunder of the next 50 commenters, “All of CNN is a liberal comedy show! Hyuck! Hyuck!”

Guys like O’Reilly and Limbaugh are certainly funny but they’re not doing comedy shows. They, to a certain extent, put forth a persona which they generate a lot of laughs with but would there be any chance a full comedic show could be built around that persona without sending it into Archie Buncher-land? What I mean is, could anyone make a Colbert Report where the Colbert character is actually supposed to be *right*?

I could definitely see that happening (and would love for a show like that to exist), but it would take a healthy dose of self-awareness on the host’s part.

I know I’ve been accused by commentors of wanting to impregnate Ann Coulter with Glenn Beck’s penis or whatever, but I think Ann (or someone able to channel her special brand of insult comedy) would be able to accomplish this. Really and truly. 

Also… Was Patrice O’Neal conservative?

I think one of the reasons why liberals (at least in my opinion) are funnier, is because of something Lisa Lampanelli said when explaining how she can get away with such off-colour jokes; ” The thing is, people sense when you have the least bit of anger or hate towards a group –– that’s why you never make fun of people you don’t like”.

Liberals can get away with edgier jokes because there is typically no hate or intolerenc­e for the subject’s Religion, gender, sexual orientatio­n and race. Conversely­, with many Republican­s, Ultra-Cons­ervatives in particular­, is that they truly dislike the person they are making the off-colour “joke” about based on aforementi­oned qualities, which takes away any possible humour in said “joke” and just comes of as hateful.

I’ve listened to Glenn Beck for ten years. When I first started listening, it was all comedy and really funny. He’s gotten way more serious since, but he and Pat Gray and Stu are still hilarious together.

No, liberal comics are simply funnier. They’re not filled with hate and intolerance. When you listen to these conservative “comedians” you can tell they actually hate those people they’re mocking. And then it’s not fun anymore. You have to be so very mean-spirited and politically biased to be able to laugh at conservative jokes.

I didn’t know that was his goal. I guess right wingers can be funny when they’re trying to be serious.

Humour requires a lot of self-depre­ciation, but most of the right take themselves far too seriously for that.

Important topic!  

I agree with your premise about comedy needing to attack power.  This does not explain why comedians are afraid to lay a glove on Barack Obama.

The leftist/artist correlation is significant, but the limited access to media factor is worthy of acknowledgement.

The Daily Show isn’t comedy. It’s a cult freak show for pseudo-intellectual Marxist obsessives desperately looking in all the wrong places for an identity.

The biggest hurdle for the conservatives is that they’re filled with hate and intolerance. They actually dislike/hate those people they’re mocking. And they take themselves and pretty much everything too seriously. And that’s not funny.

Comedy is the art of surprise. Conservative humor is unsurprising.

Humor relies heavily on truth, contradict­ion, and acknowledg­ing the contradict­ions that sometimes spring up between truths. Conservati­sm these days is dogmatic and dishonest, and relies on simple party lines that are not to be challenged­. It’s not a good breeding grounds for the sort of observatio­n of reality that Stewart makes look so simple.

Here is every conservati­ve joke of the past three years:

Q: How many liberals does it take to screw in an energy-eff­icient light bulb?

A: OBAMA IS A TERRORIST MUSLIM!

It’s because racism and sexism isn’t funny anymore.  

No, some of the liberal folks REALLY ARE full of intolerance. Listen to someone like Kathy Griffin or a Janeane Garoffalo. They REALLY HATE conservatives. A Conan O’Brien or Jay Leno make fun of Republicans, but it isn’t done with hatred that is overwhelmingly present withing Griffin’s “comedy”,

Of course it’s comedy.  It’s on Comedy Central.  Everyone in the studio audience laughs, even if you don’t get the jokes.  Why are Conservatives so serious?  Is it because hate is never funny?  You seem to hate The Daily Show and everyone that watches it.  

You are talking shit. The reason why right wing comedy doesn’t work is because it is like thieves telling each other of their escapades. Only other thieves will find it funny.

I agree. And I’ve never considered Kathy Griffin funny and I’m pretty sure there a lot of people who agree with me on that. Garofalo? She’s hardly a successful comedian. Not too many people even know her. This is why Conan and Leno become big stars but Garofalo doesn’t.

I’m still wondering why Griffin is so famous. She’s one of those “stars” I’d like to go away.

You’re not as smart as you think.

Did Jon respond to all 5000 Valentine Cards you sent to him?

With a restraining order perhaps?

Project much?

And that’s exactly why conservatives are not funny when they’re trying ot be funny. They take themselves and everything too seriously. They hate almost everything about this country. Their jokes are always mean and hateful.

Than why do the drones love Bill Maher so much? Is it because they’re programed to?

Because Fox News has twice as large audience as CNN. If Red Eye aired on CNN it wouldn’t have so many viewers.

It would be very strange if normal people routinely found right wing jokes funny. When attacking right wing positions, you can do it earnstly or with a joke. This cannot be true of left wing positions. How do you make fun of wanting to look after other people? You can oppose it seriously but comedy based on the idea of protecting rich people isn’t going to work. There is also a huge problem with the Right because they insist on being religious. There is an inherent disonance between being mean and a follower  of Jesus all at the same time. See, that is sort of funny already.

Red eye is on at 3am dude…

I like the way you break it down, but I would have simplified it a bit.  All good political comedy is based in truth.  If it’s not true, it’s not funny.  But because all Republicans have been systematically trained to reject political realities (i.e. truth), they’ve also been systematically trained to reject political comedy.  Think about it.

The problem is who is making the conservative comedy.  To often conservatives try to have the agenda come first before the humor.  You start off with what is funny.  Now if you can do it in a way that also has a political message…then perfect.  The problem is most of the “talent”  in the comedy industry is liberal.  Here is an example of conservative humor done correctly …but its by top of the line people.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h3GPc_yMCE 

You think Viacom would have given Jon Stewart a comedic political show if he were a conservative?  No chance.  What does Fox’s Enterainment wing have to do with anything?  They’re a separate entity from FNC.  

You’re supposed to be Mediaite’s resident comedian, right?  No offense, but I don’t find you very funny at all.  But, you’re here.  And, you’re a liberal.  Do you think Mediaite would hire a conservative to be their funny guy?  

Also, liberals can get away with joking about just any topic.  Conservatives, on the other hand, can’t.  

You mentioned how jokes about mosques aren’t funny.  But, there’s not shortage of jokes mocking Christians in main stream television.  Conservatives aren’t allowed to be politically incorrect.  Liberals are.  It’d be like forcing a WR to play with one hand tied behind his back then wondering why there aren’t more successful one-armed WR’s.   

sounds like someone is looking in a mirror ;) 

What kind of alternate universe do you live in?  I don’t even think Jon would agree with you that his like minded brethren are anything remotely resembling tolerant.  Liberals are tolerant as long as you agree with them.  I don’t know why I’m wasting my time, you’re obviously not all there. Bye now.

Yawn.  Can’t you come up with some more “isms”?  What a dolt.

The Daily Show is funny because of the truth behind the jokes and the absurdity pointed out, regardless of the target.  I laugh just as heartily at jokes directed at democrats as I do republicans if there is a fundamental underlying truth being exposed.  Because it’s given a free ride at 3am where the only alternative is reruns or infomercials Red Eye is viewed as successful by a few right-wingers starved for any conservative comedy but that doesn’t make it funny, because it simply isn’t.  You see clips from Stewart and Colbert all over the place popping up in various other media outlets because it’s funny.  You just don’t see the same from Red Eye because it’s not funny.  Move Red Eye to 11pm against Stewart and Colbert and see how it fares.  Red Eye would be back to 3am or off the air in 3 months.

or a colbert report the liberal democrat version of him.  A full progressive version of colbert interviewing congressional liberal democrats.  Have an audience full of young conservatives republicans that pretend to be progressives and cheer when Maxine waters is interviewed and pushed on socializing the Oil Industry by a progressive version of colbert.

You are right about people sensing anger.  Remember when Louis CK and David Letterman let their hate for Sarah Palin show through? That didn’t go over well.

biggest thief in Hollywood….robin Williams

Dennis is only a recent convert.  What about Mr Leslie Nelson?

An urchin kicking a fat cat in the ass is funny. A fat cat kicking an urchin in the ass is depraved. Like right-wing comedy. Conservatives are often “champions of the over-dog.” The argument that conservatives can’t get a break in the media is nonsense. Quick, who had the longest-airing public affairs show in PBS history?; which movement leftist appears on This Week every week?…Oh, excuse me, I meant “movement conservative.” From syndicated columns to talk radio to TV pundits right-wingers abound, while movement progressives are hard to find.

except when its insulting Christianity or doing sexist jokes against conservative women..like on the Bill maher show eh ;)

You’re not as a-not-fatuous-clown as you think.

Everyone  in the “studio” laughs, but, many people don’t find the Daily Show hilarious ….Liberal audiences watch Stewart and Colbert for their daily laugh and dose of pseud-news.

Conservatives are by no means a serious crew, rather we find humor in the pathetic attempts of the liberal media.

Conservatives can laugh at themselves, their politicians, etc. The same can not be said for liberals/progressives. They only find it funny when conservatives/republicans are the center of the joke!

See…….not funny….Get it?

Now that’s funny! (Satirical, ironic conservative humor at its finest.)

Hey!  Here’s our conservative comedian!  Get this guy a show!

Why is it that left leaning, liberal comedy is so successful when we keep on being told that a majority of the USA leans right (supposedly only 20% are liberal)?

If most of the potential audience is center or right of center, who’s watching all this lefty humor? And making it so successful. And not demanding more right-centric comedy.

Conservative comedy is nearly non-existent for the same reason that conservatives don’t show up as often in the top tiers of Hollywood, music, and art, even the research sciences and academia: conservatives aren’t creative, they, for the most part, lack the ability to analyze a bigger picture. Its why right-wing extremists are called reactionaries, they lack the desire to change things and only react when something threatens their little world. You can’t be funny (or an astronomer, psychologist, 

 oops, hit rely too early.

Anyway, you can’t be funny (or an astronomer, psychologist, teacher, etc) if you can only operate in your own little world.

Well,reading the comments in here,I’m starting to wonder if there is a comedy “gene” that most conservatives just don’t have….

Or is it a choice?….hmm….

Cause guys,you’re not funny in here,and you’re kind of making Jon’s point.Mean isn’t funny by itself guys,it’s just not.Gotta be clever about it…

So this thread is pretty damn ironic,and very funny.

I think they could have saved a lot of words by playing a loop of Larry the Cable Guy blurting “Git-R-Done” a few dozen times. 

Yup…..still not funny…but keep trying.

You present an interesting hypothesis and indeed comedy has always been used as social commentary and a means of subverting censorship but what you have made your core premise is just one aspect.  People are more willing to accept modern comedy the more tolerant and less authoritatively-minded they are.  The more easily offended someone is the less likely they’ll create that audience for comedy.  The left has many groups like this, the JDL, LGBT alliance, and many other special interests, yet the right is always easily offended as are many other traditional societies in the world (like people who kill over cartoons).  Tolerance creates a basis for this type of marketable comedy.

You’re delusional. Which is one kind of humor that Republicans and Conservatives excel at.

 This is an interesting topic. I think its more about how we view conservatives and liberals through the social microscope. For example Stewart can and has sent one of his people down to the Occupy wallstreet guys and totally made fun of them. And it was funny.  He can also send his guys out to a tea party meeting and make fun of them and it was funny. Now a conservative might send his guys down to occupy wallstreet and make fun of them, but would never send anyone into the tea party to make fun of them. They generally don’t rip on each other at all. Rush Limbaugh is a good example of this. He had a blast ripping on clinton and his infidelities for years. He centered whole skits around this and his wife. But he wouldn’t go after Cane like this or Newt. A liberal comedian will go after Clinton and have fun with it. They will also go after Cane, probably in a more virulent way but still the liberals are more open to make fun of everyone. And for good humor you need to be able to draw on material from everywhere, not just a small segment of the population. Both sides can get into trouble if they get to politically incorrect but the liberal is definitely given more leeway int this department. I think it works this as far as race is concerned as well. For example a black guy can rip on his race in a way a white guy cant in general. And he can also rip on white people. A white guy can rip on his own race but he really cant start making fun of black people in the same way as a black man can. I listen to Glenn Beck sometimes and his radio show attempts to be funny, but i very rarely crack a smile. Now I admit im liberal but I think its more than that.  Maybe because he delves back into his serious side and after you hear that side of him, I think well maybe his humor isn’t that funny. Both he and Jon stewart can do a skit on Osama bin Laden and somehow 100% of the time Jons will be much funnier. Even when Glenn does his self-deprecating humor(im fat, im lazy) it almost comes across is im pandering to u to get you to like me. Oh well like I said cool topic.

Hollywood is, above all, about money. If it sells, they’ll sell it. Conservative comedy doesn’t sell (so well) and so it isn’t sold (that much).

Being “hard to break into Hollywood” plays to the traditional rightwing poor little victim theme, but is mostly nonsense. It is true that you won’t necessarily get the same level of warm fuzzies if your humor is seen as regressive by all your Hollywood pals, but if you can make a desirable demographic laugh, even the most liberal producer in the world will beat a path to your door.

I think it comes down to self-deprecation, which is an even more powerful factor than “the little guy” theme that Bershad adheres to.

And conservatives don’t do self-deprecation very well. I’m not sure why.

One other factor is that performers probably tend toward liberalism because performance is literally “liberating” — you are paid to pretend to be someone you’re not. It gives one a different viewpoint on what can and cannot be done from those who don’t publicly perform.

Ultimately (and here I’m recycling an earlier remark), just like reality has a well known liberal bias, the same is apparently true of comedy.

See…I just don’t find that funny. Where are the punchlines? I think the conservative jokes that tend to work are the blue collar type of humor like the Jeff Foxworthy type. These however are not overtly political, but focus mainly on culture and social mores eg. an old timer comic reflecting on the differences between kids then and kids now. Plenty of fun material to mine there. What that guy was doing in that ad simply is not humorous. It just sounds political, and to non-politicos, even conservatives, it would bore them to death. Jon is right. It’s easier to be funny, raunchy and provocative from the left. I think it also has something to do with the demo (race, religion, age, sex, ethnicity) background of who’s liberal and who’s conservative. 

Exactly. Conservatism only wants to enshrine the status quo and celebrate inertia .

Precisely. Look at even the so called conservative actors/acresses (Kelsey Grammar, Patricia Heaton, Bruce Willis) and you will find comedies that they have been successful in approach humor from the left.

I buy your premise — find the funny first, and if you’re conservative, it’ll naturally reflect your views: Voila! Conservative comedy.

However, that anti-Albright/anti-Dem ad was screamingly unfunny by any measure of comedy: badly paced, badly shot, low but not low enough, missing the necessary linkage to reality that would draw you in, and inherently didactic and mean-spirited at the same time.

Please. You’ve got to have better examples than that. I’d like to see some.

Political comedy usually isn’t funny.

Stewart and Colbert have been successful at it. But when they get on their liberal soap-box, they aren’t funny. You can tell because the audience will start clapping instead of laughing.

But, there are conservative comedians. And there are comedic television shows that have a conservative bend to them. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are certainly not liberals.

The problem I have with this entire conversation is that liberals think that they are funny, when most of them aren’t. The fact that a lot of political comedians happen to be liberal says nothing about other liberals.

Case of sour grapes it seems since you don’t have a sense of humor. Guffaw. 

Because more conservatives watch Fox than CNN (or any other news cable show) and conservatives are the biggest and most loyal (in terms of FNC viewership) voting block. It has little to do with the show being funny or not.

 Yeah, we should totally make more movies for hillbilly conservatives. Conservatives have always loved killing people.

“American Carol” says it all.  

Case and point why cons are not funny…lol. 

Great point.

I see what you did there…Bravo.

I’ve noticed that a lot of the conservative responses here argue that Stewart, Colbert, and their kind ‘clearly’ hate conservatives even when they’re in the (perceived) minority, so the claim falls apart.

Actually, it holds up, because the social conservatives are more often the purveyors of hate and overbearing politics even when they’re not presidents or senate majorities.  They hate challengers to the status quo. Hate art. Hate gays. Hate women’s choice. Hate non-Christians. Hate science.  When your political stance is defined by assuming absolute authority over how others should lead their lives, from the school to the bedroom, you deserve to be made fun of, forever.

I think she did a reality show or something.

Some old-timey conservative humor….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJBQ8KLH93U 

Conservatives take themselves much too seriously. Lighten up, have some fun, laugh at yourselves. Jesus would approve.

**crickets**

“Trey Parker and Matt Stone are certainly not liberals.”

But they make fun of practically everyone and everything – left, right and in the middle. And that’s the point; no sacred cows.

If conservatives won’t or can’t make fun of themselves, they’re instantly removing at least 50% of potential comedy material.

Great post. There are some white comedians however who absolutely can make fun of black people and light them up. But most of these people (like say Lisa Lampanelli) have been comfortable doing it for awhile in front of said audiences. Black audiences are generally more hostile towards comedians. If you are not funny, or mediocre, you will be booed. So you have to bring your “A” game everytime. Again, it’s just HOW you approach the sketch. If done properly, the same joke from a white comedian in expense of the black guy can be funnier to the black audience than if a black comedian did it. I agree with the person who said that it’s all about how the audience perceives the tone of the joke. If malice is detected, the jokes will absolutely bomb.

I think this has more to do with numbers than any ideologically-determined predisposition to humor. Most people would agree that people in the performing arts, insofar as they care at all about politics, overwhelmingly lean to the left. There are many terrible comedians who carry their lefty politics on their sleeve (cf. Cho, Margaret), but there’s just as many if not more hilarious liberal comedians who right the ship. The limited number of conservative and libertarian comedians ensures that the perception of “right-wing humor” doesn’t enjoy that luxury, so the failures of things like “The 1/2 Hour Newshour” and “An American Carol” are that much more devastating to said perception. I also thoroughly reject Bershad’s thesis about power as a defining concept in comedy; it’s always been my observation that comedy is much more about exploring the differences in people (men/women, white/black, gay/straight) and releasing frustration about the everyday inanities of life than about power dynamics. The very comics who do base their act around railing against whatever majority or minority they find objectionable are more often than not the shrillest, least entertaining people on the planet (again cf. Cho, Margaret). 

 
Gays have not been “horribly oppressed by the majority”. That’s just pro-gay power Lib skat.

“South Park” falls into the libertarian schema of humor.  

They’re not filled with hate and intolerance.

What crap.  Did you learn that in Sociology class? The reason liberal comics are funnier is that most true art comes from the artist’s own pain.  True artists have no choice but to pursue their art.  It is not a career choice.  Poets are not happy people.  Unhappy people desire change.  They gravitate to a liberal ideology to combat the pain.  They rebel against the absurdity.  Conservatives are not rebelling.  By definition, they want things to remain the same.  Many conservative comics are more personalities than artists.

Conservatives aren’t funny because, speaking very broadly, they don’t respect or understand the artistic impulse. The artistic impulse is for weak liberals. Conservatives want it cut and dried, buy and sell, down and dirty. The average Conservative is not interested in painting a flower or writing a play. “That’s what pansy, pot smoking, gay-loving people do in Hollyweird.” Conservative brains aren’t wired for creative thought, which requires getting in touch with feelings, questioning beliefs and being empathetic to others. The last thing a Conservative wants to do is put down their gun or their Wall Street Journal and get in touch with the feelings that need to be accessed in order to act in a play or write a novel.

I think she’s a riot when she is not taking the lazy route and is just bashing the Palins.  I thought she killed on Piers Morgan the other night.

Please tell us again about Republicans and truth and blah and yawn………………………………………… sorry I fell asleep there

I’m glad you’ve rationalized how the world works down into one sentence… you my friend are enlightened

Aw, hell. Keep your snickering liberal jokes, pilgrim. 

We like car chases, blowing stuff up, and action, baby.

Jon I agree completely.

Another point that is somewhat related to yours is that successful comedy is always rooted in truth. When a joke is made that has no factual basis (oh god see the cringe worthy Jody Miller’s ‘Newsbusted’) it falls FLAT. Well, flat with the sane people that understand it’s factually untrue. The comment section of ‘newsbusted’ vids on YouTube are filled with die hard conservatives saying ‘oh my god I laughed til I cried this is hilarious; way better than the daily show!’ and adoration for Miller herself. Then every so often there’s a comment from someone new to the show that respond with puzzlement ‘what? Is this supposed to be funny or deliberately unfunny? I’m confused! And Obama Has released his birth cert guys, and my grandma was made destitute by the health care system this woman defends so this isn’t funny at all.’

Conservative comedy should remain un-intentional, as with so called ‘christian comedians’. You’re right; the powerful aren’t funny when Lording their influence over others. I encourage everyone to watch clips of the half hour news hour on YouTube and understand how little fox thinks of their viewers. I recall one skit was about an atheist author and the ‘joke’ revolver around guests dying off and going to heaven and his impending burn in hellfire. Eventually he becomes
a believer, the same way they all do, through fear and intimidation! Yeah, hilarious.

Wow, you’re easily amused aren’t you? Humour complete with fat lady and butt splits! I suggest you think Dane Cook is good too?

Coulter herself might be able to transition to standup if she wasn’t so dour, dark, and mean

But her Heatherish, “Mean Girl” snottiness just doesn’t lend itself to laughing out loud. Also, there’s very little build in her schtick — every snark is a standalone poke in the eye with a sharp stick. 

No, he pays very well for stealing jokes

Whoa. That’s twice I’ve agreed with you in under 24 hours. Now I’m getting nervous.

But was he a conservative? I know he did Democratic fundraisers in the 90s.
Sure he was in American Carol, but that was probably mostly due to the fact he liked working with Zucker.

How so?

Neilsen was a comic actor. I don’t remember him doing anything like standup, which is at the center of this conversation.

Better get a check-up.  Or move to Austin.

And Jon will keep writing for low wages at Mediaite with dumb thought streams like the one on display here.  

1) Lefties writing on conservatives is not the starting point one might consider best. 

2)  Seinfeld, Cheers, Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Ray Romano, Adam Sandler, and the list goes on.  The market tells us these guys and shows are funny.   And it is the market that defines success.  

1) Always harder being funny when you are the ruling power structure or defending the ruling power structure than attacking it.

2) Absolutely Viacom would have given Jon Stewart a show if he were conservative and just as funny – Sumner Redstone primary political loyalty is to profit.  He endorsed George W. Bush because he thought he’d be better for the economy than Kerry.  Backed Obama for the same reason.

3) FNC and Fox are both controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp.  Do you think for one second Murdoch wouldn’t love to have a successful conservative comedy show on the air if one worked?  

As mentioned here many times, it’s just plain hard to be funny defending the over-dog, the establishment or kicking the little guy, which much, but not all conservative comedy boils down to.  Also, it seems like a lot of dedicated “conservative” comedy starts out as a mission to stick it to those damn liberals, without much else in the method or the mix.   Liberals bashing Conservatives often are comics that have a broad act only partially hits politics.  While I’m interested to hear Janine Garafalo talk as an informed very liberal pundit now, I think her comedy has become non functional because she is so angry about the conservative impact on the country.  In doing that, she’s become the mirror image of so many conservative comics.  

But to be fair, funny conservatives do occur, if rarely:  PJ O’Rourke has been a hilarious commentator and comic for 30 years, and Drew Hastings (stand up comic and now Republican Mayor of Hillsboro, OH) can be hysterical.  I don’t agree with their politics, but they are consistently funny because they understand comedy better than most conservatives who attempt it….

:)

Merry Christmas

It’s because comedy requires intelligence, empathy and imagination.  Anyone who has any one of these qualities in any abundance would NOT be a conservative.

Cane…..Cane the pimp….hehehe..

Let me be the first to call conservative comedy a RINO.

That shit wasn’t funny, it was indicative of conservative humor and violated your own rule. It beat you over the head with it’s agenda and then tried to make it funny. FAIL.

There is no reason a conservative comedian can’t start at the bottom doing stand up the way many, many comedians have started.  All they need to find is an audience.

Viacom is ruled by the color green and would put on anybody that can make them money, conservative comedians can’t, it’s as simple as that.

If I ever post something you disagree with, let me know.

Gosh, you like to play the victim, don’t you?

conservative has no sense of humor..
you have FOX…you have radio..you have the internet..
oh ya..AND YOU HAVE EXCUSES..

so conservatives do like liberal comedy..
glad to see you admit it…

you know why conservative comedy is lame…
how many freaking knock knock jokes can you do in a set???

JESUS AND MOHAMED WALKED INTO A BAR..knock knock..

it is because they just are not funny…

adults can only take so much 5th grade humor..

“did you hear the one about the bed?”–”has not been made yet”
HAHAHAHAHAH
thanks for coming..

#1 reason conservative comedy will never work?
RACISTS JOKES ARE NOT FUNNY…

I think your example of an anti-gay comedy skit is wrong especially if you simply marginalize it as satire and WITH the use of stereotypical behaviour.  So what if it relies on the use of steroypical queen behavior, etc.?  What gay people can’t laugh at themselves?  I think you find that humour “much ,much harder” to do because UBER-liberal Hollywood has bad you feel it’s taboo to make fun of the poor gay person.  What only gay folks on that Logo show (I can’t think of the name of it)can do gay jokes and not be mean, hurtful and hateful?  Does that mean only Italian people should make fun of the Mafia and Jewish people do Madoff jokes?  I took a comedy class and the asshole teacher was like, “ok make fun of Jesus and the Christians but no jewish jokes or gay jokes, their just mean. . .oh you’re gay and jewish?  Can I go to your post Oscar winnng party?????”  NOW THAT WAS SICK SAD AND STUPID

I think all your doing is saying  you and we a and whomever have been trained or conditioned- sadly enough to “intuitively” except this paradigm.

how about when stereotypical mafia behavior- Analyze This, etc- is satired?  Not funny?

How about the Office?  I really don’t think you could characterize it as a little people versus the boss paradigm.  Michael as the boss was a lunatic.  Now you have Andy and he is a lunatic; but then again so is the rest of the managarie.

More to the point, however, and as was alluded to, conservatives are tight asses and are too busy plotting to give two shits about the nature of comedy

 Another perfect example though it might be termed “low brow” and may not have been a reverse of the little guy verses the big guy. . .Married with Children- a Fox show.  It could be argued it was the perfect put down of the little guy by the big guy denigrating the life, loves, idiosynchracies and travails of the lower class. 

The argument regarding the social conservative versus the governemt is the best most untapped ironic joke- what do social conservatives do?  THEY RUN THE F’N GOVERNEMENT!!!!

You hit the nail on the head when it comes to the loyalty of the Fox audience.  Red Eye benefits from the loyalty of the Fox audience who support it because it’s their comedy show on Fox.  The Foxbots will watch and laugh at whatever crap Fox throws at them because that’s their nature.

all depends on ya brand of humor.  AIrplane i thought was funny.

all depends on what you like in humor…Naked gun??

that was done by the guy from naked gun, airplane ect…if you dont like that style of humor then ok…its not for everyone.

Sounds like the agenda of the sketch you cite was meant to educate rather than entertain. “And they all lived happily ever after in heaven.”

Big yuks there. Who would’ve thunk? Proselytizing is so much fun… so ripe for humor.

A liberal take on the same material would have likely had the author end up in hell.

Great point about Lisa Lampanelli.  If people thought Lisa Lampenelli was racist she would never be able to get away with her jokes about blacks.  Because Lisa has a (as Trump would say) good relationship with “the blacks” she can say whatever she wants and it’s funny because we don’t question her motives.  Could Ann Coulter get away with the same material?  Hell no.

I think the takeaway is that conservatives appreciate comedy, comedians and comedy shows/movies. (Because somebody besides liberals are watching all that stuff you mentioned above.) So they clearly have some sense of humor.

But it would seem that they just aren’t really capable of creating much of it by themselves (or for themselves).

I thought it was too. 

This would all be funnier if it weren’t so soul crushingly true.

It’s easy to make light of a bad situation that seems disastrous in coming… yet soon forgotten in passing.

Problem is… we don’t live in such an age.  We live in an age where not before we have a chance to pick up the pieces of the last grand catastrophe another apocalypse is upon us.  Bad decisions on the part of government place us in this situation regularly.  We are soon running out of sincere reasons to be in a very light mood.

Red Eye “succeeds” because loyal Fox viewers support their comedy show on Fox, not because it’s funny. The definition of success for The Daily Show is it’s ratings, it’s exposure across all of American culture, it’s longevity, it’s ability to launch other successful comedic careers such as Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Craig Kilborn, Ed Helms, Rob Corddry, Mo Rocca ect.ect.ect.

On the other hand the definition of success for Red Eye is that it’s still on the air at 3am with no competition.  That’s it, period.  You don’t see Red Eye clips anywhere, or the show even mentioned in the culture at large.  Where are the Red Eye alumni that stood out and made such an impression that the offers came rolling in and they moved on to greener pastures? (sound effect of crickets)

I guess if merely staying on the air at 3am against reruns and infomercials is success, then yes Red Eye is successful; but using any other measuring stick compared to The Daily Show, Red Eye is a dismal failure.

I have a far better theory.  Conservatives aren’t funny.

See how much I saved in ad nauseum, holier than thou paragraphs?

Is it just me but for some reason I can’t take a left wingers “take” on conservative humor with anything more than a raised eyebrow.  

Seriously dude, you’re giving yourself a whole hell of a lot more credibility than you deserve.  You’re a left wing hack.  You couldn’t write an honest article about the state of humor and republicans than fly to the moon.  

Wow, Jon you’re reaching back THAT far? Seriously, dude, why don’t you make the same argument for Air America. I know AA was not meant to be comedy, but it was still designed to have an audience… which it didn’t.

The premise that conservative comedy doesn’t work is a false one based on what I can only presume is the profound ignorance of Bershad, who, apparently, has never read anything by P.J. O’Rourke, Iowahawk, or a whole host of articles published by the National Review or the Weekly Standard.  And he apparently missed the single cleverest ad of the 2008 election:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8Moreover, Bershad also fails to note that there aren’t really many successful liberal comedy shows.  It’s all well and good to mention Seth McFarlane, but,as someone who’s watched his shows, the vast majority of his jokes have no political bent whatsoever, and those that do tend to be the jokes that fall flat (a Nazi wearing a McCain-Palin button?).  Likewise, try watching any episode of The Simpsons where the writers are trying to make a comment about the war in Iraq:  truly awful.  Conversely, shows like King of the Hill and South Park have often successfully skewered liberal tropes.The reason why shows that tried to be a conservative version of The Daily Show failed is that they tried to be a conservative version of The Daily Show.  It’s the same reason why liberal attempts to mimic the success of Limbaugh or Hannity don’t work or why MSNBC’s attempt to be the liberal version of Fox hasn’t been nearly as successful:  the focus isn’t on making a good show, it’s on the politics.   

I loved Airplane and The Naked Gun series, spoof movies are hit or miss, you just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.  Scary Movie was funny but by the time they got to Scary Movie 4, not so much.  That clip you posted just wasn’t funny.

The problem is you don’t exactly define what you mean by “conservative” comedy. South Park does an effective job of making fun of environmentalists, hippies, anti-tobacco activists, etc. This could be considered “conservative” comedy and it’s very funny but I don’t think the creators of South Park try to be explicitly political although they are self-described libertarians

They’re not funny because they lack a sense of irony. Which makes sense because they’re all about hypocrisy, which is irony to the tenth power. And obviously, hypocrisy doesn’t allow for admitting that it exists.
Simple as that.
Of course, they’re given to cruel, racist, and cruel racist humor. But that doesn’t play on tv or in public.
I get a couple of newsletters with lame jokes, submitted by what have to be conservatives.
If you disagree, you’ll probably prove my point.
Go ahead, try.

Actually right-wingers are hardwired without an actual sense of humor.

It’s not your fault, it’s like being born gay.

Conservative comedy works all the time – I can’t stop laughing at Victoria Jackson, though maybe not for the reasons she would like.

and that’s why Dennis Miller is a has-been now. He used to rip both sides equally. 
Now he’s just a lazy, partisan hack who flat out said he won’t make jokes about Bush, McCain or Giuliani because they’re his friends.

The only conservative comedian who I find seriously funny is Larry Miller, who is pretty damned brilliant at times. And I guess Norm MacDonald was right-leaning in his SNL days and still hilarious, but he’s said he eventually got turned off by the religious right and folks like Palin.

Are you suggesting that Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Maher are even-handed in who they mock?

They almost exclusively mock the right. Once in a while Stewart goes after Democrats, but it’s usually much softer than when he attacks the right.

This theory also is used in explaining the shift in liberal position on the Israeli Palestinian issue which flipped as sides swapped statuses from underdogs to belligerent murderers and vice versa

Naked Gun works (intermittently) because it’s so utterly over the top and builds on that overthetopness until its brains explode. Which is both cringeworthy and fun to watch.

And the stupid jokes are the best kind of stupid: really, really dumb and unashamed to be so. 

Neilsen also had a particular persona (“sleazy martinet?”) that he had honed to knife-edge sharpness.

And it didn’t have (IIRC) any political axe to grind at all.

That was *not* his best work.

Red Eye is on at 3:00 a.m. That isn’t primetime.

I’d agree with you, Jon Bershad, that comedy, and in particular political comedy, often works best when lampooning the powerful.

However, you fail to take note that the powers that be influencing our moral and cultural zeitgeist today are often times Liberal in their politics (news and entertainment media, academia, etc.).

This creates the phenomenon of “political correctness”, whereby the stereotypes and images that would portend the best “foils” for social Conservative comics, are generally antithetical to the narrative propagated by social Liberals, who, at least in the nation’s current incarnation, still set the agenda.

Hahahahaha. I like that.

I’ve got another one:
Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: Because Barack Hussein Obama, the black, terrorist, Muslim was going to force the chicken to gay-marry an illegal Mexican chicken.

Is Red Eye conservative humor or just people joking around on Fox network?

How true.
If you need a good laugh, I suggest The Nightly News.
Works every time.

We are the little guy, the government is the authority figure. There you go, boom, proof that “conservative” comedy does work. This Marxist government usually makes me wanna cry rather than laugh though.

Isn’t Red-Eye considered a Comedy show? And its doing well in the ratings

I’ve always thought humor works because it points out the absurd which is in direct contradiction to the Conservative world view.  That is, I see the Conservative view as something like Martha Stewart on Christian steroids – always seeking perfection, so much so, that their rational thinking will be overridden by the need for their constructs to be valid. Thus, they can’t even see the absurd in the same way liberals see it.  And unfortunately, they usually aren’t funny.

So, how do you explain Redye’s ratings, which, at 3 AM, are higher than any any other cable show, except for the shows on one cable network?

I think you make some relevant points. rich Bill MAher calling average folks stupid for not seeing things the way he does isn’t nearly as clever as what Jon an Stephen do.
Someone sent me some conservative jokes I thought were pretty good.

The liberals are asking us to give Obama
time.
We agree…and think 25 to life would be appropriate.

–Jay Leno

America needs Obama-care like
Nancy Pelosi
needs a Halloween mask.
–Jay Leno

Q: Have you heard
about McDonald’s’
new Obama Value Meal? A: Order anything you like
and the guy
behind you has to pay for it.
–Conan O’Brien

Q: What
does Barack Obama
call lunch with a convicted felon?
A: A
fund raiser.
–Jay Leno

Q: What’s the difference
between
Obama’s cabinet and a penitentiary?
A: One is filled
with tax evaders, blackmailers,
and threats to society.
The
other is for housing prisoners.
–David Letterman

Q: If
Nancy Pelosi and Obama were on a boat
in the middle of the ocean
and it started to sink,
who would be saved?
A: America !

–Jimmy Fallon

Q: What’s the difference between
Obama
and his dog, Bo?
A: Bo has papers.
–Jimmy Kimmel

Q:
What was the most positive result of
the “Cash for Clunkers”
program?
A: It took 95% of the Obama bumper
stickers off the
road.
–David Letterman
a lot of these are mocking those in power. Have you checked out the clips from GBTV on youtube. Some were mildly amusing , but their fail IMO was that they treied to make a political point, rather than a human point. We an make jokes about real human foibles without being cruel. Someone who is rich and powerful and corrupt is one thing, but what about somone who is rich and powerful and honorable, and totally unapologetic, What about people who are poor and actually are really lazy and trying to avoid work. For example, Jesus comes back and begins to preach. At first people are skeptical, but he heals a deaf person and he begins to attract a group. He heals a blind person and a larger crowd begins to gather and follow him. On one street corner he sees a man bent over supporting himself on two metal crutches. As Jesus approaches him arms outstretched the man says”Leave me alone man, I’m on workman’s comp.” I think conservative humor is harder but can work if you pick the right targets and subject matter. A friend here in town wrote a song called “I used to be a liberal until I got mugged” It’s hilarious.

Do you think nobody is willing to give conservative humor a fair chance if it turned out to be popular. I’ve laughed at horrible racist and sexist jokes before but they aren’t going to work on TV very well.

Archie bunker was funny and a lot of liberals objected to his horrible attitudes. They didn’t realize part of the comedy was how bad his attitudes were.

They’re not. Jon S goes after the president  and so do late night comedians. IMO, the crop of GOP presidential nominees just make the comedy too easy.

That’s lasted for over a decade. Thanks for being so reasonable and not judging to harshly,…….like some caricature of a person.

Both Jon and Stephen go after liberals and Dems and laugh at themselves as well. Comedy is subjective but I know libertarians and conservatives who find the DS pretty funny.

I’d also point out that good satire and comedy requires real effort. Jokes are concieved , written and rewritten. PArt of the DS success is the writing staff and the fact that they have a lot of ideas to pick from. Prefessional comics work very hard to get consistently good material.
A few people winging it on a show might be occasionally funny but the difference will stand out.

The fact of the matter – bigotry is just not funny. The driving force behind the present day GOP is bigotry. Mocking Gays, Mexicans, Blacks, People in poverty, people on death row, mocking people who believe in facts, In science or people who do not want to torture animals or destroy the panet – well mocking these people just is not and can not be funny.

Hence Dennis Miller used to be funny – now he is as dull as dishwater.
Limabuagh can never be funny – because at the core he is a mean spirited racist tub of gibbering lard.

If you want a sophomoric good laugh try:
SNL
The news source for the lost generation.

You really think that is funny? This is the best you have?
Absolutely amazing!! That clip was so lame. David Zucker? the same guy that made “The American Carol” – that film that got 11% Rotten Tomatoes – the hate film that no one thought was funny?

Are you kidding – perhaps your comment is satirical? a progressive plant? - but basically you have successfully proved that Wingnuts bigots – just simply can not be funny

That didn’t take long.
BS

You’re right. The left is a joke

Conservatives proved they have a great sence of humor when they chose Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate!! I’m still laughing at that one!!

While O’Reilly I guess can have his moments, usually by being cruel to people who are not allowed to fight back – Stephen Colbert has made a genuinely amazing career out of mocking everything that Bill O’Reilly stands for. So every night Bill O’Reilly gets his clock cleaned, and Colbert is only cruel to hypocrits or thoroughly deserving targets – rather than faux targets picked primarily by prejudice – to humour his rather silly audience  i.e his invented war on Christmas themes. 

Too bad Joe Biden couldn’t choose his running mate.

It could be because you need someone with an actual sense of humor but I agree. Dennis Miller is funny when it comes to democrats, but he loses me with his promotion of military industrial complex, his clear bias when he doesn’t attack republican targets, and establishment rhetoric.

“Conservatives are only funny when they are being serious.” – Skink Martin 

the truth hurts

what funn

I think conservative comedians are hilarious, because unintentional comedy is the best kind.

My favorite conservative comedians are Larry Craig and Pastor Ted.

btw:
I like that thoughtful pose
and the red background

I guess you need to be a lib???

What are talking about?? Joe Biden is happy to be Obama’s Vice President!!

Red Eye is mentioned in the piece (3rd from the last paragraph).

No. I’m not saying that “Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Maher are even-handed in who they mock.” But so what? Where in the comedy rulebook is that written?

If there were conservative-friendly comedy shows out there worth their salt, I would expect them to do the same thing to the left.

The point of this thread is that there is seemingly no one who is capable of doing that on a daily basis. (And I don’t count a show that comes on at 3:00 AM without a live audience as a contender.)

That was remarkably unfunny for a bunch of reasons, but primarily because it broke your first rule: it didn’t start out with the funny. It was completely agenda-driven. The point of it was first to attack Democratic foreign policy, and then to try to be funny while doing it.

And even the jokes are awful. Kim Jong-Il crashing into a trash can after missing a dunk? Madeleine Albright doing manual labor?  Those are “top of the line” people? Any sketch that includes the line, “You missed a spot,” has been hack for several decades. It’s cliche and it stinks.

Naked Gun and Airplane were 20 and 30 years ago, but they weren’t political at all. That’s part of why they were funny—they were just absurd. When Striker has a “drinking problem,” it’s hilarious because it’s a pun, a complete distortion, and an avenue for some physical comedy all at once. When a white pre-teen girl says, “I like my coffee black, like I like my men,” it feeds into what Bershad was saying: it’s funny because it’s a direct attack on the absurdity of the racial status quo (same thing with the jive-talking stewardess). The idea of one of the best basketball players in history moonlighting as a co-pilot? That’s hilarious because it’s ridiculous.

These are things that are trying to be funny first. Whatever political impact they have is an afterthought.

I don’t think Joe knows if he is happy or not.

So what? So….they don’t really go after their own. It is a rare occurrence, and they go easier on them when they do.

Laughs do not trump ideology on the Daily Show.

Your point about Red Eye is an odd one. I doubt Fox News makes it a priority to compete with Comedy Central.

But, this entire argument is odd, because liberal comedy isn’t typically successful either. Take away Colbert and Stewart and what are you really left with?

Sorry, got to go
Let the attacks begin…ah…continue.

what funn

Right-wingers hate ambiguity.  They don’t doubt themselves.  They don’t comprehend irony.  You can’t be a comedian if you see everything in black and white, if you can’t poke fun at yourself, and if you can’t see the absurdity of the world. 

bs

sorry

i lied

You know what show had conservative comedy that worked?  Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.  You had Colin, who’s pretty much a blue-collar moderate and you had right-leaners like Nick DiPaolo and Jim Norton over here and left-leaners like Keith Robinson and Greg Proops over there, and they’d debate the issues of the day.  With jokes.  It was also a great forum for the late Greg Giraldo and the late Patrice O’Neal.

This probably has been said already but I didn’t have time to read all the comments: There IS a “conservative” comedy show – 24/7 – It’s called Fox News and it misinforms while it entertains.

Exactly. She’s a joke. How she got on SNL is one of the great mysteries of our time.

They’re funny to like-minded people. But for the reasons that you cite, such humor is too ugly to be presented in public.

There’s also something from the left that “doesn’t work.” 

It can be illustrated and summed up in two words: 

Air America!

Anyone who can use the word “pinhead” seriously, can never be taken seriously.

The funniest thing that she ever said was that “Reagan was the greatest president of the 20th century”.
On his best day, which would have to have been one of those few in which he was actually awake, he wasn’t one quarter the president that  Roosevelt was.

We also love to laugh at ridiculous slobs like you whenever you run off at the mouth like a moron.
Like now, for instance.
As if you could dismiss entire groups with one inane pronouncent, and expect to be taken seriously by rational, much less intelligent, people.
And “hopheads”? The fifties called, they want their cliche back.

Ohh, Did you get your feelings hurt. They hate intolerant people. So what? You’re free to reject them, they don’t care. And be honest, isn’t THAT what really bothers you.

You people are a joke yourselves. You’d like here to go away? Why, because she offends you?
A thousand pardons, Marie Antoinette.

Or any sense at all.

It’s because conservatives have no sense of humor!

Whats with the obsession with ratings? What do you think that it proves, other than a justification for ad rates?

Hateful people, of which there are far more than you appear to realize, will laugh at hateful and bigoted humor. As long as it isn’t directed at them.
As a corollary, all these wrong-wingers hate MSNBC because they mock their idols, and they take it personally. As they should. So they come here and express their displeasure, but never address anything specific, nor do they identify any lies. Because it’s the truth being told, that upsets them. And truth is the essence of humor.

He means that liberals are more tolerant, that is less bigoted re race or religion, than conservatives. Which is true. They’re not tolerant of morons, nor should they be.
I don’t know why you waste your time, either, but don’t think you’re doing anyone any favors if you choose to do so.

It’s clear you don’t watch The Daily Show or The Colbert Report on a regular basis. You’re basing your comments on what you’ve heard rather than what you’ve seen. When they make fun of Democrats on either of those shows, laughs do indeed trump ideology. And they do it enough – just not enough for conservatives who can only laugh at others and not themselves.

Yes, FOX is a news channel (allegedly). They don’t make it a priority to compete with the Comedy Channel. But I’m not the one that keeps bringing Red Eye up. The conservatives are. So I’m responding to that.

Liberal comedy may not be successful (or so you say – and just because you say it doesn’t make it so) but liberals have 2 more genuine comedy shows entertaining them than conservatives have.

So instead of bitching and moaning and complaining about the supposed irrelevance of Stewart and Colbet and taking their shows away, why don’t conservatives come up 2 genuinely successful comedy shows of their own. The more comedy the better.

I think the reason conservative comdey isn’t funny, is that there has to be that element of truth in what you are saying.  Most of what they say is built on lies.

As a public gorgon (or harridan, take your pick), factual statements aren’t exactly her long suit.

Those people have no sense of humor;  no sense of self.  No sense.

expat

Gorgon is good. Also termagant and virago.

Conservative comedy DOES work….Libtards just don’t get it.
It’s over their heads…….and most of it doesn’t contain profanities.
I have heard jokes about liberals that I laughed my ass of at….I guess when the joke’s on you…..it ain’t funny.

The more I read and thought about this little screed, the clearer it became: The reason conservative comedy doesn’t work for Bershad and the other lefties of the world is because those on the left are huge hypocrites. It has nothing to do with who is in power and who is not. It ha nothing to do with racism, sexism, sexual orientation, or wealth. No, it has everything to do with whose ox is being gored, and the left has amazingly thin skin and no ability to laugh at itself.

Can I cite examples? Sure! Lots!:

I would be as rich as a Senate Democrat if I had a nickel for every joke I have heard about how dumb Dan Quayle is because he once misspelled “potato.” However, should a conservative suggest Barack Obama is anything less than the most intelligent human being ever to grace the world with his intellect by wryly commenting on Obama’s “fifty-seven states” gaffe s/he would be called racist and unfair. Barack was really tired that night, y’know.

“George W. Bush is SO dumb that . . . ” jokes have been a tediously grating staple of leftist comedians and cartoonists for the last eleven years. But to joke about the lack of intellect of Al Gore (who flunked out of divinity school after one semester and quit law school during his first semester because he couldn’t do the work) or John Kerry (lower GPA  at Yale at the same time GWB was there and actually failed one course, which Bush never did)? Come on, man! That’s not funny. Bush is the dumb one! I mean, Bush is SO dumb that . . .

How many homosexual-bashing jokes have I heard from the likes of Kathy Griffin, Joy Behar, et. al., about Larry Craig and Mark Foley? But anyone who would dare joke about Barney’s Basement Boy Brothel is a terrible person.

Ask yourself: Would Greg Gutfeld still be working if he called Nancy Pelosi a “dumb (most vile epithet one can call a woman)”? Yet Bill Maher is one of the great comedic geniuses for doing that to Sarah Palin.

And let’s say Larry Gatlin was fronting the band on a late-night network talk show and played “Lyin’ A– B—-” as Hilary Clinton walked onstage and then gloated about it for weeks in Rolling Stone. Would an empty apology from the network suffice, or would Gatlin, the show’s host, and the producers be out pounding the pavement and learning that no one would ever hire them again? Yet Ahmir Thompson does exactly that to Michelle Bachmann and it is comedy gold!

Don Imus gets canned for using the term “nappy-headed ho’s” in reference to the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Apology after apology mean nothing–that wasn’t funny and he’s got to go. But a lefty cartoonist drawing Condoleeza Rice and Clarence Thomas as slaves hits one out of the comedy park, I tell ya! And, apropos to this, lefty cartooning icon Tom Toles always drew GWB to resemble a baboon–a major yuck-fest for the lefty elite (Bush is really dumb, after all!). But any suggestion that Obama in any way looks like Curious George falls on horrified ears.

So that’s it: The left can dish it out but the cannot, will not, take it.

Merry Christmas!

Conservative comics can be funny, if their writers are liberal.
Having Kelsey Grammer appear in a show is only funny if the material is funny.
Otherwise, he falls on his face.

My Tea Party mom reads every idiotic joke that gets passed around her web of conspirators.
They reflect no humor, only mean spirited and bigoted ideas that reinforce their screwy beliefs.
It give her a sense of superiority that is undeserved, I suppose.
Ridicule is not humor.

Dude history has proven that liberal are the LEAST tolerant people in the world. Almost every liberal social movement is based on their intolerance. Liberals enforce litmus test for any and every public figure. If you do not believe a certain way you are not qualified to hold office. College campuses do not allow speakers unless they have a liberal view on subjects. Public venue access is denied to organizations that do not adhere to a approved position on issues. Not only are liberal the most intolerant, they are far more likely to put that intolerance onto action.

I believe that the topic under discussion was comedy.
It’s conservatives who have been the most bigoted in recent history, and still are, unless you try to redefine bigotry to include everything that makes your case. So much of conservative comedy is racist. Or just stupid. 
And many conservs are morons. I see them on tv and on these posts. They make no sense, can’t employ reason or logic, and ignore facts whenever they’re inconvenient.
Like you. “.. history has proven that liberal are the LEAST tolerant people in the world”
First off, liberals came into being as a revolt against tyranny, which doesn’t usually involve a lot of tolerance. The American Revolution for one. That’s why those colonists that opposed independence were called Tories, a term in use today in Great Britain to identify the Conservative party.
I could go on, but don’t start talking about history on a comedy story.

except that list has long been debunked as fake. only an out-of-touch Boomer who still believes everything they see in a chain e-mail (and never watches late nite TV)  would think that any of those comedians ever deliver ‘jokes’ with the lame q&a set-up featured in that list.

The subject is conservative humor , not who told which jokes. I didn’t think the author’s were correct and could have deleted them but didn’t bother in a cut and paste because who told the joke doesn’t matter. 

Not funny just pathetic.

Don’t be so sure- when theres deep pockets anything can be finessed into gold. Lets see what the Kochs of Comedy come up with

That makes no sense

Didn’t know ‘Imus in the Morning’ on FOX Business had lib writers.

This theory has some merit but I think the main issue that it misses is that conservative comedy doesn’t tend to work because it is pigeonholed from the outset by the requirement that it be conservative.  Comedians are just a type of artists.  People tend to stress the notion that art is about expression but art, at least good art, is also about critical thinking.  People who think critically tend to examine thought processes and views even those they themselves engage in or subscribe to.  Though satirical comedy such as that seen on programs like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report tends to have a liberal bent it isn’t restricted to only that view.  Good comedy is free to and will skewer, examine, and generally clown on any topic, person, event, or idea provided a seed of humor (ridiculousness, absurdity, or hypocrisy) is present in it.   SNL, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, may produce skits, material, and jokes that poke fun at Sarah Palin and Rick Perry but will also do material on Joe Biden and Barack Obama.  A conservative comedy would likely not allow itself that latitude.

CONSERATIVES LIKE LOGIC. GO AGAINST LOGIC AND YOU HAVE HUMOR. THE LEFT IS A JOKE!
                                       GLORIA MILLS

Bershad, have you ever heard of “Red Eye” or watched “Newsbusters” videos? Didn’t think so.

You think Republicans have been trained to do everything. Unlike you, at least they’re trainable.

That is the most stupid, ignorant, and closed-minded post on this entire thread.

Why can’t libertarian comedy work? Libertarians are against power.

Jon Stewart attacks Obama for not being left wing enough.

{yawn}…….yeah yeah, sure sure

All I know is Red Eye and The BS of A at Glenn Beck’s website cracks me up. Also Steven Crowder is funny as well. The left can be funny to mock. I grew up on Clinton jokes. It doesn’t matter who it is…anybody can be made fun of.

So I think right wing comedy works. It is not my fault, interest or care that Hollywood is run by some kooks who just want to attack the right. But So be it. I laugh at both sides.

Today’s conservative bunch is far too engrossed in all of the hatred and lies being spewed. Their main core is made up of anger and hate – two things that are quite difficult to pull off as a comedy routine.

Thanks for the link to Newsbusted. I watched one episode:
Canned laugh track.
…OK. So maybe it is just low budget . . .
Then the jokes.
…Half of them are barely different from what the righties themselves say on forums like this:

A new report shows that last week’s voter turnout was the same percentage it was four years ago. However, multiple registrations by the same person for Acorn were up 30%.

This is typical of the jokes with content. The other half are the same “Bush looks like a monkey” verbal slapstick we liberals mindlessly do.

At first glance, it is a tired repetition, but then you see: “Voter turnout” and pre-election registrations are mentioned in the same sentence without without noting their difference. They actually stumbled here by putting the two together clearly. Rhetoric does not work if you make a clear mistake. They have assumed an untenable posture. 

But then upon re-reading, what they say is true, of course. Filling in the lines, fraudulent registrations were up, but it apparently had no effect on the election (voter turnout was the same). So, they either point out or undermine their own already untenable position.

 We liberals could make no better parody of an attempt by conservatives to do comedy about us. It shows no insight into the minds of liberals for them. They have no idea of the lie of our land. So, they fail in actually parodying us.

But in this case it is not our parody of them (assuming Jody Miller is not a deadpanning liberal troll ;-) This isthem. This is not Poe’s Law exactly; it is something like the reverse of Poe’s Law.

Eop’s Law:
Any attempt at parody by>/i> a fundamentalist will be indistuingishable from attempts at being serious.

Righties have no common, social intellectual latticework upon which to discuss with each other and independently analyze. They only pretend to. That is why the balance has shifted so far to the right. There is no anchor, and they don’t know what else to do! So, they do the opposite of what they think their adversaries want them to do. This is evidenced everywhere: filibustering conservative legislation, hating Huntsman because he accepted Obama’s “poisoned” invitation to be ambassador to China, pushing Democrats into a corner over the payroll tax extension ;-)

But righties lack soul. They lack soul in the sense that there is nothing beyond themselves. They cling to traditional religion, sure, but that is faith. Doubt is dangerous. As is independent thought. They cling to past authority only. It is really sad. Pathetic.

Non-righties, those outside the sphere of having a naughty magazine salesman tell them about politics, or a constantly mad entertainer showered with dittos, the non-righties do have rationality, civilization, and democracy. We can afford to fall to doubt and self-examination. Wherever we come out of such analysis, we have faith will all be in a better place.

We are willing to submit to an outside force in the form of the democratic process. We do not try to cheat by filibustering everything in the Senate, for example. That is like shouting all the time. If everything is said to be important, then nothing is really important. Another “liberal” judge and a new Patriot Act: all the same reprehensibility for them.

Mind you, I don’t think religion is bad; at least that is not what I am suggesting here. The Church is, yes. It has been twisted. The church has produced abundant, abundant bad fruit. Jesus even exempted us from doubting the Church. We can even doubt Jesus; we just cannot curse the Holy Spirit, that which lies within us. (Matthew 12:31-32) This is basically being honest with oneself, in my opinion. Certainly the Church cannot justifiably be held above reproach. Christ said so. So to let the Church insist on obedience and an unquestioning attitude toward authority practically demonstrates a religious side of Poe’s Law.

Ope’s Law:

Any church demanding a fundamentalist following is indistinguishable from a cult.

Liberals are not perfect. We have sloth and we are beguiled by our leaders. But we do have hope.

I think your theory might have a flaw in it.  Conservatism long ago devolved into fabricating enemies.   The purpose is obvious to all but conservatives:  make people feel fearful and threatened, and give them a focus for the anger that always follows…an enemy.  I could go on for hours about how patently false those threats & enemies are for each of the last several decades. 

But the point is that from a conservative’s perspective, they have an enemy which threatens their lives and their neighbor’s at all times.  So, in this state, they can and will (with great confidence) opine about being robbed of power by the powerful. 

So, your theory about picking on the litte guy not being funny really doesn’t apply to conservatives.  To hear them speak, they are ALWAYS the little guy being bullied by powerful evils that only they can see and hear and feel.  I think the answer to this issue has to do with social engineering, and the effect of propaganda on an accepting person’s mind. 

While a much darker theory than yours, I think many conservatives know (on some level) that much of their narratives are false.  Comedy has a way of shedding light on misconceptions, and exposing some of the more gratuitously false narratives.  This is a threat to a majority of conservatives.  Much of their identity becomes invested in these falsehoods, that they actually defend them, separately from any real-world issue.

We agree that conservatives are fixed on preserving the status quo, but we disagree on where that fixation originates:  you might believe it’s something within a conservative him/herself, while I would argue that it comes from a source outside themselves.  The sad, human part of this is that they are aware of it on some level (and to different degrees), but have been fooled so well, and for so long that any admission threatens their pride (as well it should), and so much more.

Conservatism is about controlling a segment of society through “noble lies” (social engineering by any other name).  There’s just nothing funny about it, and comedy threatens the sanctity of their narratives.  They’re not all inherently bad people, they are just much more enthusiastic about accepting false narratives (and false enemies), and comedy writing (maybe writing in general?) forces reflection on things that would challenge a person’s long-held beliefs and outlook on life.  Few enjoy that prospect, and fewer still will seek such insecurity out. They need their enemies to preserve their ideas…and to excuse violating their own principles.

Totally agree.  Conservativism is a counter-culture.  Although, they have a weird way of pigeonholing…it’s like they pigeonhole most everyone else, leaving everything they represent outside of that pigeon-hole.  For example, their conventional wisdom is that all artists are liberals, practically all scientists are liberals, as is anyone working in the government.  They’re so effective at isolating themselves, that we buy into their stereotypes…but really, they are stereotypes of stereotypes.

Conservatives have defined themselves so narrowly that comedians/artists/teachers, scientists not on the acceptable payrolls, even accountants who do not constantly advocate for their cause on every issue will not be accepted as conservative.  Even if we do come up with a form of comedy exquisitely conservative enough for their tastes, they would probably reject it.  It might just be that they take themselves too seriously to ever allow a body of work that people laugh at to be crowned as ”conservative.”

Hmph, whining is not funny.  Playing the persecution card is something all Righties condemn in the strongest of terms, but look at this rant…all persecution, no substance.

The problem with your analysis of all those conservative names you drop is that, as usual, you omit the actions of these “victims.”  Why do Righties feel so entitled to live without consequences?  For the millionth time, freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences.  Don Imus was free to say what he said, and his employer was free to replace him with someone much more charismatic.  Or are you taking issue with an employer’s right to fire him, hmmmm?

Also, the Dubya thing…I seem to remember him not knowing who Shiites and Sunnis were when he decided to invade the country and start a civil war there, while marching our soldiers in circles around their cities.  I agree that the criticism went too far sometimes, but Dubya actually got a lot of people killed because he refused to study up on matters of war and peace.  See?  I told you these folks actually did something to make people hate them.

You can put the Christ back into Christmas, but you can’t restore the sanctity of His father after dragging His name through every petty, earthly argument imaginable.  While in power, conservatives failed at making themselves or this world more holy but succeeded in making our God more human and fallible.  Puff yourselves up as much as you like, strike the most defiant pose anyone has ever envisioned, but the rest of us see and know your works.  Good day.

 Thank you for not only proving my point so eloquently, but for demonstrating how very not funny whining is.

Calling you out does not equal whining.  I cited a historical fact about Dubya, and didn’t call him names. Heck, I didn’t even make fun of the guy. But please, carry on with your victimhood. I will quietly observe…if I don’t nod off.

Your anti-conservative comedy article is hilarious.
It proves that a sense of humor is restricted in the liberal mind. Now Obama is funny with a great sense of humor.  He says the insurance companies and not the Catholic hospitals that
pay for the insurance will pay for birth control and abortions. hee hee hee
That is the funniest thing I’ve heard in years. OMG  Obama Must Go…

Seems to me that there are conservative comedians (Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Coulter, etc.). The problem is that the reason conservatives find them funny is the persona.  A persona that is conceited, mean, and often bigoted.  Mainstream media can stand some insult comics, but not when said comics are known to tell racist (or otherwise politically incorrect) jokes.

I think the fact that most conservative comedians have had some backlash against them for being too bigoted sends a powerful message about the right-wing as a whole.

This is an awful video. It is embarrassingly bad. Nothing this preachy could ever be funny. Nothing in the world is black and white and the simplistic good/evil thinking is just silly and sad. The “terrorists” mentioned in this lame clip are people just like the rest of us. They need food, water, air and they love their families. They think the USA is full of “terrorists” in part because of Bush’s non-UN backed wars. Who is the big bully? Look in the mirror USA. I am a proud ex-member of the US Navy Reserves and I love my country, but please…Nope. If this is your best example of conservative humor done correctly, it doesn’t work at all.

More really lame and pathetic conservative humor that just is not funny. See, you *are* right. I believe it is in part due to the simplicity of thought of the average conservative. Good comedy actually requires considerable intelligence to write and to perform. I think too many conservatives do not have the requisite equipment for comedy.

All Fox properties ultimately belong at least in part to Rupert Murdoch who is a sleazy ethic-less person and also a RWNJ. If he cared about your “cause” more and he could *find* any funny conservatives, he certainly would put them on the air. He will do anything to make money. He would sell his grandmother, or have his employees hack into a kidnap victim’s phone. Just like most conservatives, he would do anything for a buck and he has no shame at all about it. He also does not want to admit his wrongdoing, which is one more thing conservatives are known for. Just ask one about George Bush or St. Ronald Reagan of Alzheimers. Also, in order to write political humor it is critical to know *facts* and most conservatives would not know a fact if it bit them in the bum. Please realize, when I said conservatives in this post, I mean to apply it to conservative politicians in America, especially the Tea Party, not to grandmothers who are terrified of losing their Social Security, though why that demographic would be going for the GOP when the GOP wants to dismantle Medicare altogether, I haven’t a clue. Now, libertarians are a different kettle of fish altogether. 

That game of pretending to be the victim is a standard in the GOP/Tea Party arsenal. Christians are being victimized because insurance is going to pay for birth control for women without a co-pay! Oh my stars. They are crucifying Christians again. (sarcasm) It is nonsense and nauseating, both in equal measure.

I loved Archie Bunker *because* I realized much of the humor related to how horrible his attitudes were. 

Red Eye, like most conservative attempts at humor, is heavy-handed, mean-spirited, and utterly unfunny most of the time. I watch for a few minutes every so often. For me, it is like watching a virtual car wreck. I’m appalled, yet a bit mesmerized by how ugly it is.

Its cadre of teapuppets. They are the only ones who watch the show for real. Dilettantes like me flip through to laugh at them, not with them, but we can’t stay long. We have too much else to do that is actually fun.

None of those jokes are from the sources you stated and none of them are funny. Joking about being the victim of a crime is mean spirited as well. Typical lousy conservative humor. Argggh.

And that is a typical conservative strategy. Cut and paste who said what when and present it as a fact. Liberals don’t typically do that. Most comedians have more ethics than that. They are not constitutionally suited to lie like that.

I keep hearing “ba-da-bap” on a drum set after a liberal replies to a conservative on here. I sense a pattern. What could that be….?

IMHO, the reason conservatives do not do self-deprecation well is simple arrogance. If one is conservative, one tends to believe that one is “correct” and others are less correct. People of other religions are seen by conservatives as “going to hell.” That is arrogance. Conservatives tend to believe that what already exists is the best things will ever be, or they tend to look to the a misty (seen through rose-colored glasses) past when “everything was better.” Everything was not better in America in the 1950s for anyone who wasn’t white, protestant, and male. Women who are conservative harken back to those days because they simply want to stay home with their babies and they do not wish to work and that was the societal norm then. Far be it from me to tell anyone they *have* to work outside the home, but at least women have a choice now and that is better. Not every woman wants to stay home. Not every person is born heterosexual. Conservatives tend to believe that “homosexuality is bad, M’kay?” Science shows us that about 15 percent of any animal population engages in homosexual behaviors and that those behaviors increase in crowded or stressful environments. Conservatives do not tend to believe science–at least not for a long while. Conservatives are so arrogant that they hire their own “tame” scientists and pay them to lie and say climate change is not increasing because of human activity. There is no climate scientist who has not been bought and paid for by a conservative group who believes that is true. When a person believes they are “right” and everyone else is “wrong” it makes them arrogant. That thing they call “faith” is an arrogant belief that despite any evidence to the contrary, they are the only ones who are right. People like that cannot unbend enough to be funny. The funniest thing they do is act like themselves, and I admit I go places to see them behave that way, just for a giggle, quite often.

If you are too ashamed to say it in public, that indicates that on a certain level you realize what you are saying is something you should be ashamed of.

O’Reilly and Limbaugh are embarrassing asses to watch. They are grating, mean-spirited, irritating, loud, obnoxious, and holier than though, which is nauseating. Racists and bigots pretending to be holier than though is a revolting spectacle.

They are funny as a punchline to a joke. They are the joke. Their jokes are not funny.

Ann Coulter is a horse faced conservative wet dream. She is biting, mean-spirited, and revolting. She could only appeal to people as self righteous and cruel as she is. Breeding her with Glenn Beck would be like unleashing smallpox of the soul on the planet.

Hopheads? What century are you from? Dope fiends? This shows the conservative demographic for the most part. They are a dying breed. GOP/Tea Party is mostly made up of old people who are scared of change or young people who are scared of change. Since living requires constant change, these people are always terrified. That is why they come up with this type of paranoia they try to pass off as normal behavior. They are also blatantly dishonest, as in this case, because they either do not have access to a computer or books to find out the facts, or they are not bright enough to do so. The only other option is to believe that they just do not care what is true and what is not. I laugh myself silly at Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Stewart, and many other liberal comedians and I can promise you grandpa, I am not a “hophead” or a “dope fiend” and my IQ is higher than 98% of the population. Now attack me because I am too intelligent. Conservatives usually do that.

Kathy Griffin makes her money by playing the bitchy liberal, in a similar way that Joan Rivers plays the bitch. If you can’t tell when they are playing a role to make money, they must be awfully good at what they do.

Where is your evidence? Typical conservative statement. They make an accusation with no evidence and move on. They are not hampered by a need for honesty or proof. Tra-la-la

And , he , like real people, is more than one dimensional. People who are prejudice in a certain area can be very kind in others. I’ve had enough life experience to see that people are multidimensional and it’s not a good idea to judge them entirely on one aspect of their lives, and personality.
I couldn’t stand Jerry Falwell, but I happened to catch a show about him after he passed away. I realized that for all the things I didn’t like, he had also had his share of hardship, and had done some very positive things for people.
I’m reminded of the President referring to Rev Wright as an eccentric uncle or something like that. When you understand that people are much more than any one aspect of their lives, you don’t reject the good parts simply because they are flawed. We all are.

Comedy is subjective. You may not think the jokes are funny , but to someone else they might be.

The bravest comedians know that nothing is really off limits and some people will despise them for it. 

Also, the mass media won’t present it, even if the wrong-wingers are not too ashamed to say it in public.

When your side is incapable of comedy that should tell you there is something very wrong with you.

Hating idiots isn’t “intolerance”, it is the manifestation of frustration at how stupid members of your own species are.

It worked in the late 70s because Republicans weren’t as stupid then as they are now. Hell I was a Republican in 1993 and I have a genius IQ.

Tom Shilue was on Red Eye a couple of nights ago and he made a pretty good point regarding Conservative comedy and why it doesn’t seem to work.

His point was that the conservative right isn’t as sensitive as the liberal left. Conservatives can watch liberal comedians and still appreciate their jokes regardless if they don’t agree with them. He said how liberals can’t laugh at conservative jokes, even if they’re funny, strictly because they can’t agree with the subject.